Commune of Arezzo

Who rules

Name

Not pinned (no list of Aretine consuls or podestà for 1199-1200 found)

Title

Consuls of the commune

Confidence

low

The Enciclopedia Italiana and it.wikipedia give consuls from 1098 but no names for this period; Pasqui's Documenti per la storia della città di Arezzo would settle it.

Overlord

The Empire in law; no imperial officer present that winter.

What the realm holds

• The city of Arezzo with its suburbs and near countryside
• The northern Valdichiana: Castiglione Aretino (later Castiglion Fiorentino), Marciano, Civitella (the bishop's)
• The upper Valdarno below the Pratomagno (Laterina, Pergine) as far as the Guidi's Montevarchi
• The lower Casentino edge (Subbiano, Capolona) and the bishop's Bibbiena
• Claims over Cortona (in the Aretine county in the twelfth century, now self-governing) and Lucignano and Monte San Savino on the Sienese side

How it was acquired

The commune grew against the bishop-counts through the twelfth century (the Pionta castle razed in 1131); its contado follows the diocese where its knights and the bishop's vassals could hold it.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the Tuscan League; the Guidi (Villani says Arezzo had favoured the Guidi). Rivals: Siena (old diocesan quarrel, Lucignano and Monte San Savino), Cortona (independent within Arezzo's old county), Perugia and Città di Castello in the upper Tiber, Florence in the Valdarno later.

The realm that morning

That morning Arezzo holds its city and a countryside in the northern Valdichiana, the upper Valdarno and the lower Casentino, much of it through the bishop and his vassals. Across its borders: the Guidi in the Casentino and at Montevarchi, Florence's contado beyond Figline, Siena and Montepulciano to the south-west, Cortona to the south-east, the Camaldolese and Sansepolcro in the upper Tiber.

Wealth

Grain and wine of the Valdichiana, the road from the Valdarno to Perugia and Rome, the town's markets and crafts; a school of law and letters will be active by 1215. Coinage: Aretine pennies are later; money in 1200 not pinned.

Military

The city host under the consuls and the bishop's vassal knights (the Ubertini among them). No figures found.

Threats

• Siena's expansion into the Valdichiana
• Quarrels between commune and bishop
• Cortona's independence
• Perugia's ambitions in the Tiber valley

Bishop

Amedeo (before March 1188 to 1203), a Church map record. The bishop holds Bibbiena and much of the Casentino and Valdichiana through vassals such as the Ubertini. Cortona and Borgo San Sepolcro's surroundings: Cortona lies in the Arezzo diocese, Sansepolcro in that of Città di Castello.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1200 (day not pinned)Annual election of consuls (names not found).Depends on: custom Stopped by: faction
2. 1203 (beyond 1200)Bishop Amedeo moves the cathedral inside the walls and dies; Gregorio succeeds (to 1212).Depends on: the bishop's life Stopped by: nothing in play

Places of note

• Pionta: The bishop's cathedral hill outside the walls; the castle there razed by the citizens in 1131

Where the sources disagree

• The commune's officers on 1 January 1200 were not found in any source consulted.

Evidence: The diocesan list is firm; the commune's officers, wars and contado line around 1200 are poorly covered in the sources reached.

On the map: A reconstruction; the line toward Siena (Lucignano, Monte San Savino) and toward Cortona is uncertain in 1200.