Commune of Padua

Who rules

Name

Azzo VI d'Este was podesta of Padua for 1199 (DBI); whether he still held office on the morning of 1 January 1200, and who was podesta for 1200, is not pinned

Title

Podesta

Since

1199

Born

Azzo VI about 1170

Family

Este

Confidence

medium

Treccani DBI, ESTE, Azzo d' (Azzo VI)

Overlord

The Empire in law (Peace of Constance, 1183)

What the realm holds

• The city and its suburbs
• The plain north to the Brenta at Carmignano and Fontaniva and to Camposampiero on the Muson
• Bassano and its market, bought from Ezzelino II in 1193-94 (DBI), claimed by Vicenza
• The Euganean hills outside the Este lands and Monselice (Abano, Teolo, Torreglia, Battaglia)
• The south to Conselve, Bagnoli, Agna and Anguillara on the Adige
• The Saccisica (Piove di Sacco), the bishop of Padua's district
• The road to the lagoon at Dolo, Mira and Oriago

How it was acquired

Consuls from the 1130s, podesta from the 1170s; regalia confirmed at Constance (1183).

Allies and rivals

Rival of Vicenza on the Brenta; enemy of Ezzelino II since 1199 (Onara); in the 1190s it stood with the patriarch of Aquileia against Treviso (DBI Prata, for 1190); the Este are its most powerful citizens and allies. Relations with Venice are peaceful but tense over the Brenta mouths, the salt and the Gambarare lands; their war (the war of the Castle of Love) comes only in 1214-16.

The realm that morning

The 1199 podesta was Azzo VI; the 1200 podesta and the day he took office are not pinned. Bishop Gerardo Offreducci (bishop since the later 1160s; a Church map record) holds the Saccisica and many fiefs; Giordano Forzate, abbot of San Benedetto, is the city's respected arbitrator (he judged Ezzelino's complaint against Gherardo da Camposampiero in 1194). Bassano is in Paduan hands, with Vicenza's claim unsatisfied. The Monselice castle on the southern edge is the Empire's (see Monselice).

The quarrel between Ezzelino and the Camposampiero simmers despite a peace reported for 1199.

Wealth

Grain, wine and flax of a fertile plain; wool; the river ports on the Brenta and the Bacchiglione; trade down to the lagoon and Venice; tolls on the roads to Vicenza, Treviso and the Adige crossings. Money of account in Veronese pennies.

Military

City militia, the knights of the great families and the bishop's vassals; won at Carmignano (1198) and Onara (1199). No figures.

Threats

• Ezzelino II and his Trevisan friends
• Vicenza over Bassano and the Brenta
• Treviso on the Muson border
• Venice over the river mouths and salt

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. 1200 (date not pinned)The podesta for 1200 takes office (name not found).Depends on: Normal yearly rotation. Stopped by: A party seizing the office.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1204Ezzelino occupies the Camposampiero's castle of Campreto; the bishop of Padua mediates in the Camposampiero's favour (DBI).Depends on: Ezzelino's feud with the Camposampiero continuing. Stopped by: A lasting peace between them.

Places of note

• Oriago, the border with the Venetian lagoon: Paduan post on the Brenta
• Carmignano (destroyed 1198): Taken from Vicenza

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1198-99 war and Azzo VI's 1199 office are pinned; the 1200 podesta and the exact contado limits are not.

On the map: The Treviso border on the Muson, the Vicentine border on the Brenta and the Venetian border at the lagoon are rough. Bassano's 1200 holder is pinned only by the DBI's statement that Vicenza never occupied it after the 1193-94 sale.

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
• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online