Commune of Brescia

Who rules

Title

the commune's chief magistrates (podestà or consuls)

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

No list we could reach names the officer of 1199 or of the morning of 1 January 1200. Azzone (II), count of Mosio, was consul in 1173, 1184 and 1192-1193 (it.wikipedia, Ugoni-Longhi); Pietro di maestro Vilano was consul in 1188-1189 (Pantarotto). The commune's register of rights, the Liber Potheris, holds its records.

Overlord

The Empire (kingdom of Italy); regalia under the Peace of Constance (1183).

What the realm holds

• The city with its suburbs and near countryside (see the town record Brescia)
• The plain to the Oglio: Palazzolo, Pontoglio, Urago, Rudiano, Chiari, Rovato, Roccafranca, Orzinuovi (borgo franco, in being by 11 July 1193), Orzivecchi, Villachiara, Quinzano, Pontevico (castle on the Oglio, Brescian again since January 1192, with the river's waters and a strip on the right bank), Seniga
• The east and south-east: Ghedi, Montichiari (the Longhi counts' castle, attacked by Brescia in 1168 and 1191), Carpenedolo, Calcinato, Lonato, Desenzano, Asola, Casaloldo, Mosio (castle of the counts of Mosio in the Brescian district), Castiglione [the line with Mantua is not pinned]
• Lake Iseo's east shore and Monte Isola: Paratico, Iseo, Sale Marasino, Marone, Pisogne
• The Valtrompia (Gardone, Lumezzane, Collio) and the Valsabbia to Lake Idro and Bagolino
• The Valcamonica (Darfo, Breno, Capo di Ponte, Edolo, up to Ponte di Legno), with upper Volpino, Qualino and Ceratello by the settlement of 3 August 1198 [the commune's grip on the upper valley: medium]
• The Riviera of Garda: Salò, Maderno, Toscolano, Gargnano (where Bishop Giovanni invested the counts Pizino, Egidio and Vizolo with fiefs in 1196) and on towards Tremosine and Limone [northern end: low]

How it was acquired

Consuls by 1120-1127; Lombard League member from 1167 (second-largest contingent at Legnano, 1176); the Peace of Constance (1183) confirmed its regalia. It pushed into the rural counts' lands (razing Asola in 1125, attacking Montichiari in 1168 and 1191), bought lands of the counts of Calepio west of the Oglio before 1191, and won the Volpino fortresses from Bergamo (1156, 1191, 1198).

Allies and rivals

Allies: Milan (a five-year alliance of Brescia with Milan and Pavia of 3 March 1191; partner in the league renewed in 1198), Crema (against Cremona), Piacenza. Rivals: Bergamo (at peace since August 1198), Cremona (beaten at Rudiano; at peace since 1191-1192, the Oglio between them), and the rural counts it is taming. Mantua and Verona: neighbours to the south-east and east [ties in 1200 not pinned].

The realm that morning

The commune is united on the morning of 1 January 1200: Narisio of Montichiari and Alberto of Casaloldo still appear together in a document of 1 October 1200 and are enemies only by 9 December 1200 (Winkelmann, from Odorici). Its frontiers are quiet: peace with Bergamo since August 1198 and no open war with Cremona, though Milan has asked for Brescian help against Bergamo and Cremona shortly before 1200. Across its borders: Bergamo beyond the Oglio and on Lake Iseo's west shore; the bishop of Trent's Giudicarie and Riva beyond the Valsabbia and the head of the Garda (tre); Verona's shore of the Garda and the Mincio (ven); Mantua to the south-east; Cremona beyond the Oglio; the Valtellina (Como's sphere) beyond the Aprica and the Mortirolo, and Bormio beyond the Gavia (lmw).

Wealth

Iron and weapons from the Valtrompia and the Valcamonica; wool and linen; olive oil and fish of the Garda; grain and wine of the Franciacorta and the plain; tolls on the Oglio crossings (Palazzolo, Pontoglio, Pontevico) and the lake ports.

Military

City host with a carroccio (Brescia took an enemy carroccio at Rudiano and offered it in its cathedral); the borghi franchi and castles on the Oglio; valley levies; the counts' knights. Record: victories over Bergamo at the Grumore (10 March 1156) and over Bergamo and Cremona at Rudiano (7 July 1191). No figures (the casualty figures in it.wikipedia are later local estimates).

Threats

• the split between the society of San Faustino and the Society of the Militi, which becomes civil war in autumn 1200
• Cremona, ready to back the Brescian knights (December 1200)
• the rural counts' resistance to the commune
• the Valcamonica's privilege and its lords (the Federici)

Councils and societies

Consuls or podestà and the general council [composition not pinned]. Two sworn societies are active by 1200-1201: the people's society of San Faustino, led by Count Narisio of Montichiari, and the knights' Society of the Militi (Società dei Militi), led by Count Alberto of Casaloldo. A popular body called the Bruzella is defeated and captured in 1202 (Brescian chronicle quoted by it.wikipedia) [its nature in 1200 not pinned].

Families and factions

The Ugoni counts (Longhi of Montichiari, Mosio, Casaloldo, San Martino) lead both parties; the Brusati (with their Valcamonica branch, the Federici), the Martinengo (vassals of the bishop), the Poncarali, the Gonfalonieri (Vifredo, Alberto's later ally) and the Sala are among the city's knightly families. No party labels yet.

Leagues wars truces

In force on 1 January 1200: (1) Milan's league, renewed in 1198 (fair); (2) peace with Bergamo by the Volpino settlement of 3 August 1198 and the peace of Capriolo of 20 August 1198 (fair); (3) peace with Cremona since Henry VI's settlement of 1191 and the peace of 11 August 1192 (medium); (4) a Milanese request for help against Bergamo and Cremona shortly before 1200, Brescia's answer not pinned.

Bishop

Giovanni da Palazzo (Giovanni Palazzi), bishop from 18 November 1195 to his death on 5 August 1212 (Church map record); his predecessor Giovanni Griffi 'da Fiumicello' died on 10 November 1195. The bishop is a great lord in the contado: vassals and fiefs at Gargnano (1196), old rights in the Valcamonica and at Volpino (returned to the bishop in 1156).

Emperor and pope

No officer of either German king is known in Brescia that winter. The Valcamonica's privilege of Frederick I (1164) treats the valley as a body apart from the Brescian county.

Coinage

Not pinned in our sources.

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.

In 1200

1. early 1200 (date not pinned)New consuls or podestà take office.Depends on: normal rotation Stopped by: nothing expected
2. 1200Milan presses Brescia to join its war on Bergamo and Cremona.Depends on: Milan's war continuing Stopped by: Brescian reluctance to break the 1198 peace with Bergamo
3. autumn 1200 (between 1 October and 9 December)Count Narisio of Montichiari, leading the people (society of San Faustino), and Count Alberto of Casaloldo, leading the knights (Society of the Militi), fall out; the knights leave the city.Depends on: the quarrel of the two counts and their parties Stopped by: a settlement by the bishop, the consuls or outside mediators
4. December 1200Cremona allies with the Brescian knights against the people.Depends on: the split Stopped by: reconciliation

Later, on the likely course

1. August 1201Battle of Albezzago (Calcinato) between the parties, with heavy losses on both sides; with help from Cremona, Mantua and Bergamo the knights regain control in 1201; envoys of Bologna impose a peace in November 1201 and the exiles return.Depends on: the civil war of autumn 1200 Stopped by: an earlier peace

Places of note

• Battlefield of Rudiano: Brescian victory over Bergamo and Cremona, 7 July 1191.
• Orzinuovi: Brescian borgo franco facing Soncino, in being by 11 July 1193.
• Pontevico: Castle on the Oglio, Brescian again since January 1192.
• Montichiari: Castle of the Longhi counts, attacked by Brescia in 1168 and 1191.
• Breno: Chief place of the middle Valcamonica.

Where the sources disagree

• Orzinuovi: 1193 (11 July 1193 as a date before which it existed, it.wikipedia Orzinuovi; the brief) against 1118 (it.wikipedia Soncino). We follow 1193.
• it.wikipedia (Storia di Brescia) places Rudiano at Pontoglio; the battle article places it between Cividate, Calcio, Rudiano and Palazzolo. We follow the battle article.

Evidence: The wars, settlements and the 1200-1201 civil strife are fairly attested (Winkelmann from Odorici; it.wikipedia drawing on Odorici, Malvezzi and the Liber Potheris). The officers of the morning are not pinned; the grip on the Valcamonica and the Riviera is described from general histories.

On the map: The north-east (Tignale, Tremosine, Limone) and the south-east (Castiglione, Medole, Solferino, Castel Goffredo) are uncertain; Sirmione, Pozzolengo and the Valvestino are left out. The Valcamonica is drawn as Brescian ground. No raiding belt is drawn on the Bergamasque or Cremonese borders: peace with Bergamo since August 1198 and with Cremona since 1191-1192.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Sicard, bishop of Cremona, Sicard of Cremona (about 1210 to 1213). A universal chronicle whose last part is a well-placed eyewitness account by a Lombard bishop who served emperors and popes. Read online
• The Lombard city annals of Piacenza, Milan, Cremona, Parma, Mantua and Verona (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries). The communes' own year lists. Read online