Commune of Vicenza

Who rules

Name

Not pinned: no podesta or consul of Vicenza for 1199 or 1200 was found in the sources checked

Title

Podesta or consuls

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

it.wikipedia Storia di Vicenza names no officer for 1195-1201; the first named podesta found is Guglielmo Pusterla in 1208

Overlord

The Empire in law (Peace of Constance, 1183)

What the realm holds

• The city and its suburbs
• The Agno and Chiampo valleys (Arzignano, Valdagno) and the Leogra (Schio)
• Thiene, Breganze, Marostica and the hills under the Asiago plateau
• The plain to the Tesina and the Brenta (Sandrigo, Camisano, Grisignano)
• The Berici hills, Barbarano, Sossano, Orgiano, Noventa and Lonigo

How it was acquired

The commune appears with consuls by 1147 and took the bishop's and the counts' public rights through the twelfth century; Vicenza extended its rule over Bassano in 1175 (it.wikipedia, Bassano) but lost it to Ezzelino's sale to Padua in 1193-94.

Allies and rivals

Allied with Treviso and Verona in 1198 against the patriarch and the bishop of Ceneda (DBI Prata). At war with Padua in 1197-99. Ezzelino II fought on Padua's side at Carmignano in 1198, then made a separate peace with Vicenza in 1199 (en.wikipedia), for which the Paduans destroyed his castle of Onara.

The realm that morning

Officers that morning: not pinned. Bishop Pistore (since 1184; a Church map record) is alive; his advocates the da Vivaro hold the bishop's castle of Pieve in the Leogra valley. Whether Vicenza and Padua are formally at peace on 1 January 1200 is not pinned; the fighting of 1198-99 had ended with Ezzelino's separate peace and the destruction of Onara. Bassano: Vicenza's claim was upheld by the rectors of the Lombard League in 1196, but Vicenza never got it back (DBI Ezzelino II).

Leading families besides the two parties: the Trissino, the da Breganze, the da Sossano, the da Sarego, the da Arzignano.

Wealth

Wool and cloth, silk not yet; the iron and timber of the Prealps, the Bacchiglione and the Brenta trade; markets in the city and at Thiene and Marostica.

Military

City militia and the knights of the two parties; the bishop's and the counts' castles in the hills. No figures.

Threats

• The count's and the church's parties fighting inside the city
• Padua on the Brenta
• Ezzelino's shifting friendship

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, before 10 JulyThe Maltraversi take the bishop's castle of Pieve from the da Vivaro in a night attack; Bishop Pistore dies trying to retake it (death on 10 July 1200); the da Vivaro recover the castle.Depends on: The feud over the bishop's fiefs continuing as before. Stopped by: A settlement between the counts and the bishop, or the da Vivaro guarding Pieve.
2. After July 1200A new bishop (Uberto, attested from about 1204) is chosen amid the feud.Depends on: Pistore's death. Stopped by: Pistore surviving.

Places of note

• Castle of Pieve (Pievebelvicino), the bishop's castle held by the da Vivaro: Seized by the Maltraversi in 1200 (likely course)
• Castle of Carmignano (destroyed 1198): Vicenza's Brenta castle destroyed by Padua and Ezzelino

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The parties and the bishop's death are known; the commune's officers in 1199-1200 and the Padua peace terms are not pinned.

On the map: Bassano and the Brenta frontier are rough. The Asiago plateau lies outside the polygon but is anchored to Vicenza with low confidence: its 1200 lords (the bishop of Padua's rights, the da Romano, Vicenza's claims) are not pinned. Cologna and Lonigo are Vicentine by diocese and taken as Vicenza's here.

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