(Extracted from “A Compendium of Italian History From the Fall of the Roman Empire” by Don Giovanni Bosco.)
Before proceeding further with our history, it is necessary to take a brief glance at the political state of Italy at the accession of the German emperors as lords paramount of the country. It must not be imagined that when Italy came nominally under the power of the Empire, the country was really governed from the imperial court. The great vassals (dukes, counts, marquises) had made themselves practically independent, and each ruled his own dominions according to the feudal laws, merely doing homage to the emperor as the supreme authority. The principal of the great vassals who had established themselves firmly in their respective governments were the duke of Benevento in the south, the duke of Tuscany in Central Italy, and the duke of Spoleto on the Adriatic, with the marquises of Ivrea, Susa, and Friuli in the north. The country around Rome was under the direct rule of the Pope, himself a vassal of the Empire. Apulia and Calabria in the extreme south were still under the rule of the Emperors of the East. Amalfi and Naples were self-governed in the form of small republics, and Salerno and Capua each had its own prince.
Of all the princes of the Empire, the dukes of Spoleto, Tuscany, and Benevento were the most important, as they held a large part of the Italian territory under their sway, and generally guided and determined by their local influence the election of the Popes. With regard to the Popes themselves, the holy office of supreme head of the Church had sunk to its lowest degree of turpitude. Virtue, piety, learning, moral influence, had nothing whatever to do in their election. Political considerations were far stronger than religious motives. Mere boys were sometimes chosen to be vicars apostolic; and as it was thought no disgrace for the Pope to rear up a family, so sons were put forward to succeed their fathers. Female influence prevailed over that of the bishops, and it is said that the infamous Theodora and her daughter disposed of the chair of St. Peter at their pleasure. Whilst Italy was thus ruled by vassals of the Empire, Sicily had fallen entirely into the hand of the Saracens.
Another important point to notice in respect to the political condition of Italy is the growth of the large cities and the influence they soon began to exert upon the country generally. These towns were originally simply portions of the territory governed by the counts; but the German emperors, when they obtained authority in Italy, separated the towns from the surrounding territory, and the power of the count or the bishop, or whoever might be the vassal of the province, was then chiefly confined to the towns themselves, whilst the country was more directly under the government of the dukes. This led to constant feuds and contests between the vassals and their superiors, in which the towns usually sided with their own governor and opposed all interference from the higher powers.
By degrees the towns became more and more powerful. The counts were obliged to govern according to the will of the citizens; and when the vassal was a bishop, he was elected by the people, and made often a mere tool to do their pleasure.
When the cities had thus become powerful and the townspeople well-nigh independent, they often obtained a charter from the emperor which acknowledged and confirmed that independence, and gave them the power of regulating their own affairs and deciding all questions of peace and war as to their own more immediate surroundings. Armed with these powers, they reclaimed the territories which had been separated from them, besieged the castles of the nobles, and compelled them to reside in the towns. Thus the nobles became virtually citizens, and being men more used to power and authority than the rest, they often got the highest municipal offices placed in their hands.
This brief sketch may give some approximate idea of the political condition of the country under the first German emperors, and may also account for the bitter wars and animosities which so often arose between the great towns, and which in later times form one of the chief features in the history of the country.
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