The Papal State: the pope's own lands

Who rules

Name

Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni)

Title

Pope, lord of the lands of St Peter (the 'Patrimony' in the wide sense) from Radicofani to Ceprano, and overlord of the kingdom of Sicily

Since

Elected 8 January 1198; consecrated 22 February 1198

Born

1160 or 1161 (Gavignano or Anagni, by tradition); about 39 on 1 January 1200

Family

The Conti (comites) of Segni in the Campagna; his mother Claricia was a Scotti of Rome

Confidence

high

Gregorovius (vol. 5) and Luchaire (Rome et l'Italie) on the settlement of 1198 in Rome; the Treccani Enciclopedia dei Papi and the DBI on Riccardo Conti for the family; FIU (cardinals created 1190) for the legates; it.wikipedia (Campagna e Marittima) for the first rectors. The pope is in Rome that winter (the Viterbese prisoners are brought to him in January 1200); whether at the Lateran or St Peter's on 1 January is not pinned.

Overlord

None in temporal matters; the pope claims the lands of St Peter by the old donations and the privileges of the emperors, and Henry VI's officers who held them are gone.

What the realm holds

• The Campagna and Marittima: the pope's home province from the Alban hills to the Liri and Terracina, under a rector at Ferentino; communes (Anagni, Ferentino, Alatri, Veroli, Velletri, Terracina, Sezze) with their consuls; barons (the Ceccano, the Colonna, the Frangipani, the Conti and lesser lords of Supino, Sgurgola, Norma and Collemezzo); the papal fortresses of Fumone and Lariano
• The Sabina: castles between the Tiber and the Sabine hills, with Farfa abbey in its middle; the Roman senate had treated it as city land before 1198
• Tivoli and the Aniene valley: the commune of Tivoli, the Orsini castles of Vicovaro, Licenza and Roccagiovine, the abbey of Subiaco and its town
• The Tiber valley below the Umbrian hills: Orte, Civita Castellana, Nepi and Sutri on the Via Flaminia and the Via Cassia
• Rieti and its basin, which submitted in summer 1198
• The Patrimony in Tuscany (the pope's castle of Radicofani, Acquapendente, which Orvieto disputes, and the communes of Viterbo, Orvieto, Toscanella, Corneto and Civitavecchia: researched by pat and the Northern Italy map)
• The duchy of Spoleto with Assisi, Foligno, Spoleto, Norcia, Todi, Gubbio, Città di Castello and Perugia's oath (pat)
• The March of Ancona, whose towns swore to the pope after driving out Markward in 1198 (anc)
• Benevento, a papal city inside the kingdom of Sicily (cam)
• Claims not held: the Romagna and the exarchate of Ravenna, the lands of Countess Matilda (held in law by Philip of Swabia as duke of Tuscany), Sardinia (Pisan supremacy)

The realm that morning

Held: the Campagna and Marittima, the Sabina, Rieti, the Tiburtine country, the Tiber valley towns and the papal castles of the Patrimony, with the communes self-governing and the barons loyal. Thin: the duchy of Spoleto and the March, where real power lies with the communes. Hostile or troubled: Orvieto (heresy, the murder of the papal podestà Pietro Parenzo in May 1199, the quarrel over Acquapendente), Narni (at odds with the pope over the Tiber valley; the Enciclopedia dei Papi says the fight with Orvieto and Narni, partly armed, lasts to 1201), and Viterbo, the target of the decretal Vergentis in senium (March 1199) and at war with Rome.

On the southern frontier the pope holds Ceprano and the Liri crossing, Terracina and the coast road; across the line Conrad of Marlenheim holds Sora and Sorella, Diepold's men hold Rocca d'Arce, Pontecorvo and the lower Liri castles, and the count of Fondi, Richard of Aquila, acts with Diepold (cam's records); the abbot of Montecassino holds San Germano for the papal side. Markward's men ravaged Montecassino's land in January 1199, but he made terms with the abbot on 9 February 1199 and crossed to Sicily in October; no raiding of the Campagna that winter is recorded, so no frontier belt is drawn. Not held: the Romagna, the Matildine lands, Sardinia.

Wealth

Rents (census) of the lands and churches under papal protection, listed in the Liber Censuum compiled by the chamberlain Cencio in 1192; the yearly census of the kingdom of Sicily; tolls and the rights of the papal castles; justice fees, chancery fees and the gifts of petitioners at the curia (Enciclopedia dei Papi); Peter's Pence from the northern kingdoms. The Sicilian war is costing more than the regency brings in (Enciclopedia dei Papi). The crusade fortieth ordered at the end of December 1199 is for the crusade, not the state.

Military

No standing army. The marshal commands the pope's household knights, the knights the Campagna barons and towns owe in service, and paid troops. In 1198-1199 the pope sent a force of Campanian knights with two cardinals to Montecassino; they held the abbey's rampart against Markward in January 1199 (Richard of San Germano). For Sicily in 1200 he raises a hired army under the marshal Giacomo. The fortresses: Radicofani (the Northern Italy map's Radicofani (papal)), Lariano, Fumone, Ferentino, and the castles Conrad of Urslingen handed over in the duchy (Cesi, Gualdo); Gregorovius says the pope built or restored a chain of castles from the March to Latium, without naming them all.

Rome's own host fights the Viterbo war.

Threats

• Markward winning Sicily and the boy king, and the German captains on the mainland pressing on the Liri frontier
• The Roman communal party (Giovanni Capocci, Giovanni Pierleone) and the baronial feuds in the city
• Towns using the pope as a shield against the Germans but refusing him obedience (Orvieto, Narni, the March)
• A German king, Philip or Otto, coming south to reclaim Henry VI's officers' lands
• Money: the Sicilian war is ruinous

Consort

None (a cleric).

Heirs

None. The Conti kin who rise with him: his brother Riccardo, his nephew Cardinal Ugolino (deacon of S. Eustachio since December 1198, about 30), his cousin the marshal Giacomo (Jacob), his brother-in-law Landone di Montelongo.

Recoveries 1198

• Rome: on 22 February 1198 the senator's oath and the prefect's homage put the city under the pope (see Rome).
• The Campagna, Marittima and Tuscia: their barons recognised Innocent as territorial lord in February 1198 (Gregorovius); rectors were named, castle-keepers replaced and fortresses secured; the marshal Giacomo was the first rector of the Campagna (1198).
• The duchy of Spoleto: Conrad of Urslingen submitted to the cardinals at Narni early in 1198, swore fealty, gave his children as hostages, handed over Cesi and Gualdo, ordered Assisi to surrender and left Italy (DBI, via the Church map record); the townsmen of Assisi pulled down the duke's castle first; in summer 1198 Spoleto, Assisi, Rieti, Foligno, Norcia, Gubbio, Todi and Città di Castello submitted and the cardinal of S. Maria in Aquiro became rector (Gregorovius).
• The March of Ancona: the legates Cinzio and Giovanni of S. Prisca were sent in March 1198; Markward refused to submit and was excommunicated; Ancona's league of 31 August 1198 forced him out and the towns took papal lordship (FIU; Federiciana via the Church map record).
• The Romagna and the exarchate of Ravenna: claimed after Markward gave up the duchy; the archbishop of Ravenna and the towns resist; no papal rector governs there.
• The lands of Countess Matilda: claimed; when the pope renewed the Tuscan League's pact in October 1198 the cities still refused to hand them over; in law they are Philip of Swabia's as duke of Tuscany.
• Northern Latium 'from Radicofani to Ceprano': contested with Orvieto and Narni, partly in arms, until 1201 (Enciclopedia dei Papi).

Councils and offices

The pope governs his state through the curia. The marshal (marescalcus) commands the papal knights and hired troops: Giacomo (Jacob), the pope's cousin (consobrinus), named in the Enciclopedia dei Papi as 'Giacomo Giovanni Oddolina'; he was the first rector of the Campagna and Marittima in 1198 and will lead the papal army to Sicily in 1200. The chamber (camera, the treasury) is under a chamberlain: a Riccardo is attested in 1198 and Ottaviano dei Conti from 1200 (en.wikipedia list); who holds it on 1 January is not pinned (GM ruling 9: Cencio is no longer chamberlain).

Provinces are under rectors or cardinal-legates: the Campagna and Marittima under Landone di Montelongo, the pope's brother-in-law, rector from 1199 (seat Ferentino); the duchy of Spoleto under the cardinal of S. Maria in Aquiro (Gregorio) as rector from summer 1198 (Gregorovius), with Cardinal Gregorio Carelli (S. Giorgio in Velabro) named legate 'in Tuscany and the duchy of Spoleto' in 1199 (FIU); the March of Ancona under cardinal-legates (Cinzio of S.

Lorenzo in Lucina and Giovanni of S. Prisca from March 1198; Cinzio left for Sicily in autumn 1199; Giovanni still acts as legate on 17 November 1199 but sits at the curia in Rome on 7 February 1200; Guido of S. Maria in Trastevere is legate in the March and Romagna from March 1200), so the March may have no legate on the spot that morning; the Patrimony in Tuscany under a rector not named in the sources checked, with the prefect of Rome acting as papal envoy (missus) with powers of justice in Tuscia, Umbria and Spoleto from 1199 (Gregorovius); the Sabina under a papal officer not named; Benevento under a rector not pinned (Roffrido di Uberto of Anagni by 1202).

Castellans hold the papal fortresses.

Family holding land

Riccardo, the pope's elder brother, holds only the family's lands between Segni and Anagni that winter; Poli (1203), Valmontone (1208) and the county of Sora (1208) come later (DBI). His wife is Luciana; their sons Paolo, Giovanni and Stefano are named in the DBI, birth dates not pinned. Annibaldo Annibaldi is married to a sister of the pope (it.wikipedia). Landone di Montelongo, brother-in-law, is the rector of the Campagna.

Great vassals

In Rome: the senator (by oath) and the prefect (by homage, 22 February 1198). In the Campagna: Count Giovanni da Ceccano (who will swear liege homage in 1201), the Colonna of Palestrina and Zagarolo, the Frangipani of Terracina, Circeo and Astura, the lords of Poli, the counts of Supino and the lesser lords (Sgurgola, Collemezzo, Norma). In the Tiburtine hills: the Orsini. In the Patrimony: the prefect's family (di Vico) and the counts of Anguillara (pat).

In Umbria and the March: the communes rather than lords.

Towns and oaths

Summer 1198: Spoleto, Assisi, Rieti, Foligno, Norcia, Gubbio, Todi and Città di Castello submitted; Terni and Norcia swore at Spoleto; Perugia did reverence to a pope and received its communal franchises (Gregorovius). The Tuscan League (formed 11 November 1197) renewed its pact under papal favour in October 1198 but would not hand over the lands of Countess Matilda. The March towns, led by Ancona's league of 31 August 1198, accepted papal lordship.

In 1200 the pope will send the March cities a general letter fixing the oath (renewed every ten years), service in the host, attendance at the rector's assemblies (parlamenta), a yearly tribute and his supreme justice (Enciclopedia dei Papi).

Wars and feuds

• Rome against Viterbo over Vitorchiano: both are the pope's subjects; Innocent excommunicated Viterbo, talked the Tuscan League into recalling the troops it sent, and lets Rome fight; the decisive battle is dated 6 January 1200 (Gregorovius, Luchaire) or the beginning of 1201 (Maleczek, Enciclopedia dei Papi) (see Rome).
• The crusade against Markward of Annweiler, with the crusade indulgence offered from November 1199: Cardinal Cinzio went to Sicily in autumn 1199 to organise the war; the papal army under the marshal Giacomo follows in summer 1200.
• The pope's quarrel with Orvieto and with Narni (pat's records).
• The pope's claim to the Romagna against the archbishop of Ravenna and the towns (thin).

Side

The papal party: the regency council in Palermo (the chancellor Walter of Palear, who will fall out with the pope at the end of 1200), the loyal counts of the kingdom, Montecassino under Abbot Roffredo, the Tuscan League as a friendly power. Against: Markward and his Muslim allies in Sicily, Diepold and the German captains on the mainland. Neutral in law, leaning to Otto IV in the German quarrel.

Coinage

Rome's mint is among the papal regalia the senator swears to defend (Gregorovius); the Roman penny of the senate (the provisini struck by the commune from the later twelfth century) circulates with the pennies of Pavia, Lucca and Provins. Whether a papal coin is struck in 1200 is not pinned.

Fleet

None of its own. Transport to Sicily is hired.

As seen from the France and Iberia sheet

Ground the research found in the hands of Pope Innocent III's officers on 1 January 1200, as distinct from the lands he only claims. On this sheet that is the northern edge of the March of Ancona round Pesaro and Fano, which the pope took back from Markward of Annweiler in 1198 (campaign notes Part 5), and the papal castle of Radicofani on the road to Rome. The pope also claims the Romagna and the lands of Countess Matilda, but there he has no rector, garrison or revenue that winter, so that ground is drawn under the archbishop of Ravenna, the communes and the rural lords who actually hold it.

The rest of the Papal State is left for a later sheet.

Name

Innocent III

Title

Pope

Confidence

high

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. 6 January 1200 (Gregorovius, Luchaire); the Enciclopedia dei Papi puts the victory early in 1201Rome's host under the senator Pandolfo della Suburra defeats the Viterbese on the road to Vitorchiano; the pope takes the noble prisoners into his custody and brokers a peace by which Viterbo submits to the Roman senate.Depends on: Both sides seeking battle in midwinter; Riccardo Conti's money for the Roman militia. Stopped by: A truce imposed by the pope; the Tuscan League or Count Ildebrandino Aldobrandeschi relieving Viterbo.
2. March 1200Cardinal Guido of S. Maria in Trastevere goes as legate to the March of Ancona and the province of Ravenna (to the autumn).Depends on: The pope's wish to assert the Romagna claim. Stopped by: The archbishop of Ravenna and the Romagna towns refusing to receive him.
3. 1200, month not pinnedGeneral letter to the March towns fixing their oath, service, assemblies and tribute.Depends on: The towns accepting papal lordship as better than German. Stopped by: A Staufen or Welf army reaching the March.
4. 1200, month not pinned (spring or summer)The marshal Giacomo takes a hired army to Sicily; on 21 July 1200 it beats Markward near Monreale and breaks his blockade of Palermo; Henry VI's testament is found in Markward's baggage; a second defeat at Randazzo follows the same year.Depends on: Money for the troops; shipping; the chancellor Walter of Palear and Gentile of Manoppello holding Palermo until relief. Stopped by: Markward taking Palermo first; the regency council treating with him.
5. 1200, month not pinnedWalter of Brienne, husband of King Tancred's daughter, comes to Rome to claim Lecce and Taranto; the pope accepts in 1201 under conditions protecting Frederick's rights.Depends on: The pope's need for a captain against the Germans. Stopped by: The pope refusing to endanger his ward's rights.
6. 1200 (it.wikipedia) or 1201 (DBI, Enciclopedia dei Papi)Count Giovanni da Ceccano swears fealty and acknowledges holding Ceccano of the Roman Church.Depends on: The pope's pressure on the Campagna barons. Stopped by: A Ceccano revolt or an alliance with the kingdom's barons.
7. End of 1200The chancellor Walter of Palear admits Markward to the king's household council, breaking with the pope.Depends on: Markward's victories elsewhere and Walter's fear of the papal marshal. Stopped by: A decisive papal victory in Sicily.
8. 25 or 27 October 1200Death of Conrad of Wittelsbach, cardinal-bishop of Sabina and archbishop of Mainz (GM Part 10); the see of Sabina falls vacant.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Nothing in play.

Places of note

• The Lateran: Papal palace and cathedral, seat of the curia and the chamber
• Ferentino: Seat of the rector of the Campagna and Marittima
• Fumone: Papal fortress on its hill above the Sacco valley
• Lariano: Papal fortress on the Alban hills where the Viterbese prisoners are held in 1200
• Ceprano: Papal frontier town at the Liri crossing into the kingdom
• Veroli: Where three cardinals (Ottaviano of Ostia, Ugolino and Guido of S. Maria in Trastevere) negotiated with Markward in 1199 and received his renunciation of the regency (FIU), which he broke by sailing for Sicily

Where the sources disagree

• GM Parts 2 and 5 say Innocent took back 'Spoleto, Assisi and Sora' from Conrad of Urslingen. Sora was held by a different German, Conrad of Marlenheim, from 1191 to January 1208 (DBI on Conrad of Marlenheim and on Riccardo Conti); it is not papal on 1 January 1200.
• Viterbo battle date: Gregorovius and Luchaire give 6 January 1200; the Enciclopedia dei Papi says 'early 1201'; the DBI on Riccardo Conti dates his gift for the 'second campaign' to 1199 or 1201. The GM should rule whether the battle falls five days into the game.
• The marshal: the Enciclopedia dei Papi names the pope's cousin and marshal 'Giacomo Giovanni Oddolina' and, separately, 'Giacomo di Andria, related to Innocent', who fought Markward; the Church map record treats them as one man (later count of Andria). Not pinned.
• GM Part 4 lists Gregorio Crescenzi as deacon of S. Maria in Aquiro; Gregorovius makes 'the cardinal of S. Maria in Aquiro' rector of the duchy of Spoleto in summer 1198.
• GM Part 11 ruling 1 (Guido of S. Maria in Trastevere): FIU makes him Guido de Papa (Papareschi), a Roman, son of Cencius de Papa, who sat on the Veroli commission with Markward in 1199 and is legate in the March from March 1200.

Evidence: Thick for the settlement of Rome and the 1198 recoveries (Gesta Innocentii through Gregorovius and Luchaire); fair for the legates (FIU); thin for the rectors in office on 1 January 1200, which no source pins exactly.

On the map: The outlines show papal lordship, not papal possession: inside them the communes govern themselves and the barons hold their castles. The three 'outline only' parts are rough frames for colouring; the pat and anc town and lord records decide the detail, including contested ground (Orvieto, Narni, Viterbo). Benevento is drawn by cam. The Liri frontier follows the line kept until 1860 on this stretch (Ceprano, Falvaterra, Castro and Vallecorsa papal; Sora, Arce, San Giovanni Incarico and Fondi in the kingdom).

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.

• Annals of Montecassino; Annals of Ceccano (Fossanova) (12th and early 13th centuries; Ceccano to 1217). Two sets of annals from either side of the papal and Sicilian frontier. Read online
• Chronicle of Richard of San Germano, Richard of San Germano (first version about 1216, enlarged to 1243). The fullest southern narrative of the Hohenstaufen kingdom, written by a notary on the border of the Terra di Lavoro. Read online
• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• Chronicle of Andres, William of Andres (about 1220 to 1234). The chronicle and cartulary of a small abbey between Guines and Ardres, near the border of Flanders and Boulogne. Read online
• Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
• Chronicle of Robert of Auxerre, Robert of Auxerre (Robert of Saint-Marien) (about 1190 to 1211; continued at Saint-Marien to 1227). A universal chronicle whose last twenty years are contemporary and well informed from Burgundy and the Auxerrois. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• 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
• Chronicle of the World (Lucas of Tuy), Lucas de Tuy (1236, for Queen Berenguela). The Leonese counterpart to Rodrigo, written at San Isidoro for Berenguela. Read online
• Universal Chronicle of the Anonymous of Laon, Anonymous (an English-born canon of Laon) (about 1219). A Picard chronicle whose author had lived in England and keeps an eye on both kingdoms. Read online
• Deeds of Philip Augustus, Rigord (about 1186 to 1206, in stages). The French court's own chronicle for the year, from the monk of Saint-Denis who called himself the king's chronographer. Read online
• The Deeds of Innocent III, Anonymous (a curial official, perhaps Peter of Benevento) (about 1208 to 1209). The curia's own account of the pontificate's first decade, with letters copied in. Read online

8 more in the sources library for Southern Italy and the Islands.