Benefiting from a weakening of imperial authority in north Italy from the late eleventh century, by the time of Frederick's election as emperor in 1152 the Lombard cities had established considerable independence as urban republics. Civic powers had never been
Confirmed by formal grant, but by the early twelfth century towns had appropriated for their own uses various imperial dues and services. Such control, it was felt, gave a customary entitlement to possession. Frederick's reassertion of imperial rights raised the prospect of greater domination than the cities were prepared to accept and drove Milan, followed by its neighbours, into collective resistance, formalized in 1167 in the Lombard League. Support from a papacy made anxious for itself by reestablishment of imperial power south of the Alps held the League together, and in 1176 at Legnano its forces crushed Frederick's army. Forced thus to recognize that plans for direct rule in Lombardy were unattainable, Frederick, in return for an annual tribute, reached in the 1183 Treaty of Constance a settlement which established the limits of imperial overlordship and effectively confirmed the independence of the cities.
The treaty recognized the status quo and gave the imperial sanction of legitimization to the League. Cities received the right to fortify themselves and renew their league, and a fiction of imperial approval was established for recognition of the consuls whom the cities elected for themselves. It was a face-saving arrangement for Frederick, but it could not disguise the fact that any chance of restoring an imperial north Italian power-base had been lost. More significantly, it granted the power of custom, legislation and the weight of royal authority to the urban republics, ensuring the future spread of civic independence throughout north and central Italy.
R. Oram
The Empire of the Comneni, 1081-1185
Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118) rescued the Byzantine Empire from a period of political difficulties which had meant the loss of southern Italy to the Normans, much of the Balkans to the Petcheneks, and Asia Minor to the Seljuq Turks following the battle of Mantzikert (1071). Alexius dealt with these threats one by one. After an initial set-back at Dyrrachion he defeated the Normans at Larissa (1083) and recovered Dyrrachion (1085). Though defeated by the Petcheneks at Dristra (1087), he won a decisive victory over them at Mount Levounion (1091) and restored the frontiers of the empire to the Danube. His plan to recover Asia Minor from the Seljuqs was complicated by the arrival of the first crusade at Constantinople in 1096. With crusader help he took Nicaea, the Seljuq capital, and then under the cover of the crusader victory at Dorylaion his forces were able to recover the coastlands of western Asia Minor. But involvement with the crusader states was to mean that neither he nor his successors were able to make any significant advances into the interior.
His grandson Manuel I Comnenus (1143-80) established close dynastic ties with the crusader states, but this involved him in a costly expedition against Damietta and the Fatimids (1169) and another against the Seljuq capital of Ikonion, which came to grief at the battle of Myriokephalon (1176). Manuel's attempt to recover southern Italy (1156-7) from the Normans was also a failure, but it did counter the serious Norman attacks (1147-9) which were directed against the Greek provinces. The Byzantines were more successful along the Danube. The victory over the Hungarians at Sirmium (1167) not only brought Hungary within the Byzantine orbit, but also pacified the Serbs.
Only in Asia Minor did the territories controlled by the Comneni differ significantly from those held in the mid-eleventh century.
If the Comneni relied more heavily on the indirect exercise of authority than their predecessors, their empire enjoyed a period of great prosperity thanks to the stability they ensured for nearly a century. Agricultural wealth was more fully mobilized and there was a growth of towns. The Venetians had an important role to play. They had been exempted from the payment of customs duties (1082) in return for naval assistance against the Normans and had been given a factory at Constantinople. They contributed to the growth of internal trade, mostly in agricultural goods, within the empire. They were particularly active at Corinth and Halmyros, which were the main outlets for the agricultural wealth of Greece.
Their presence also produced friction which was largely political in origin. There was a conflict of interests in the Adriatic and the Venetians resented the favours shown to their commercial rivals, the Pisans and the Genoese. This led in 1171 to the arrest of all the Venetians in the Byzantine Empire and the confiscation of their goods. Despite all efforts relations never returned to normal. This contributed to the diversion of the fourth crusade and the fall of Constantinople (1204). There were many other factors involved in the collapse of the empire of the Comneni in the late twelfth century. Perhaps the most important was loss of control at the centre following the death of Manuel I Comnenus in 1180. The ascendancy of the Comneni, which was vital to the stability of the empire, was undermined in a series of coups and rebellions.
M. Angold
World History
