Lombard League and Related Topics

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

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.

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

Battle of Legnano

Frederick Barbarossa in a miniature of 1188

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

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

Frederick Barbarossa kneeling before Henry the Lion at Chiavenna

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

The Olona River at the Visconteo castle in Legnano

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

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

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

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

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

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

Konstanz: commemorative plaque of the peace treaty

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

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.

A gold augustalis bearing Frederick's effigy

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225.

Arms of the House of Hohenstaufen as Holy Roman Emperor.

Frederick's birth in Jesi (illustration in Giovanni Villani's Nuova Cronica, ca. 1348)

Seals used by Frederick as Emperor (ed. Otto Posse 1909):
1: first imperial seal (1221–1225),
2: second imperial seal (1226),
3: third imperial seal, addition of the title of King of Jerusalem (1226–1250)
4: seal used in 1221 and 1225,
5: first seal as King of Jerusalem (1233).

An augustale coin of Frederick II, from the Messina mint of Sicily, struck some time after 1231

Frederick II (left) meets Al-Kamil (right). Nuova Cronica, c. 1348.

A statue of Frederick II from the Black Tower of Regensburg, c. 1280–1290.

The victorious Battle of Cortenuova against the 2nd Lombard League (1237), Nuova Cronica (c. 1348).

Frederick II's troops paid with leather coins during the sieges of Brescia and Faenza, Nuova Cronica (c. 1348).

Battle of Giglio, against Gregory IX (1241), miniature in Chronica Maiora (1259).

Contemporary bust of Frederick II in Barletta

Castel del Monte, in Andria, Apulia, Italy.

Frederick II being excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV

The porphyry sarcophagus of Frederick II in the Cathedral of Palermo

A 1781 picture showing the mummified corpse of Frederick II in Palermo

Stained glass windows from the Strasbourg Cathedral, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France, dated circa 1210–1270, depicting emperors of the Holy Roman Empire: Philip of Swabia, Henry IV, Henry V, and Frederick II

Those assembled responded with the reformation of the Lombard League, which had already defeated his grandfather Frederick Barbarossa in the 12th century, and again Milan was chosen as the league's leader.

Padua

City and comune in Veneto, northern Italy.

Remnants of Padua's Roman amphitheatre wall

The Botanical Garden of Padova today; in the background, the Basilica of Sant'Antonio

The unfinished façade of Padua Cathedral

Clock tower and Lion of St. Mark, symbol of the Serenissima Repubblic

Last Judgment by Giotto, part of the Scrovegni Chapel.

This tempera, Two Christians before the Judges, hangs in the city's Cathedral.

Loggia Amulea, as seen from Prato della Valle

Torre degli Anziani as seen from Piazza della Frutta

The Astronomical clock as seen from Piazza dei Signori

The temporary success of the Lombard League helped to strengthen the towns.

Northern Italy

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

Member cities of the first and second Lombard League.

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

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.

Verona

City on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants.

The Lion of Saint Mark, located in Piazza delle Erbe, the symbol of the Venetian Republic

The Arche scaligere, tombs of the ancient lords of Verona

Panoramic view of the city from Castel San Pietro

Palazzo del Governo is the seat of the Province of Verona

San Zeno Basilica, like many other Veronese churches, is built with alternating layers of white stone and bricks

In 1164 Verona joined with Vicenza, Padua and Treviso to create the Veronese League, which was integrated with the Lombard League in 1167 to battle against Frederick I Barbarossa.

Cremona

City and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the Pianura Padana (Po Valley).

City coat of arms of Cremona on the town hall

The Cathedral and the Baptistery of Cremona

Statue of Stradivari in Stradivari Square

Astronomical clock on the Torrazzo belltower

However, in 1167 the city changed sides and joined the Lombard League.

Piacenza

City and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, the capital of the eponymous province.

Two gold Doppie (1626) depicting Odoardo Farnese (obv) and Placentia floret ("Piacenza flourishes")(rev).

The French Pass the River Po at Piacenza, by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti, 1803.

Piacenza railway bridge over Po river in a 19th-century image.

Piazza Cavalli and the façade of Palazzo Comunale il Gotico''.

Basilica of Sant'Antonino, Piacenza, patron of Piacenza.

From 1126, Piacenza was a free commune and an important member of the Lombard League.

Ezzelino III da Romano

Italian feudal lord, a member of the Ezzelino family, in the March of Treviso (in modern Veneto).

At this time control over Verona was important because Frederick II was in conflict with the Second Lombard League, an alliance of cities in Northern Italy.

SOLE
Defensive towers at San Gimignano, Tuscany, bear witness to the factional strife within communes.

Medieval commune

Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms) among the citizens of a town or city.

Milan led the Lombard cities against the Holy Roman Emperors and defeated them, gaining independence (battles of Legnano, 1176, and Parma, 1248).