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TheTreaty orPeace of Venice,1177, was apeace treaty between thepapacy and its allies, the north Italian city-states of theLombard League, andFrederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The NormanKingdom of Sicily also took part in negotiations and the treaty thereby determined the political course of allItaly for the next several years.
The treaty followed on the heels of theBattle of Legnano of 29 May 1176, a defeat for Frederick Barbarossa. Frederick quickly thereafter sent envoys toPope Alexander III atAnagni, asking for an end to the schism between him and Frederick'santipope,Callixtus III. After a preliminary agreement was reached, a conference was scheduled for July 1177. Frederick spent some time in the interim interfering in Venetian rivalries in hopes of securing a pro-Imperial group in power at the time of the confrontation.
On 24 July, the pope from theBasilica di San Marco sent a delegation of cardinals to the emperor in theLido, at the mouth of the Venetian Lagoon. The emperor formally acknowledged Alexander as pope and abandoned his own antipope; the cardinals formally lifted the excommunication that had hitherto been placed upon him.Sebastian Ziani, thedoge of Venice, andUlrich II von Treven, thepatriarch of Aquileia, then escorted the emperor into Venice itself. The delegates of the king of Sicily wereRomuald II, Archbishop of Salerno, a chronicler who left an eyewitness account of the scene, and CountRoger of Andria.
After the treaty,Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy wife of Frederick was no longer referred to asImperatrix ('empress') in the chancery productions, as her coronation as such had been made by an anti-pope and was thus declared nullified.[1] The treaty also claimed that if Frederick died and was succeeded by a young emperor, then Beatrice, as the queen dowager regent, should still observe it. (Such event never occurred, as Beatrice predeceased Frederick.)
In the treaty that was concluded, the rights of the emperor and the pope in the city ofRome were left vague. A clause in the preliminary agreement of Anagni referring to the pope'sregalia in Rome was dropped in the final treaty and papal rights were recognized "saving all the rights of the empire".[2] The city did not surrender to the pope and forced him to leave in 1179.
A fifteen-year peace was concluded between Frederick andWilliam II of Sicily, paving the way for Sicily's golden years of peace and prosperity. Likewise, a six-year truce was concluded with the Lombard League, but negotiations were to continue, and the emperor finally recognised the independence of the Lombard cities in thePeace of Constance of 1183.
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