Civil war between the members of the Lombard League
The battle of San Cesario in August 1229 was the culmination of a civil war between the members of the Lombard League.[1] In the pitched battle, Modena and its allies defeated Bologna and its allies.[2]
The war, which began in 1226, pitted Bologna, supported by Milan and Piacenza, against Modena, supported by Cremona and Parma.[3] Bologna's former ally, Reggio, remained neutral. In 1228, Bologna invaded the territory of Modena, but an epidemic forced its withdrawal.[4]
In August 1229, Bologna laid siege to the Modenese castle of San Cesario.[2] According to the Guelph Annals of Piacenza, the commune of Piacenza sent 174 knights to assist Bologna.[1] According to Salimbene de Adam, the castle was captured within sight of the armies of Modena, Parma and Cremona. The result was that "one night there was a great fight between them ... and there was a great slaughter of men, footsoldiers and knights, on both sides." The Bolognese were forced to retreat, "leaving their carroccio and all their equipment in the field".[2]
Cities and locations of the Lombard civil war of 1229: Modena and its allies (), Bologna and its allies (), neutral Reggio () and the site of the battle ()
In the aftermath of their victory, the Modenese intended to take the abandoned carroccio back to Modena, but the Parmesans intervened on Bologna's behalf. Salimbene has them saying that "it was not good to do all the harm they could to their enemies, and that" taking the carroccio "would be an indelible affront and would provoke many evils." As a result, the carroccio was taken to the Bolognese castle of Piumazzo and returned.[2]
One of the victims of the battle was Salimbene's father's first cousin, Berardo Oliverio di Adamo, who fought on the side of Parma. As an honour, his body lay in state before the font of the Parma Baptistery.[5] His obituary in the Chronicon Parmense calls him "an eloquent judge and a proven soldier" who died "in the battle of San Cesario" and was buried in "the church of Sant'Agata, which is the chapel of the greater church of the city of Parma."[6]
According to Pietro Cantinelli, elements of the Bolognese militia mutinied after the retreat.[7] There was a riot and the Palazzo Communale was occupied. The rioters demanded peace and the communal authorities opened negotiations with Modena. Bishop Enrico della Fratta served as one of the Bolognese negotiators. Guala de Roniis mediated. A truce was signed on 11 December 1229 for nine years, although Bologna broke it in 1234.[4]
The Bolognese–Modenese war and battle of San Cesario took place while Pope Gregory IX was trying to rally the Lombard League to fight for him against the league's erstwhile enemy, Emperor Frederick II, in the so-called War of the Keys. A comparison of the number of troops committed by the communes to the war against Frederick and the war between themselves indicates how much greater importance they attached to the latter.[1]
Husain, Adnan A. (2005). "Writing Identity as Remembered History: Person, Place, and Time in Friar Salimbene's Autobiographical Prose Map". Viator. 36: 265–292. doi:10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.300013.
Loud, G. A. (2016) [2011]. "The Papal 'Crusade' against Frederick II in 1228–1230". In M. Balard (ed.). The Papacy and the Crusades. Routledge. pp.91–103.
Thompson, Augustine (2010) [1992]. Revival Preachers and Politics in Thirteenth Century Italy: The Great Devotion of 1233. Wipf & Stock.
Related Research Articles
The Battle of Cortenuova was fought on 27 November 1237 in the course of the Guelphs and Ghibellines Wars: in it, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II defeated the Second Lombard League.
Vignola is a city and comune in the province of Modena (Emilia-Romagna), Italy.
Salimbene di Adam, O.F.M., was an Italian Franciscan friar, theologian, and chronicler. Salimbene was one of the most celebrated Franciscan chroniclers of the High Middle Ages. His Cronica is a fundamental source for Italian history of the 13th century.
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.
A carroccio was a large four-wheeled wagon bearing the city signs around which the militia of the medieval communes gathered and fought. It was particularly common among the Lombard, Tuscan and, more generally, northern Italian municipalities. Later its use spread even outside Italy. It was the symbol of municipal autonomy. Priests celebrated Mass at the altar before the battle, and the trumpeters beside them encouraged the fighters to the fray.
The Battle of Zappolino, the only battle of the War of the Oaken Bucket, was fought in November 1325 between forces representing the Italian towns of Bologna and Modena, an incident in the series of raids and reprisals between the two cities that were part of the larger conflicts of Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Modenese were victorious. Though many clashes between Guelphs and Ghibellines loomed larger to contemporaries than to historians, the unusually-large encounter involved 4,000 estimated cavalry and some 35,000 foot soldiers, and 2,000 men lost their lives. The location of the battle, at the foot of a hill just outside the castle walls, is now a frazione of the municipality of Castello di Serravalle, Emilia-Romagna.
The Battle of Fossalta was a battle of the War of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Northern Italy. It took place in Fossalta, a small location on the Panaro River, and is especially remembered for the capture of Enzio of Sardinia, son of Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen.
Marcantonio Franceschini was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mostly in his native Bologna. He was the father and teacher of Giacomo Franceschini.
Gonzaga is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 140 kilometres (87 mi) southeast of Milan and about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Mantua. Located in a region known as the "Lower Mantuan" is notable for being the ancestral home of the House of Gonzaga, rulers of the Duchy of Mantua between 1328 and 1707.
San Cesario sul Panaro is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Bologna and about 12 km (7 mi) southeast of Modena. Sports car manufacturer Pagani is located here. The town has a Romanesque-style church dedicated to Saint Caesarius of Terracina.
Savignano sul Panaro is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Bologna and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of Modena.
Emilia is a historical region of northern Italy, which approximately corresponds to the western and the north-eastern portions of the modern region of Emilia-Romagna, with the area of Romagna forming the remainder of the modern region.
The Milan–Bologna railway is the northern part of the traditional main north–south trunk line of the Italian railway network. It closely follows the ancient Roman Road, the Via Aemilia. The line was opened between 1859 and 1861 as a single-line railway, and was doubled between 1866 and 1894. It was electrified at 3,000 volts DC in 1938. High-speed trains on the route have used the parallel Milan–Bologna high-speed line since 13 December 2008.
Emilian is a Gallo-Italic unstandardised language spoken in the historical region of Emilia, which is now in the western part of Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy.
The War of the Bucket or the War of the Oaken Bucket was fought in 1325 between the rival city-states of Bologna and Modena. It took place in the region of Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. The war was an episode in the over 300-year-long struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Modena won the Battle of Zappolino, the only battle of the war.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Piacenza in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.
Trenitalia Tper (TTX) is a company operating train services in the Emilia-Romagna region, in Italy, on railway lines overseen by both Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and Ferrovie Emilia Romagna (FER).
Gerardo da Sesso was an Italian monk, bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church.
The War of the Keys (1228–1230) was the first military conflict between Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Papacy. Fighting took place in central and southern Italy. The Papacy made strong gains at first, securing the Papal States and invading the Kingdom of Sicily, while Frederick was away on the Sixth Crusade. Upon his return, he defeated the papal forces, forcing Pope Gregory IX to begin peace talks. After drawn-out negotiations, the treaty of San Germano terminated the conflict with no territorial changes.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
