Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.
Frederick II was 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. He was the son of emperor Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Queen Constance of Sicily of the Hauteville dynasty.
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy.
The Republic of Genoa was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in both the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Between the 16th and 17th centuries it was one of the major financial centers in Europe.
William of Modena, also known as William of Sabina, Guglielmo de Chartreaux, Guglielmo de Savoy, Guillelmus, was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat. He was frequently appointed a legate, or papal ambassador by the popes Honorius III and Gregory IX, especially in Livonia in the 1220s and in the Prussian questions of the 1240s. Eventually he resigned his see to devote himself to these diplomatic issues. On 28 May 1244 he was created Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina by Pope Innocent IV. For a short time (1219–1222) he served also as Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church.
Isabella of England was an English princess of the House of Plantagenet. She became Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Sicily, Italy and Germany from 1235 until her death as the third wife of Emperor Frederick II.
Enzo was an illegitimate son of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, who appointed him 'King of Sardinia' in 1238. He played a major role in the wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines in the Imperial kingdom of Italy, and was captured by his enemies in 1249. He remained imprisoned in Bologna until his death.
Meloria is a rocky skerry, surrounded by a shoal, off the Tuscan coast, in the Ligurian sea, 6.1 kilometres (3.8 mi) north-west of Livorno.
The Battle of Meloria was fought near the islet of Meloria in the Ligurian Sea on 5 and 6 August 1284 between the fleets of the Republics of Genoa and Pisa as part of the Genoese-Pisan War. The victory of Genoa and the destruction of the Pisan fleet marked the decline of the Republic of Pisa.
The naval Battle of Giglio was a military clash between a fleet of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and a fleet of the Republic of Genoa in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It took place on Friday, May 3, 1241 between the islands of Montecristo and Giglio in the Tuscan Archipelago and ended with the victory of the Imperial fleet.
The Republic of Pisa was an independent state existed from the 11th to the 15th century and centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century, before being surpassed and superseded by the Republic of Genoa.
The maritime republics, also called merchant republics, were thalassocratic city-states of the Mediterranean Basin during the Middle Ages. Because they were a significant presence in Italy in the Middle Ages, four of them have had their coats of arms inserted in the flag of the Italian Navy since 1947: Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Amalfi; the other republics are: Ragusa, Gaeta, Ancona, and Noli.
The Genoese crossbowmen were a famous military corps of the Middle Ages, which acted both in defense of the Republic of Genoa and as a mercenary force for other Italian or European powers.
Benedetto I Zaccaria was an Italian admiral of the Republic of Genoa. He was the Lord of Phocaea and first Lord of Chios, and the founder of Zaccaria fortunes in Byzantine and Latin Greece. He was, at different stages in his life, a diplomat, adventurer, mercenary, and statesman.
Otto of Tonengo was an Italian papal diplomat and cardinal, first as deacon of San Nicola in Carcere from 1227 and then as bishop of Porto e Santa Rufina from 1244.
The 1241 papal election saw the election of Cardinal Goffredo da Castiglione as Pope Celestine IV. The election took place during the first of many protracted sede vacantes of the Middle Ages, and like many of them was characterized by disputes between popes and the Holy Roman Emperor. Specifically, the election took place during the war between Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and the Lombard League and deceased pontiff, Pope Gregory IX, with Italy divided between pro-Papal and pro-Imperial factions known as the Guelphs and Ghibellines.
Raniero Capocci, also known as Ranieri, Rainerio da Viterbo was an Italian cardinal and military leader, a fierce adversary of emperor Frederick II.
James of Pecorara or Giacomo da Pecorara was an Italian monk, cardinal and diplomat.
