Commune of Pisa

Who rules

Name

Not pinned for the morning of 1 January 1200. Count Tedice della Gherardesca's second term as podestà ran from 9 April 1197 to 10 April 1199; the Dizionario Biografico says that in 1200 internal conflicts prevented the election of a supreme magistrate. Who governed between April 1199 and 1200 (consuls, rectors or an interim podestà) is not settled by the sources we could read.

Title

The commune of Pisa (its chief magistrate, the podestà, or its consuls)

Since

April 1199 (end of Tedice's term)

Confidence

low

Treccani DBI, DELLA GHERARDESCA, Tedice: first podestà of Pisa 29 July 1190 to 30 May 1192; elected again 22 September 1196; in office 9 April 1197 to 10 April 1199; 'in 1200 and 1212 no supreme magistrate could be elected because of internal conflicts'. Pisan terms seem to begin in spring, and Pisan documents count the year from 25 March of the year before ours (the Pisan style), so a Pisan '1200' runs from 25 March 1199 to 24 March 1200 and may cover 1 January 1200.

Overlord

The Empire (kingdom of Italy). Pisa holds its regalia by diplomas of Frederick I (6 April 1162) and Henry VI (1 March 1191, 30 May 1192). It has taken no side between Philip of Swabia and Otto IV that we could find.

What the realm holds

• The city, its suburbs and the near countryside (see the town record)
• The contado: the lower Arno plain (Cascina, Pontedera), the Monte Pisano side (Calci, Vicopisano, Buti, Calcinaia), the Pisan hills and the Valdera (Lari, Crespina, Fauglia, Ponsacco, Capannoli, Peccioli, Terricciola, Chianni), the coast from the Serchio mouth past Porto Pisano and Livorno to Rosignano and Cecina
• The Pisan Maremma, much of it held by the Gherardesca counts as Pisan citizens: Montescudaio, Bibbona, Bolgheri, Castagneto, Donoratico, Sassetta, Campiglia (Pisan since 1158), Piombino (a commune under Pisa)
• Porto Pisano, the city's harbour north of Livorno; Livorno itself, a castle of the archbishop
• Elba with its iron mines; the islands of Capraia, Gorgona and Pianosa in the Pisan sphere [evidence thin for each island]
• Peccioli and its castle, granted to the commune by Henry VI in 1192
• Overseas quarters and privileges: Acre, Tyre (where the Pisan company of the Vermigli helped defend the city in 1187), Constantinople (peace and trade treaty renewed with Isaac II in February 1192; a new embassy sent in summer 1198), Alexandria, and the privileges Henry VI promised in the kingdom of Sicily
• Claims in Sardinia through the archbishop's primacy (confirmed by Innocent III in March 1198) and the judge of Cagliari's oath of fealty to Pisa (1196); claims in Corsica, where Genoa took Bonifacio in 1195

How it was acquired

A consular commune from the late eleventh century. Frederick I's diploma of 6 April 1162 confirmed its jurisdiction and its coast; Henry VI confirmed and enlarged its privileges in 1191 and 1192 in return for its fleet against the kingdom of Sicily. Its first podestà, Count Tedice della Gherardesca, took office on 29 July 1190. The contado was built castle by castle: Vicopisano passed from the archbishop to the commune's control in 1161, Campiglia came under Pisa in 1158 through the archbishop's purchase of the Serena abbey's holdings, Peccioli by Henry VI's grant of 1192.

Allies and rivals

Rival of Genoa at sea, in Sardinia and in Corsica; at peace with Lucca since 1181 after long wars over the Serchio border, the Versilia and the coinage; old ally of Florence (the treaty of 1171) though Florence now leads the league Pisa refused; friendly to Pistoia, which also stayed out of the league. In Sardinia Pisa backs William, judge of Cagliari (a Pisan citizen of the marquises of Massa), against Comita III of Torres and the Genoese. The leading families are the Visconti (Eldizio, consul in 1184-85, and his sons Lamberto and Ubaldo, both later podestà), the Gherardesca counts, the Upezzinghi, the Gualandi, the Sismondi, the Orlandi and the Lanfranchi; the feud of the Visconti and the counts already splits the city, though the party names of the 1230s (the pars Vicecomitum and the pars Comitum) should not be used for 1200.

The realm that morning

The commune holds its city and contado securely; no other power is in arms on Pisan ground that winter. At the top there is no settled magistrate: Tedice's term ended in April 1199 and the city is divided over the succession. At sea, the quarrel with Genoa is open: the cardinals Pietro Diani and Graziano were sent in the second half of 1198 to renew the peace of 1188 and no peace or truce from their mission is attested; the next dated truce is at Lerici on 26 April 1209.

In Sardinia, Pisa's man William of Cagliari has taken Arborea (1198) and holds its judge Peter and his son Barison prisoner; a Genoese raid razed Santa Igia near Cagliari about 1198; Comita III, judge of Torres since December 1198, has made terms with William and Archbishop Ubaldo and accepted Ubaldo as permanent legate, but accuses William before the pope. With Rome, Pisa is in an uneasy position: Celestine III laid it under interdict for refusing the Tuscan League; Innocent III lifted it, then threatened to renew it, and on 30 October 1198 urged Pisa to join the league he had taken under his protection. Pisa has not joined.

Wealth

Shipping and the carrying trade of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Levant; the salt and harbour dues of Porto Pisano; Elba iron and the metal of the Campiglia hills (Rocca San Silvestro's copper and silver-bearing lead, in decline by the end of the twelfth century); Sardinian grain, salt and silver; a mint of its own from the mid-twelfth century, long a cause of quarrels with Lucca's older coinage; the Arno trade with Florence.

Military

A great galley fleet raised from the city and its contado (in 1165 the men of Vico alone armed one of eleven galleys sent against the Genoese in Sardinia, it.wikipedia); the city militia and the knights of the consular families; the Gherardesca and other comital houses owe service as citizens. Castles along the Lucca border (Ripafratta, Vicopisano, Calcinaia, Pontedera) and on the coast (Livorno, Piombino). No numbers are given in the sources we used.

Threats

• Civil strife over the podesteria: no supreme magistrate can be elected in 1200
• Genoa at sea, in Corsica (Bonifacio) and in Sardinia through the judges of Torres
• Papal pressure: the threat of renewed interdict while Pisa stays out of the league
• Lucca and Florence, both in the league, on its land frontiers

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 (if the DBI year is Pisan style, the vacancy already runs from April 1199; if common style, the failure comes at the spring 1200 election)The factions fail to agree and no supreme magistrate is elected for 1200 (DBI on Tedice della Gherardesca).Depends on: The Visconti and the counts' parties staying deadlocked. Stopped by: A compromise candidate, a foreign podestà accepted by both sides, or the archbishop's mediation.
2. Early 1200William of Cagliari asks Innocent III for the half of Arborea that belonged to his prisoner Peter; Innocent refuses, having agreed in secret with Hugh of Bas to leave Peter's half and the fortresses in Hugh's hands.Depends on: William still holding Peter and the Arborean castles; the pope's protection of Arborea. Stopped by: William's release of Peter or a settlement with Hugh.
3. Late 1200 (November or December; the year is not certain)Innocent summons William and Comita of Torres to Rome; the Pisans refuse to let William, a Pisan citizen, answer before a foreign court.Depends on: Comita pressing his complaint; Pisa's insistence on judging its own citizens. Stopped by: A peace between the two judges.
4. No date pinned in 1200Genoese and Pisan ships may clash in the Tyrrhenian and off Sardinia; we found no dated battle or truce in 1200.Depends on: No peace being made. Stopped by: A truce brokered by the pope's cardinals.

Places of note

• Porto Pisano: The city's harbour in the inlet north of Livorno, joined to Pisa by road
• Livorno castle: Castle of the archbishop of Pisa, guarding Porto Pisano
• Ripafratta: Border castle in the Serchio gorge between the two cities; a fief of the da Ripafratta consortium (called Lucchese by it.wikipedia), rebuilt as a fortress in 1162-64 and dedicated to Lucca's patron San Paolino; Pisa holds it by 1256, when it must cede it. Its side on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
• Vicopisano: Castle on the old Arno and Serezza crossing; the commune's since 1161
• Piombino: Port and small commune under Pisa, opposite Elba
• Portoferraio (Ferraia): Landing on Elba; the island's iron goes out through its harbours

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes Part 5 say the Tuscan League was formed in 1197 'with papal favour'. The sources disagree on the pope: the league was made under Celestine III's legates and with two cardinals present, but Innocent III at first condemned it (it.wikipedia, Lega di San Genesio, quoting his letter) and accepted it only after failed talks, placing it under his protection on 30 October 1198. By 1 January 1200 the league does have papal favour, so the notes stand, but the campaign should know Innocent's first reaction was hostile.
• en.wikipedia (Tuscan League) says Celestine III laid Pisa under interdict for refusing the league and Innocent III lifted it; this is not in the campaign notes and is worth a line in Pisa's briefing.

Evidence: Tedice's terms, the imperial diplomas, the cardinals' mission and the Sardinian events are dated; the officers in office on 1 January 1200 and the state of the Genoese war that winter are not settled.

On the map: The contado outline is drawn from the castles known to be Pisan around 1200 (Vicopisano, Calcinaia, Pontedera, Peccioli, Campiglia, Livorno, Piombino) and from the later Pisan district; the line with Volterra's lands in the Val di Cecina and with the Lucchese places of the lower Valdarno (Palaia, Montopoli, Marti) is approximate.

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 Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
• Annals of Pisa, by Bernardo Maragone, with continuation, Bernardo Maragone (1160s to 1175, continued to 1192). Pisa's official annals stop in 1175 and their continuation in 1192, so there is no Pisan narrative for 1200 itself. Read online
• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
• The register of San Pietro di Silki (11th to 13th centuries). A monastic register of lands, serfs, gifts and lawsuits in the giudicato of Torres (Logudoro), written in the vernacular.
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• Greek Acts and Documents of the Middle Ages, Sacred and Secular (documents of the 9th to 15th centuries, edited by F. Miklosich and J. Muller, 6 vols (Vienna, 1860 to 1890)). Volume 3 (Acta et diplomata res Graecas Italasque illustrantia, 1865) prints the imperial chrysobulls to Venice, including Alexios III's of November 1198 with its list of the provinces and towns of the Empire where Venetians traded, the best single picture of the imperial provinces as they stood on 1 January 1200, together with the Pisan and Genoese privileges. Read online
• Documents on the older commercial and political history of the Republic of Venice, part 1, 814 to 1205 (documents of 814 to 1205, edited 1856). Venice's treaties and privileges in full text. Read online