Commune of Como

Who rules

Name

Not pinned. No list of Como's podestà or consuls for 1199-1200 was found in the sources read

Title

The commune's podestà or consuls for 1199, until the officers of 1200 take over

Since

Yearly office; changeover date not pinned

Confidence

low

Treccani, Wikipedia and the HLS were read; none names Como's officers for 1199 or 1200. Como was using podestà in the 1190s: the Porta Torre was built in 1192 on the initiative of the podestà Uberto de' Olevano (Wikipedia, Porta Torre (Como)); the name points to the Olevano of the Lomellina, a Pavese family [inference from the name]. In 1191 the consuls of Como granted Lugano partial self-government (HLS, Ticino). The bishop, Ardizzone II (1193-1204), is a Church map record.

Overlord

The Empire in law. Frederick I gave the commune the right to choose the officials (sindaci) of its rural district in 1175, and by a diploma of 23 October 1178 gave the church and community of Como the castle of Baradello and the tower of Olonio. Neither German king has an officer here in 1200.

What the realm holds

• The city, its walls rebuilt after 1154 with Frederick I's approval and strengthened about 1192 by the podestà Uberto de' Olevano with the Porta Torre and three great towers on the south side, and the castle of Baradello, given to the church and commune of Como by Frederick I in 1178
• The tower of Olonio at the head of the lake, given at the same time
• The shores of Lake Como from the city to the upper lake: Cernobbio, the Intelvi, the Tremezzina, Menaggio, Bellagio, Dongo, Gravedona and Sorico (the last three the 'Three Pievi', whose own standing in 1200 is not pinned)
• The Sottoceneri: Lugano (partly self-governing since 1191), Mendrisio and Chiasso
• Bellinzona and its castle, the bishop's (an imperial gift of 1002/1004)
• The Valtellina, under the bishop's lordship and his vassals (the Matsch in the pieve of Mazzo since 1150, the capitanei of Sondrio)
• The lake trade and the tolls on the roads to the Splügen, the Septimer, the Lucomagno and the San Bernardino

How it was acquired

A commune attested from 1109. Burned by Milan in 1127; rebuilt under Frederick I's protection from 1158; the 1175 and 1178 grants of Frederick I; peace with the League in 1183. Lugano's partial self-government in 1191 shows the commune's consuls ruling the Sottoceneri. The bishop's temporal rights in the Valtellina and Ticino rest on royal and imperial grants (Bellinzona and Locarno districts in 1002/1004).

Allies and rivals

Not pinned for January 1200. Milan is the old enemy, but by 1213 Como fights in Milan's league at Castelleone. Pavia and Cremona were Como's partners on the emperor's side in the 1160s and 1170s. In the north Como's rivals are the bishop of Chur (claims to Chiavenna from 1194, and to Bormio), the Matsch advocates of Bormio and the self-governing valley communities.

The realm that morning

The commune holds the city, the lake and the Sottoceneri; the bishop holds Bellinzona and the lordship of the Valtellina. North of Bellinzona the Ticino valleys (Leventina, Blenio, Riviera) are the Milan cathedral chapter's; Locarno and its lake shore are immediate to the Empire under their capitanei; the Misox is the free lords of Sax's (Rhineland sheet). The Valchiavenna is a Swabian ducal fief run by its own commune; Poschiavo and the upper Bregaglia lie in the bishop of Chur's sphere (Rhineland sheet); Bormio and its valleys are self-governing under the Matsch advocacy and not yet bound to Como.

South and east the frontier with Milan runs through the Brianza hills (Cantù, Mariano and Erba are Milan's) and up the eastern lake shore (Lecco, Varenna and Bellano are the archbishop of Milan's). The Rusca and Vittani families of the city are not yet the two parties that split Como under Frederick II.

Wealth

Lake shipping and the transit trade between the Lombard plain and the Alpine passes; the tolls of the lake and the roads; the markets of Como, Lugano and Bellinzona; the iron and timber of the Alpine valleys; the cattle, cheese and wine of the Valtellina.

Military

The city militia and the lake fleet (Como fought Milan's lake allies on the water in the war of 1118-1127); the castle of Baradello above the city; the bishop's castle at Bellinzona; the tower of Olonio at the head of the lake. No figures in the sources read.

Threats

• Milan, the old enemy, whose contado and archbishop's lands ring the southern and eastern lake
• The bishop of Chur, claiming Chiavenna since 1194 and active in the Bregaglia, Poschiavo and Bormio
• Bormio's resistance until the peace of 1201
• The autonomy of Lugano, the Three Pievi and Chiavenna

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 (day not pinned)Como's officers for 1200 take office.Depends on: The usual yearly election. Stopped by: Internal strife.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1201Bormio makes peace with Como and binds itself to pay Como a yearly tribute (census).Depends on: Como pressing its claims on Bormio during 1200, and the Matsch and the bishop of Chur failing to protect Bormio. Stopped by: A Matsch or Chur intervention, or a defeat of Como in the valleys.
2. 1204Bishop Ardizzone II dies; Guglielmo della Torre succeeds (1204-1226).Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Play that changes the bishop's circumstances.

Places of note

• Castle of Baradello: Frederick I's rebuilt fortress above the city; given to the church and commune of Como in 1178.
• Tower of Olonio: Tower at the head of the lake toward the Valtellina and Chiavenna; given to Como in 1178.
• Castel Grande, Bellinzona: The bishop of Como's castle, where the bishop stayed in 1195.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The twelfth-century frame (1127, 1158, 1175, 1178, 1191, 1195) and the northern neighbours (Locarno 1186, Chiavenna 1157 and 1194, Bormio 1185 and 1201, Mazzo 1150) are sourced; the officers of 1199-1200 and Como's alliance in 1199-1200 are not.

On the map: The commune's own rule is firm round the city, the lake and Lugano; in Bellinzona and the Valtellina the lordship is the bishop's and his vassals', drawn here as Como's ground.

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.

• 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