A report on Lombard League, Battle of Legnano and Bologna

Lombard standard bearer re-entering Milan in 1167 (the year of the League's foundation) after its destruction in 1162 by Emperor Frederick I. Bas-relief Porta Romana, Milan (1171)

The defense of the Carroccio during the battle of Legnano (by Amos Cassioli, 1860)

Member cities of the first and second Lombard League.

Frederick Barbarossa in a miniature of 1188

Lombard milites depicted on the Porta Romana relief of 1171

A Bronze replica of the Peace of Constance in Konstanz. Illustrating the comunes of the Lombard League in 1183.

The Milanese in the presence of Frederick Barbarossa ask for clemency after the surrender of the city (1162)

Porta Maggiore, one of the twelve medieval city gates of Bologna

Medieval miniature depicting the Battle of Cortenuova (1237)

Pontida: plaque commemorating the constitutive oath of the Lombard League (1167).

Depiction of a 14th-century fight between the Guelf and Ghibelline factions in Bologna, from the Croniche of Giovanni Sercambi of Lucca

Medieval miniature depicting the Battle of Parma (1248)

Frederick Barbarossa kneeling before Henry the Lion at Chiavenna

Medieval miniature depicting the Battle of Fossalta (1249)

The sepulcher and a copy of the cross by Ariberto d'Intimiano, in Milan Cathedral.

Engraving of the city of Bologna from Leandro Alberti's History of Bologna, 1590, showing the two surviving towers and several others

The Olona River at the Visconteo castle in Legnano

Piazza del Nettuno in 1855, looking towards Piazza Maggiore

A video showing the phases of the battle of Legnano, highlighting the troop movements

Sappers of the 136 Indian Railway Maintenance Company repair some of the extensive damage to the railyards in 1945.

The Carroccio during the battle of Legnano in a painting by Amos Cassioli

Aerial photograph of Bologna (from East to West).

The ancient medieval church of San Giorgio in a watercolor by Giuseppe Pirovano of 1892

Matteo Lepore, mayor of Bologna since 2021

The Carroccio with the cross of Aribert in a miniature of the 11th century

Fiera District, seat of the regional government of Emilia-Romagna

The soldiers of the Lombard League who seek in vain the dead body of Frederick Barbarossa on a 1913 illustration

View of the Parco castello in Legnano. In the background you can see the Legnanese quarter of Costa San Giorgio, while in the foreground you can see part of the escarpment that may have been the scene of the battle of Legnano

Piazza Maggiore, with San Petronio Basilica, Palazzo dei Banchi and Palazzo del Podestà

The church of San Martino in Legnano, which dominates a slope that slopes down towards the Olona, another possible place where the battle of Legnano may have been fought

The colourful open-air market of Via Pescherie Vecchie

Konstanz: commemorative plaque of the peace treaty

Il Monument to the Warrior of Legnano, often mistakenly associated with Alberto da Giussano

View from the top of the Basilica di San Petronio: the dome of Santuario di Santa Maria della Vita dominates the foreground; the Asinelli (higher) and Garisenda towers ("Due Torri") are seen on the right.

Unipol Tower, at 127 m, is the city's tallest building.

A Trolleybus of the urban trolleybus network managed by TPER, photographed in Via Saffi

The University of Bologna is the world's oldest institution of higher learning, founded in AD 1088.

Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio, dating from 1637

The International museum and library of music displays ancient musical instruments and unique musical scores from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

Tagliatelle al ragù bolognese, as served in Bologna

The 32,000-capacity Stadio Renato Dall'Ara is the home of Bologna FC 1909.

Pope Benedict XIV, born in Bologna in 1675

The Battle of Legnano was a battle between the imperial army of Frederick Barbarossa and the troops of the Lombard League on May 29, 1176, near the town of Legnano in present-day Lombardy, in Italy.

- Battle of Legnano

Formed at Pontida on 1 December 1167, the Lombard League included—beside Verona, Padua, Vicenza and Venice—cities like Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Vercelli, Lodi, Parma, Ferrara and even some lords, such as the Marquis Malaspina and Ezzelino da Romano.

- Lombard League

At the Battle of Legnano on 29 May 1176, the emperor's army finally was defeated.

- Lombard League

However, when Frederick Barbarossa subsequently attempted to strike down the deal, Bologna joined the Lombard League, which then defeated the imperial armies at the Battle of Legnano and established an effective autonomy at the Peace of Constance in 1183.

- Bologna

After the battle, the Milanese wrote to the Bolognese, their allies in the League, a letter stating, among other things, that they had in custody, right in Milan, a conspicuous loot in gold and silver, the banner, the shield and the imperial spear, and a large number of prisoners, including Count Berthold I of Zähringen (one of the princes of the Empire), Philip of Alsace (one of the empress's grandchildren) and Gosvino of Heinsberg (the brother of the Archbishop of Cologne).

- Battle of Legnano

2 related topics with Alpha

Northern Italy

0 links

Geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy.

Ancient peoples of Northern Italy, with Celtic peoples shown in blue.

Migration of the Lombards towards Northern Italy

The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries a symbol of the Kings of Italy

Anti-Fascist Partisans in the streets of Bologna after the general insurrection of April 1945

The Alps in Val Maira, Province of Cuneo

Farming landscape in the Po Plain at Sant'Agata Bolognese

Alpine lakes like Lake Garda are characterised by warmer microclimates than the surrounding areas

Fog on the Secchia River near Modena. Fog is a common occurrence in the Po Plain

Languages and regional varieties in Italy

In pre-Roman centuries it was inhabited by different peoples among whom the Ligures, the ancient Veneti, who prospered through their trade in amber and breeding of horses, the Etruscans, attested in Northern Italy at least since the early Iron Age during the Villanova period, founded the city of Bologna and spread the use of writing; later, starting from the 5th century BC, the area was invaded by Celtic – Gallic tribes.

This process led to the creation of different Lombard Leagues formed by allied cities of Lombardy that defeated the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick I, at Legnano, and his grandson Frederick II, at Parma, and becoming virtually independent from the German emperors.

A golden bust of Frederick I, given to his godfather Count Otto of Cappenberg in 1171. It was used as a reliquary in Cappenberg Abbey and is said in the deed of the gift to have been made "in the likeness of the emperor".

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

0 links

The Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later.

13th-century stained glass image of Frederick I, Strasbourg Cathedral

Penny or denier with Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, struck in Nijmegen

Wax seal of Frederick I, used in the imperial residence of Pfalz Wimpfen

Frederick's so-called baptismal cup, silver, partly gilded, Aachen 1160

The Barbarossa Chandelier in Aachen Cathedral was donated by Frederick sometime after 1165 as a tribute to Charlemagne.

Frederick Barbarossa, middle, flanked by two of his children, King Henry VI (left) and Duke Frederick VI (right). From the Historia Welforum

The now secularised St Peter's Church at Petersberg Citadel, Erfurt, where Henry the Lion submitted to Barbarossa in 1181

Path of the Third Crusade, Frederick Barbarossa's path in red

Frederick Barbarossa depicted during the Third Crusade

Barbarossa drowns in the Saleph, from the Gotha Manuscript of the Saxon World Chronicle

A German expedition led by Johann Nepomuk Sepp to excavate the bones from the ruins of the Crusader Cathedral of Tyre, 1879

The Frederick Barbarossa Memorial, near Silifke in Mersin Province, southern Turkey. The text explains in Turkish and German how Frederick drowned nearby.

Frederick Barbarossa as a crusader, miniature from a copy of the Historia Hierosolymitana, 1188

Frederick sends out the boy to see whether the ravens still fly.

Pavia, Basilica of San Michele Maggiore, the five stones above which the throne was placed during coronation of Frederick I.

Moving through Bologna and Tuscany, he was soon approaching the city of Rome.

) He was opposed by the pro-papal Lombard League (now joined by Venice, Sicily and Constantinople), which had previously formed to stand against him.

Frederick suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Legnano near Milan, on 29 May 1176, where he was wounded and for some time was believed to be dead.