| Battle of Volta Mantovana (1080) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of The Investiture Controversy | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Holy Roman Empire A coalition of pro-Imperial Bishops from Lombardy | Pro-papal forces led by the House of Canossa | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Archbishop Tedald of Milan (presumed) an illegitimate son of Henry IV | Matilda of Tuscany | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| unknown | unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| unknown | unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Volta Mantovana was fought on the 15th of October 1080 between troops raised by the schismatic bishops of Lombardy loyal to the emperor Henry IV and to anti-pope Guibert of Ravenna against forces commanded by Matilda of Tuscany. Margravine Matilda was defeated and the pro-Imperial forces gained the upper hand.
The battle took place during the Investiture Controversy opposing the reforming Papacy of pope Gregory VII and his foremost advocate Matilda to Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. It was one of its opening military clashes, and the first significant battle of the controversy to be fought in Italy. The chronicler Bernold of Constance states clearly that the battle took place the day after Henry IV and his opponent Rudolf of Rheinfelden had clashed in Saxony near Hohenmölsen at the Battle on the Elster. Bernold states the bishops' troops were gathered from "almost the whole of Lombardy". [1] Historian David J Hay has suggested the likely leader of the pro-Imperial troops was bishop Tedald of Milan, whose installation had sparked the controversy in the first place and who had played a key role in the synod of Brixen earlier that summer, promoting the deposition of Pope Gregory VII and the election of Guibert of Ravenna as antipope Clement III. [2] Bonizo of Sutri's Liber ad Amicum indicates an otherwise unknown illegitimate son was commanding the army of the schismatic Lombard bishops, writing "[Henry IV]'s son fought Matilda's excellent forces and defeated them" (eius filius cum exercitus excellentissimus Matilade pugnavit et victoriam obtinuit). [3]
The exact dynamic of the battle is unknown, as is the number of forces in the field. A very short account of the engagement is available in the Chronicon of the aforementioned Bernold of Constance (who mentions the battle as taking place "apud Vultam propre Mantuam"), while Bonizo provides no geographical location for the battle, and no description of the clash. [4] Volta was the site of a castle and estate ("Curtis") of note once belonging to the house of Canossa, as shown by donations of property and rights over servile labor in Volta made to churches in the diocese of Mantua in 1053 and 1073 by Beatrice of Lorraine, Matilda's mother, and by Matilda herself to the bishop of Mantua in 1079. It is thus possible that the castle was thus garrisoned by forces loyal to Matilda. [5] Bishop Hubald of Mantua was a strong ally of Matilda, and shared in her political fortunes in later years. [6] The battle ended when the pro-Imperial forces put "the knights of the most wise duchess Matilda to flight". [7]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2022) |
The victory of the pro-Imperial forces allowed Henry IV (whose rival Rudolf had been killed at Hohenmölsen) to enter the March of Verona and the Lombard plains unopposed in the spring of the following year. Henry IV was in Verona in early April 1081, and soon after entered Milan in triumph. Later that year, with Lombardy securely pro-Imperial, Henry began a siege of Rome. [8]
Matilda of Tuscany, also referred to as la Gran Contessa, was a member of the House of Canossa in the second half of the eleventh century. Matilda was one of the most important governing figures of the Italian Middle Ages. She reigned in a period of constant battles, political intrigues and Roman Catholic excommunications, and was able to demonstrate an innate and skilled strategic leadership capacity in both military and diplomatic matters.
Pope Gregory VII, born Hildebrand of Sovana, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Mantua is a comune (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the province of the same name.
The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monasteries and the pope himself. A series of popes in the 11th and 12th centuries undercut the power of the Holy Roman Emperor and other European monarchies, and the controversy led to nearly 50 years of conflict.
Guibert or Wibert of Ravenna was an Italian prelate, archbishop of Ravenna, who was elected pope in 1080 in opposition to Pope Gregory VII and took the name Clement III. Gregory was the leader of the movement in the church which opposed the traditional claim of European monarchs to control ecclesiastical appointments, and this was opposed by supporters of monarchical rights led by the Holy Roman Emperor. This led to the conflict known as the Investiture Controversy. Gregory was felt by many to have gone too far when he excommunicated the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and supported a rival claimant as emperor, and in 1080 the pro-imperial Synod of Brixen pronounced that Gregory was deposed and replaced as pope by Guibert.
Bernold of Constance was a chronicler and writer of tracts, and a defender of the Church reforms of Pope Gregory VII.
Anselm of Lucca, born Anselm of Baggio, was a medieval bishop of Lucca in Italy and a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy amid the fighting in central Italy between Matilda, countess of Tuscany, and Emperor Henry IV. His uncle Anselm preceded him as bishop of Lucca before being elected to the papacy as Pope Alexander II and so he is sometimes distinguished as Anselm the Younger or Anselm II.
Goito is a comune with a population of 10,005 in the Province of Mantua in Lombardy. Goito is 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Mantua on the road leading to Brescia and Lake Garda, and straddles the old east–west Via Postumia between Cremona and Verona. The town is on the right bank of the Mincio River at a key crossing. The birthplace of Sordello, Goito is part of the historic region known as Alto Mantovano and was the site of a notable fortress.
Bonizo of Sutri or Bonitho was a Bishop of Sutri and then of Piacenza in central Italy, in the last quarter of the 11th century. He was an adherent of Gregory VII and an advocate of the reforming principles of that pope. He wrote three works of polemical history, including Liber ad amicum, which detailed the struggles between civil and religious authorities. He was driven out of both of his dioceses, once by the emperor and once by opponents of Gregorian-style reform.
Volta Mantovana is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) east of Milan and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Mantua.
Mantua Cathedral in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy, is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter. It is the seat of the Bishop of Mantua.
Adalbert Atto was the first Count of Canossa and founder of that noble house which eventually was to play a determinant role in the political settling of Regnum Italicum and the Investiture Controversy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Adelaide of Turin was the countess of part of the March of Ivrea and the marchioness of Turin in Northwestern Italy from 1034 to her death. She was the last of the Arduinici. She is sometimes compared to her second cousin and close contemporary, Matilda of Tuscany.
The March of Tuscany was a march of the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages. Located in northwestern central Italy, it bordered the Papal States to the south, the Ligurian Sea to the west and Lombardy to the north. It comprised a collection of counties, largely in the valley of the River Arno, originally centered on Lucca.
The Saxon revolt was a civil war fought between 1077 and 1088, early in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The revolt was led by a group of opportunistic German princes who elected as their figurehead the duke of Swabia, Rudolf of Rheinfeld, who became the anti-king. Rudolf was a two-way brother-in-law of the young King Henry IV of Germany, who had been crowned at the age of six and had taken the reins of power at age sixteen. The Great Revolt followed the Saxon Rebellion of 1073–75.
Battle on the Elster was the third and last battle between the Salian king Henry IV of Germany and anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, fought on October 14, 1080 near Hohenmölsen on the White Elster river. Rudolf's forces were victorious; however, he was mortally wounded and succumbed to his injuries the next day.
Wezilo, died 1088, was Archbishop of Mainz from 1084 to 1088. He was a leading supporter of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in the Investiture Controversy, and of antipope Clement III.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Mantua in the Lombardy region of Italy.
Tedald was archbishop of Milan from 1075 to 1085.
Liber ad amicum is a historical work by Bonizo of Sutri written during the Investiture Controversy. Regarded as one of Bonizo's most well-known and influential works, Liber ad amicum chronicles the life of Pope Gregory VII and papal-imperial relations from the time of Constantine the Great to Gregory. It also details the individual histories of the Patarene movement that Bonizo belonged to and the House of Canossa.