Commune of Pistoia

Who rules

Name

Not pinned. Pistoia has had a podestà since 1158, chosen from among its own citizens until 1219, when outsiders begin; we found no name for 1199 or 1200.

Title

The commune of Pistoia (a podestà chosen from its own citizens, or consuls)

Confidence

low

it.wikipedia, Storia di Pistoia; the twelfth-century statutes of the consuls and of the podestà survive (published as Statuti di Pistoia del sec. XII, Bologna 1882), but the office-holders of 1199-1200 are not in what we read.

Overlord

The Empire; a city of imperial loyalty under Frederick I, who is said to have styled it most faithful to the Empire (it.wikipedia).

What the realm holds

• The city and its near countryside
• The plain of the Ombrone: Agliana, Montale, Quarrata (Tizzana)
• Carmignano and the Montalbano's north side (Lamporecchio, Larciano) [Carmignano taken from Florence in 1150]
• Serravalle, the border castle facing the Valdinievole
• The Pistoia mountain: the upper Reno and Lima valleys (San Marcello, Cutigliano) and the Sambuca on the road to Bologna [the Sambuca is fought over with Bologna until 1219]
• Marliana and the hills toward Pescia

How it was acquired

A commune from the end of the eleventh century; first consuls named in the statute dated 1117 (Bonetto, Placito, Diotisalvi, Gerardo, Guido, as it.wikipedia gives them); a podestà from 1158. Won Carmignano from Florence in 1150; the 1180 settlement with Lucca and Montecatini set the frontiers: Serravalle and Lucca to the west, Montemurlo and Florence to the east, the Arno and Florence to the south, the Apennine ridge and Bologna to the north.

Allies and rivals

Friend of Pisa (and later of Siena); rival of Florence on the Montalbano and at Carmignano and Montemurlo (the Guidi's castle); rival of Lucca in the Valdinievole; rival of Bologna over the Apennine passes (the Sambuca, Treppio, Torri, Pavana). Neighbour of the counts Guidi (Montemurlo, Vinci, Cerreto) and of the counts of Capraia, an Alberti branch, who will swear mutual defence with Pistoia in 1204. The bishop of Pistoia is a Church map record.

The realm that morning

Pistoia holds its contado on 1 January 1200 without a known war. It is outside the Tuscan League (it.wikipedia, Lega di San Genesio), which leaves it isolated between league members Florence and Lucca and close to Pisa. The Bolognese hold the upper Limentra (Treppio, Torri, Pavana) until Pistoia's war of 1219-20. We found no evidence of a raided border with Lucca or Florence that winter.

Wealth

The road from Lucca and the Valdinievole to Florence and over the Apennines to Bologna; money-changing (it.wikipedia says the city had many banks of money-changers about 1200 and merchants who traded at the Flanders fairs); iron and timber of the mountain; the cloth trade.

Military

The city militia; the castles of Serravalle, Carmignano and the mountain; a record of hard fighting with Florence (1150), Lucca (1180) and later Bologna (1219-20). No numbers in the sources we used.

Threats

• Florence and the league round it
• Lucca in the Valdinievole
• Bologna on the Apennine passes

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. 1199-1225Work goes on on the cathedral's bell tower (Treccani dates it 1199-1225).
2. Beyond 1200: 1204The counts of Capraia swear mutual defence with Pistoia, then yield their castle to Florence a few months later.Depends on: Florence's pressure on the lower Arno.

Places of note

• Serravalle: Border castle on the ridge facing the Valdinievole (the 1180 frontier)
• Carmignano: Castle taken from Florence in 1150
• The Sambuca: Castle on the road to Bologna; Pistoia drives the Bolognese out of it in 1219

Where the sources disagree

• Membership of the Tuscan League: it.wikipedia (Lega di San Genesio) says Pistoia did not join; en.wikipedia (Tuscan League) does not mention it. We follow it.wikipedia; the campaign notes say only that Pisa stood outside.

Evidence: The general frame (1150, 1158, 1180, 1219-20, 1228) is dated in it.wikipedia and Treccani; the officers of 1199-1200 and the exact extent of the mountain lordship are not.

On the map: Drawn from the 1180 frontiers as it.wikipedia gives them; the mountain border with Bologna and the Montalbano line with the Guidi are approximate.