The history ofItaly in the Middle Ages can be roughly defined as the time between thecollapse of the Western Roman Empire and theItalian Renaissance.Late antiquity inItaly lingered on into the 7th century under theOstrogothic Kingdom and theByzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty, theByzantine Papacy until the mid 8th century. The "Middle Ages" proper begin as the Byzantine Empire wasweakening under the pressure of theMuslim conquests, and most of theExarchate of Ravenna finally fell underLombard rule in 751. From this period, former states that were part of the Exarchate and were not conquered by the Lombard Kingdom, such as theDuchy of Naples, became de facto independent states, having less and less interference from theEastern Roman Empire.[1]
Lombard rule ended with the invasion ofCharlemagne in 773, who established theKingdom of Italy and thePapal States in large parts ofNorthern andCentral Italy. This set the precedent for the main political conflict in Italy over the following centuries, between thePope and theHoly Roman Emperor, culminating with conflict betweenPope Gregory VII andHenry IV and the latter's "Walk to Canossa" in 1077.[2]
In the 11th century, in the Northern and Central parts of the peninsula, began a political development unique to Italy, the transformation ofmedieval communes into powerfulcity-states, many of them, modelled on ancientRoman Republicanism.Cities such asVenice,Milan,Genoa,Florence,Siena,Pisa,Bologna among others, rose to great political power, becoming major financial and trading centers. These states paved the way for theItalian Renaissance and the end of the perceived obscurity of theMiddle Ages.[3]
After the three decades ofwars in Lombardy between theDuchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice, there was eventually abalance of power between five emerging powerful states, which at thePeace of Lodi formed the so-calledItalic League, on the initiative ofFrancesco I Sforza, bringing relative calm for the region for the first time in centuries. These five powers were the Venetian Republic, theRepublic of Florence, the Duchy of Milan and the Papal States, dominating the northern and central parts of Italy and theKingdom of Naples in the south.[4][5]
The precarious balance between these powers came to an end in 1494 as the duke of MilanLudovico Sforza sought the aid ofCharles VIII of France against Venice, triggering theItalian War of 1494–98. As a result, Italy became a battleground of the great European powers for the next sixty years, finally culminating in theItalian War of 1551–59, which concluded withHabsburg Spain as the dominant power in Southern Italy and in Milan. TheHouse of Habsburg would control territories in Italy for the duration of theearly modern period, untilNapoleon'sinvasion of Italy in 1796.
The term "Middle Ages" itself ultimately derives from the description of the period of "obscurity" in Italian history during the 9th to 11th centuries, thesaeculum obscurum or "Dark Age" of the Roman papacy[6] as seen from the perspective of the 14th to 15th centuryItalian Humanists.
Italy was invaded by theVisigoths in the 5th century, and Rome was sacked byAlaric in 410. The (traditional) last WesternRoman Emperor,Romulus Augustus, was deposed in 476 by an Eastern Germanic general,Odoacer. He subsequently ruled in Italy for seventeen years asrex gentium, theoretically under the suzerainty of the eastern Roman emperorZeno, but practically in total independence.[7] The administration remained essentially the same as that under the Western Roman Empire, and gave religious freedoms to the Christians.[7] Odoacer fought against the Vandals, who had occupiedSicily, and other Germanic tribes that periodically invaded the peninsula.
In 489, however, Emperor Zeno decided to oust theOstrogoths, afoederatum people living in the Danube, by sending them into Italy. On 25 February 493Theodoric the Great defeated Odoacer and became the king of the Ostrogoths.[8] Theodoric, who had lived long in Constantinople, is now generally considered a Romanized German, and he in fact ruled over Italy largely through Roman personnel. The Goth minority, ofArian confession, constituted an aristocracy of landowners and militaries, but its influence over the country remained minimal; the Latin population was still subject to Roman laws, and maintained the freedom of creed received by Odoacer.[9] The reign of Theodoric is generally considered a period of recovery for the country. Infrastructures were repaired, frontiers were expanded, and the economy well cared for.[10] The Latin culture flourished for the last time with figures likeBoethius, Theodoric's minister; the Italian Kingdom was again the most powerful political entity of the Mediterranean. However, Theodoric's successors were not equal to him.
Theeastern half of the Empire, now centred onConstantinople, invaded Italy in the early 6th century, and the generals of emperorJustinian,Belisarius andNarses, conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom after years of warfare, ending in 552. This conflict, known as theGothic Wars, destroyed much of the town life that had survived the barbarian invasions. Town life did not disappear, but they became smaller and considerably more primitive than they had been in classical Roman times.[11] Subsistence agriculture employed the bulk of the Italian population. Wars, famines, and disease epidemics had a dramatic effect on the demographics of Italy. The agricultural estates of theRoman era did not disappear. They produced an agricultural surplus that was sold in towns; however slavery was replaced by other labour systems such asserfdom.
The withdrawal of Byzantine armies allowed another Germanic people, theLombards, to invade Italy.Cividale del Friuli was the first main centre to fall, while the Byzantine resistance concentrated in the coast areas. The Lombards soon overran most of the peninsula, establishing a Kingdom with capital inPavia, divided into a series of dukedoms. The areas in central-northern Italy which remained under Byzantine control (mostly the current Lazio andRomagna, plus a short corridor between Umbria that connected them, as well asLiguria) became theExarchate of Ravenna. Southern Italy, with the exception ofApulia, currentCalabria and Sicily, were also occupied by the two semi-independent Lombard duchies ofSpoleto andBenevento.[12] Under the imperial authority remained also much of the ports, which eventually turned into actually independent city-states (Genoa,Pisa,Venice,Amalfi).[13]
The Church (and especially thebishop ofRome, by now styled thepope), had played an important political role since the time of Constantine.[14]
In the politically unstable situation after the fall of the western empire, the Church often became the only stable institution and the only source of learning in Western Europe. Even the barbarians had to rely on clerics in order to administer their conquests. Furthermore, the Catholicmonastic orders, such as theBenedictines had a major role both in the economic life of the time, and in the preservation ofclassicalculture (although in the east the Greek authors were much better preserved).[15]
After the Lombard invasion, the popes were nominally subject to the eastern emperor, but often received little help from Constantinople, and had to fill the lack of stately power, providing essential services (ex. food for the needy) and protecting Rome from Lombard incursions; in this way, the popes started building an independent state.[16]
At the end of the 8th century the popes definitely aspired to independence, and found a way to achieve it by allying with theCarolingian dynasty of the Franks: the Carolingians needed someone who could give legitimacy to a coup against the powerlessMerovingian kings, while the popes needed military protection against theLombards.[17]
In 751 the Lombards seized Ravenna and theExarchate of Ravenna was abolished. This ended the Byzantine presence in central Italy (although some coastal cities and some areas in south Italy remained under Byzantine control until the 11th century). Facing a new Lombard offensive, the papacy appealed to theFranks for aid. In 756 Frankish forces defeated the Lombards and gave the papacy legal authority over all of central Italy, thus creating thePapal States. However, the remainder of Italy stayed under Lombard (such as Benevento and Spoleto) or Byzantine (such as Calabria, Apulia and Sicily) control.[18]
In 774, upon a Papal invitation, the Franks invaded the Kingdom of Italy and finally annexed the Lombards; as a reward the Frankish kingCharlemagne received papal support. Later, on 25 December 800, Charlemagne was also crowned emperor of theHoly Roman Empire by the pope, triggering controversy and disputes over theRoman name. A war between the two empires soon followed; in 812 the Byzantines agreed to recognize the existence of two Roman Empires in return for an assurance that the remaining Byzantine possessions in Italy would be uncontested.[19]
Throughout this period, some coastal regions, and all of southern Italy, remained under Byzantine or Lombard control. The imperial authority never extended much south of theItalian Peninsula. Southern Italy was divided amongst the two Lombards duchies ofSpoleto andBenevento, who accepted Charlemagne's suzerainty only formally (812), and theByzantine Empire. Coastal cities likeGaeta,Amalfi,Naples on theTyrrhenian Sea, andVenice on theAdriatic Sea, were enclaves who were becoming increasingly independent of Byzantium. A conquest of Benevento, otherwise, would have meant the total encompassment of the Papal territories, and probably Charlemagne thought it was good for his relationships with the Pope to avoid such a move. The age of Charlemagne was one of stability for Italy, though it was generally dominated by non-Italian interests. The separation with the Eastern world continued to increase.Leo III was the first Pope to date his Bulls from the year of Charlemagne's reign (795) instead of those of Byzantine emperors. This process of isolation from the Eastern Empire and connection with the Western world of France and Germany, which had started three centuries before, was completed at the beginning of the 9th century. Sicily, Calabria, Puglia and Venice were the main exceptions to this rule.[20]
After the death of Charlemagne (814) the new empire soon disintegrated under his weak successors. The equilibrium created through the great emperor's charisma fell apart. This crisis was due also to the emergence of external forces, including theSaracen attacks and the rising power of the marine republics. Charlemagne had announced his division of the Empire in 806: the Lombard-Frank reign, together withBavaria andAlamannia, was to be handed over to his sonPepin of Italy.
After Charlemagne's sonLouis the Pious died in 840, thetreaty of Verdun in 843 divided the empire. Louis' eldest surviving son,Lothair I, became Emperor and ruler of the Central Franks. His three sons in turn divided this kingdom between them, and Northern Italy became the Kingdom of Italy underLouis II, Holy Roman Emperor in 839.
The first half of the 9th century saw other troubles for Italy as well. In 827,MuslimArabs known asAghlabids invaded and conqueredSicily; their descendants, theKalbids, ruled the island until 1053. In 846, Muslim Arabs invadedRome, lootedSt. Peter's Basilica, and stole all the gold and silver in it. In response,Pope Leo IV started building theLeonine walls of theVatican City in 847; they were completed in 853. In the late 9th century, the Byzantines and the Franks launched a joint offensive against the Arabs in southern Italy.
With Charlemagne's conquest of 774, the north of Italy was politically separated from the south completely. Though the Byzantines had continued to hold most of Apulia and Calabria and the Lombard duchies of the south had been aloof of Pavian policies for a century, the situation was exacerbated by the loss of a centralising Lombard authority in the north.
UnderArechis II of Benevento and his successors, it was the Beneventan policy to pay homage to the Carolingian emperors but ignore their rulings. As a result,De facto independence was achieved from Frankish as well as Byzantine authority. TheDuchy of Benevento reached its territorial peak underSicard in the 830s. At his time, the Mezzogiorno was suffering the ravages of theSaracens, against whom Sicard warred constantly. He also warred against his Byzantine neighbours, especiallySorrento,Naples, andAmalfi. It was in a war with Naples thatDuke Andrew II first called inSaracenmercenaries.[21]
In 839, Sicard was assassinated, and a civil war broke out, which illustrated the nature of political power in the south. It was still largely in the hands of the land-owning aristocracy, who had the power to choose a prince. In 839, some choseRadelchis I, the treasurer and assassin, and some choseSiconulf of Salerno, who was installed atSalerno. This civil war continued apace for a decade, during which thegastaldates of Benevento took the opportunity to entrench their independence, especiallyCapua, which sided with Siconulf. In 849, theEmperor Louis II, in one of his first acts asKing of Italy, invaded the peninsula and imposed peace between the Lombard factions. He divided the principality into two: one at Benevento, one at Salerno. Thenceforward, the history of the Lombard south is one of declining, competing powers.[22]
In theTyrrhenian Greek cities, the violence raging inland, between them and their fellow Greeks on toe and heel, fostered the circumstances ofde facto independence. Naples, in particular, had a history of differences with Byzantium and had in the past sought to make herself dependent on other authorities, often papal. In 801, the Byzantinepatrician of Sicily succeeded in creatingAnthimus duke. However, Anthimus was unable to control the cities under his rule, Gaeta and Amalfi. Subsequent to Anthimus, the patrician tried to appoint his own candidate without imperial approval. The people rebelled and acceptedStephen III in 821. During Stephen's decade of rule, Naples severed all legal ties to Constantinople and even began minting her own coins. In 840, after a brief flirtation with Frankish servitude, toLothair I, and a Frankish duke, in the person ofDuke Contard, the Neapolitan citizenry electedSergius I theirmagister militum. Sergius established a dynasty, theSergi, that was to rule the duchy for the next three hundred years.
In Gaeta, as in Naples, the violent situation inland required new power structures to maintain Byzantine authority. The Gaetans received their first imperial Byzantinehypati around the time of the Beneventan civil war. While the firsthypati remained Byzantine loyals, in 866, the sudden appearance of a new dynasty underDocibilis I represented Gaeta's move from Byzantium towards independence. The first electedruler of Amalfi was aprefect appearing in 839, simultaneous with the death of Sicard and the appearance of a Gaetanhyaptus. However, Naples, Gaeta, Amalfi, the Tyrrhenian cities, and Venice (in North Italy) retained some allegiance to Byzantium until the 11th century-long after becomingde facto independent.[23]
The period following the Beneventan civil war was one of confusion, brought on by the independence movements in the various cities and provinces and by the Saracen onslaught. In Salerno, a palace coup removed Siconulf's successorSico II in 853 and destabilised that principality until a new dynasty, the Dauferidi, came to power in 861.
In 852, the Saracens tookBari and foundedan emirate there. Greek power being significantly threatened, as well as Adriatic commerce, the Byzantine emperor requested an alliance from Louis II of Italy. Similarly, the new prince of Benevento,Adelchis, an independent-minded ruler, also sought his aid. Louis came down andretook Bari in 871 after a great siege. Louis then tried to set up greater control over all the south by garrisoning his troops in Beneventan fortresses. The response of Adelchis to this action was to imprison and rob the emperor while he was staying the princely palace at Benevento. A month later, the Saracens had landed with a new invasive force and Adelchis released Louis to lead the armies against it. Adelchis forced Louis to vow never to re-enter Benevento with an army or to take revenge for his detention. Louis went to Rome in 872 and was released from his oath byPope Adrian II on 28 May. His attempts to punish Adelchis were not very successful. Adelchis vacillated between nominal fealty to the Carolingian and Byzantine emperors, but, in fact, by his alterations to theEdictum Rothari, he acknowledged himself as the legitimate Lombard "king."
The successors of Adelchis were weak and the principality of Benevento declined just as Salernitan power was beginning to make itself felt.Guaifer of Salerno was on friendly terms with the Saracens, a habit which annoyed the popes and often put a ruler at odds with his neighbours. The south Italian lords continually rotating in their allegiances. Guaifer's successor,Guaimar I, made war on the Saracens. Guaifer had originally associated Guaimar with him as co-ruler, a practice which became endemic to the south and was especially evident in Capua.
In 951 KingOtto I of Germany had marriedAdelaide of Burgundy, the widow of late KingLothair II of Italy. Otto assumed theIron Crown of Lombardy atPavia despite his rival MargraveBerengar of Ivrea. The thrones of Italy and Germany were united. When in 960 Berengar attacked thePapal States, King Otto, summoned byPope John XII, conquered theKingdom of Italy and on 2 February 962 had himself crownedHoly Roman Emperor at Rome, reviving the empire ofCharlemagne. From that time on, the kings of Italy were always also kings of Germany, and Italy thus became a constituent kingdom of theHoly Roman Empire, along with theKingdom of Germany (regnum Teutonicorum) and – from 1032 –Burgundy. TheGerman king (Rex Romanorum) would be crowned by theArchbishop of Milan with theIron Crown in Pavia as a prelude to the visit to Rome to be crowned Emperor by thePope.[24][25]
The Emperor, or his subordinate ruler of theKingdom of Italy, nominally controlled the Northern Italian communes. In general, the monarch was an absentee, spending most of his time in Germany and leaving the Kingdom of Italy with little central authority. There was also a lack of powerful landed magnates – the only notable one being theMargraviate of Tuscany, which had wide lands inTuscany,Lombardy, and theEmilia, but which failed due to lack of heirs after the death ofMatilda of Canossa in 1115. This left a power vacuum – increasingly filled by the papacy and by the bishops, as well as by the increasingly wealthy Italian cities, which gradually came to dominate the surrounding countryside. The papacy went through an age of decadence, which ended only in 999 when emperorOtto III selectedSilvester II as pope.
Upon the death of EmperorOtto III in 1002, one of late Berengar's successors, MargraveArduin of Ivrea, even succeeded in assuming the Italian crown and in defeating the imperial forces under DukeOtto I of Carinthia. Not until 1004 could the new German KingHenry II of Germany, by the aid of BishopLeo of Vercelli, move into Italy to have himself crownedrex Italiae. Arduin ranks as the last domestic "King of Italy" before the accession ofVictor Emmanuel II in 1861.
Henry'sSalian successorConrad II tried to confirm his dominion against ArchbishopAribert of Milan and other Italian aristocrats (seniores). While besiegingMilan in 1037, he issued theConstitutio de feudis in order to secure the support of thevasvassores petty gentry, whosefiefs he declared hereditary. Indeed, Conrad could stable his rule, however, the imperial supremacy in Italy remained contested.
Under theMacedonian dynasty, Byzantine power experienced a recovery; and the impact of this was felt in southern Italy. During the late 9th century, the amount of territory under direct Byzantine rule (which in the early 9th century was limited to the toe and heel of the peninsula) expanded dramatically. TheCatepanate of Italy was set up to administer the newly acquired territory. The rest of Southern Italy remained divided among the Lombard kings and the Italian cities. Both sets of principalities were de facto independent but paid nominal allegiance to Byzantium.
The Southern Italy growth and change stagnated for a number of reasons. In 878 the Arabs captured the crucial city of Syracuse, and by 965 the entire island was under Arab rule.[26] The reminisce of theLombards laws caused trouble in Salerno. The urban populations were upset with Byzantine taxation, resulting in an uprising in Apulia in the early 980s. In 990, deadly earthquakes directly affected two cities, Benevento and Capua.[27]
In the 11th century, theNormansoccupied the Lombard and Byzantine possessions in Southern Italy, ending the six century old presence of both powers in the peninsula. The independent city-states were also subdued. During the same century, the Normans also ended Muslim rule in Sicily. Norman rule in what had once been Byzantine territory naturally angered Constantinople, which in 1155 made a last attempt underEmperorManuel I Komnenos to reassert its authority in Southern Italy. However, the attempt failed, and in 1158, the Byzantines left Italy.[28]
Unlike theNorman conquest of England (1066), which took place over the course of a few years after one decisive battle, the conquest of Southern Italy was the product of decades and many battles, few decisive. Many territories were conquered independently, and only later were all unified into one state. Compared to the conquest of England, it was unplanned and unorganised, but just as permanent.
Thanks to the marriage between the EmperorHenry VI andConstance, heiress to the Sicilian throne, theKingdom of Sicily was in apersonal union with theHoly Roman Empire from 1194 to 1254. The Kingdom of Sicily would last under various dynasties until the 19th century.
Between the 12th and 13th centuries, Italy developed a peculiar political pattern, significantly different from feudal Europe north of theAlps.[29] As no dominant powers emerged as they did in other parts of Europe, the oligarchiccity-state became the prevalent form of government.[29] Keeping both direct church control and imperial power at arm's length, the many independent city states prospered through commerce, based on early capitalist principles, ultimately creating the conditions for the artistic and intellectual changes produced by theRenaissance.[30]
Italian towns transitioned out fromfeudalism, so that their society was primarily based on merchants and commerce.[31] In this era, northern cities and states gained prominence over the south with theirmerchant republics, especially theRepublic of Venice.[32] Compared to feudal and absolute monarchies, the Italian independent communes andmerchant republics enjoyed relative political freedom that boosted scientific and artistic advancement.[33]
The southern states'knights andmercenaries were internationally renowned and developed in reaction to the statecraft and knights of theLow Countries, theKingdom of France, and theHoly Roman Empire.[34]
Thanks to their favorable position between East and West, Italian cities such as Venice became international trading and banking hubs and intellectual crossroads. Milan, Florence and Venice, as well as several other Italian city-states, played a crucial innovative role in financial development, devising the main instruments and practices of banking and the emergence of new forms of social and economic organization.[33]
During the same period, Italy saw the rise of theMaritime Republics:Venice,Genoa,Pisa,Amalfi,Ragusa,Ancona,Gaeta and the littleNoli.[35] From the 11th to the 13th centuries these cities built fleets of ships both for their own protection and to support extensive trade networks across the Mediterranean, leading to an essential role in theCrusades. The maritime republics, especially Venice and Genoa, soon became Europe's main gateways to trade with the East, establishing colonies as far as theBlack Sea and often controlling most of the trade with theByzantine Empire and the Islamic Mediterranean world.
The papacy regained its authority, and started a long struggle with the empire, about both ecclesiastical and secular matters. The first episode was theInvestiture Controversy. In the 12th century, those Italian cities which lay in the Holy Roman Empire launched a successful effort to win autonomy from theHoly Roman Empire. In the north, aLombard League of communes launched a successful effort to win autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire, defeating EmperorFrederick Barbarossa at theBattle of Legnano in 1176. This made north Italy a land of quasi-independent or independent city-states until the 19th century (seeItalian city-states and history of every city). The revolts were funded by theByzantine Empire, which hoped to expel theGermanic peoples from Italy; this sponsorship was, like the invasion of the south, part of a 12th-century Byzantine effort to regain the influence it had once held on the peninsula during the reign ofJustinian I.
In the 14th century, Northern Italy and upper-central Italy were divided into a number of warringcity-states, the most powerful beingMilan,Florence,Pisa,Siena,Genoa,Ferrara,Mantua,Verona, andVenice. High Medieval Northern Italy was further divided by the long running battle for supremacy between the forces of the papacy and of theHoly Roman Empire. Each city aligned itself with one faction or the other, yet was divided internally between the two warring parties,Guelfs andGhibellines. Thecounty of Savoy expanded its territory into the peninsula in thelate Middle Ages, while Florence developed into a highly organized commercial and financial city-state, becoming for many centuries the European capital of silk, wool, banking and jewelry.
Warfare between the states was common, invasion from outside Italy confined to intermittent sorties ofHoly Roman Emperors. Renaissance politics developed from this background. Since the 13th century, as armies became primarily composed ofmercenaries, prosperous city-states could field considerable forces, despite their low populations. In the course of the 15th century, the most powerful city-states annexed their smaller neighbors. Florence tookPisa in 1406, Venice capturedPadua andVerona, while theDuchy of Milan annexed a number of nearby areas includingPavia andParma. TheDuchy of Milan found itself in the focus of European power politics in the 15th century, leading to the drawn-outItalian Wars, which persisted for the best part of the 16th century before giving way to theEarly Modern period in Italy. In the 14th century, Italy presents itself as divided between theKingdom of Naples andSicily in the south, thePapal States in Central Italy, and theMaritime republics in the north.
TheBlack Plague ravaged Europe during the 1340s–50s, wiping out almost half the continent's population. Particularly detrimental was that most of the victims were young adults in their prime working years, which left behind an "hourglass" population structure comprised heavily of children and older people, with fewer in-between. The widespread belief of medieval Europe having a "pyramid" population where most people were under 45 was not completely true, and in fact varied widely from region to region. France traditionally had high birth rates, but Italy's fertility was lower to begin with and especially after the Plague had ravaged the region, many cities such asFlorence,Verona, andArezzo had populations where more than 15% of people were over the age of 60.
Since overall life expectancy in Europe did not increase by any significant margin during this period, the aging cohort in some areas can be almost completely blamed on the effects of the Plague. Wealthy households had larger numbers of children than the poor. For example, in the early 15th century, the average age of Florence's population among the lower classes was 25 while the upper classes had an average age of just 17. The countryside became swiftly depopulated after the Plague as well due to surviving young people moving en masse to the cities.
TheItalian Renaissance originates in 14th-centuryTuscany, centered in the cities ofFlorence andSiena. It later had a great impact inVenice, where the remains ofancient Greek culture were brought together, providinghumanist scholars with new texts. The Renaissance later had a significant effect onRome, which was ornamented with some structures in the newall'antico mode, then was largely rebuilt by humanist 16th-centurypopes.
Beginning in 1320 an upheaval in the Florentinewool industry began that would see wool textiles become Italy's most important manufacture for export. By the late 14th century Florence rivaled even the Low Countries ofFlanders andBrabant and reigned supreme in the marketplaces of the Mediterranean.[36]
During this time, the powers of the ruler of states expanded as some of the last feudal institutions faded away.[37] However, power was also put into the hands of smaller branches of families than the amount that feudalism and later pre-Renaissance political systems allowed for, causing friction and periods of noble hostility against Italian rulers and other noble families.[37]
The Italian Renaissance peaked in the mid-16th century as foreign invasions plunged the region into the turmoil of theItalian Wars. However, the ideas and ideals of the Renaissance endured and even spread into the rest of Europe, setting off theNorthern Renaissance, and theEnglish Renaissance.
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