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Vigevano ( Italian: [viˈdʒɛːvano, -ˈdʒeː-] ; Western Lombard : Avgevan ) is a comune (municipality) in the province of Pavia , in the Italian region of Lombardy . A historic art town , it is also renowned for shoemaking and is one of the main centres of Lomellina , a rice-growing agricultural district. Vigevano received the honorary title of city with a decree of Duke Francis II Sforza on 2 February 1532. It is famed for its Renaissance Piazza Ducale in the centre of the town. It is also known for the Rassegna Litteraria di Vigevano (Literary Review of Vigevano), an annual cultural event celebrating literature and the arts, which honours two distinguished personalities from the world of culture every year with the National Prize and the International Career Prize .

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185-545: The earliest records of Vigevano date back to 963, when for the first time is mentioned in documents the castle of Vigevano. Vigevano was given in 1154 by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in Pavia . Vigevano was accordingly besieged and taken by the Milanese in 1201 and again in 1275. In 1328 it finally surrendered to Azzone Visconti , and thereafter shared the political fortunes of Milan. The Church of San Pietro Martire (St Peter Martyr)

370-797: A Jew. On 29 March, Frederick and the rabbi rode through the streets together. Frederick successfully prevented a repeat of the massacres that had accompanied the First Crusade and Second Crusade in Germany. Because Frederick had signed a treaty of friendship with Saladin in 1175, he felt it necessary to give Saladin notice of the termination of their alliance. On 26 May 1188, he sent Count Henry II of Dietz to present an ultimatum to Saladin. A few days after Christmas 1188, Frederick received Hungarian, Byzantine, Serbian and Seljuk envoys in Nuremberg . The Hungarians and Seljuks promised provisions and safe-conduct to

555-483: A banquet meant to negotiate a peace between the two rulers. With the establishment of the Ostrogoth kingdom based in northern Italy, Theoderic began his vast program of public building. Pavia was among several cities that Theodoric chose to restore and expand. He began the construction of the vast palace complex that would eventually become the residence of Lombard monarchs several decades later. Theoderic also commissioned

740-874: A boy out to see if the ravens have stopped flying. A similar story, set in Sicily, was earlier attested about his grandson, Frederick II . To garner political support the German Empire built atop the Kyffhäuser the Kyffhäuser Monument , which declared Kaiser Wilhelm I the reincarnation of Frederick; the 1896 dedication occurred on 18 June, the day of Frederick's coronation. Pavia Pavia ( UK : / ˈ p ɑː v i ə / PAH -vee-ə , US : / p ə ˈ v iː ə / pə- VEE -ə ; Italian: [paˈviːa] ; Lombard: [paˈʋiːa] ; Latin : Ticinum ; Medieval Latin : Papia )

925-654: A business supplying electrical materials, the Einstein. The Einsteins lived in the city in the same building ( Palazzo Cornazzani ) where Ugo Foscolo and Ada Negri had lived. The young Albert came to the family several times between 1895 and 1896. During his time in Italy he wrote a short essay with the title "On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field". In 1943 Pavia

1110-716: A close collaborator of William the Conqueror and, after the Norman conquest of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, reorganizer of the English church. Pavia remained the capital of the Italian Kingdom and the centre of royal coronations until the diminution of imperial authority there in the 12th century. In 1004, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II bloodily suppressed a revolt of the citizens of Pavia, who disputed his recent coronation as King of Italy . In

1295-467: A collection of clay votive offerings donated by Pope Pius XI ) and Roman (some from Pompeii ). The Natural History Museum of the University (Kosmos), housed inside Palazzo Botta Adorno , is one of the oldest in Italy, it was in fact founded by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1771 and which preserves a naturalistic heritage of high scientific and historical value, including nearly 400,000 finds divided between

1480-528: A considerable degree for more than eighty years. The only real claim to wealth lay in the rich cities of northern Italy, which were still within the nominal control of the German king. The Salian line had died out with the death of Henry V in 1125 and the German princes refused to give the crown to his nephew, the duke of Swabia, for fear he would try to regain the imperial power held by Henry V. Instead, they chose Lothair III (1125–1137), who found himself embroiled in

1665-465: A crosier in elephantine ivory carved, painted and gilded made by a Sicilian workshop by the hand of Arab craftsmen and dating back to the end of the 12th century), sculptures and paintings, such as the panel of the Madonna della Misericordia by Lorenzo Fasolo . The history of the municipality of Pavia, from the tenth to the twentieth century, can be told through the amount of documentation collected within

1850-561: A culturally rich period due to the presence of leading scientists and humanists like Ugo Foscolo , Alessandro Volta , Lazzaro Spallanzani , and Camillo Golgi , among others. In 1796, after the Jacobins demolished Regisole (a bronze classical equestrian monument), the inhabitants of Pavia revolted against the French and the revolt was quelled by Napoleon after a furious urban fight. In 1814, it again came under Austrian administration. In 1818

2035-480: A day's negotiation, Frederick agreed to perform the required ritual, reportedly muttering, " Pro Petro, non Adriano – For Peter, not for Adrian." Rome was still in an uproar over the fate of Arnold of Brescia, so rather than marching through the streets of Rome, Frederick and Adrian retired to the Vatican . The next day, 18 June 1155, Adrian IV crowned Frederick I Holy Roman Emperor at St Peter's Basilica , amidst

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2220-468: A framework to legitimize his claim to the right to rule both Germany and northern Italy. In the old days of Henry IV and Henry V, the claim of divine right of kings had been severely undermined by the Investiture controversy . The Church had won that argument in the common man's mind. There was no divine right for the German king to also control the church by naming both bishops and popes. The institution of

2405-565: A general order for peace, he made lavish concessions to the nobles. Abroad, Frederick intervened in the Danish civil war between Svend III and Valdemar I of Denmark and began negotiations with the Eastern Roman Emperor, Manuel I Comnenus . It was probably about this time that the king obtained papal assent for the annulment of his childless marriage with Adelheid of Vohburg , on the grounds of consanguinity (his great-great-grandfather

2590-623: A generalized social desire to "create greater Germany" by conquering the Slavs to the east. Although the Italian city states had achieved a measure of independence from Frederick as a result of his failed fifth expedition into Italy, the emperor had not given up on his Italian dominions. In 1184, he held a massive celebration, the Diet of Pentecost , when his two eldest sons were knighted, and thousands of knights were invited from all over Germany. While payments upon

2775-726: A guarantee that the crusaders would not sack local settlements until they depart the Byzantine territory. In March 1190, Frederick left Adrianople for Gallipoli at the Dardanelles , to embark to Asia Minor. The armies coming from western Europe pushed on through Anatolia, where they were victorious at the Battle of Philomelium and defeated the Turks in the Battle of Iconium , eventually reaching as far as Cilician Armenia . The approach of Barbarossa's victorious German army greatly concerned Saladin , who

2960-561: A historian of the Crusades, outlined Frederick's endeavors and Saladin's dilemma, in which he reported: While these were the varied fortunes of the first in the field, Frederick, the Roman emperor, set out on his journey by land with great power and a countless host of warriors. Passing over the borders of Germany, he crossed Hungary, Macedonia, and Greece and marched through the land of the Saracens with

3145-522: A joint council with King Louis VII of France in 1162 to decide the issue of who should be pope. Louis neared the meeting site, but when he became aware that Frederick had stacked the votes for Victor, Louis decided not to attend the council. As a result, the issue was not resolved at that time. The political result of the struggle with Pope Alexander was an alliance formed between the Norman state of Sicily and Pope Alexander III against Frederick. In

3330-559: A legacy of the city's prestigious past, divided into several museums. The Pavia Civic Museums (located, in the Visconti Castle ) are divided into various sections: Archaeological, which preserves one of the richest collections of Roman glass in northern Italy and important artifacts and archeological finds of Lombard period, such as the plutei of Teodota and the collection (the largest in Italy) of Lombard epigraphs, some of which belong to

3515-578: A long-running dispute with the Hohenstaufens, and who married into the Welfs. One of the Hohenstaufens gained the throne as Conrad III of Germany (1137–1152). When Frederick Barbarossa succeeded his uncle in 1152, there seemed to be excellent prospects for ending the feud, since he was a Welf on his mother's side. The Welf duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion , would not be appeased, however, remaining an implacable enemy of

3700-458: A marked turning point in the transition from medieval feudalism. While continental feudalism had remained strong socially and economically, it was in deep political decline by the time of Frederick Barbarossa. When the northern Italian cities inflicted a defeat on Frederick at Alessandria in 1175, the European world was shocked. With the refusal of Henry the Lion to bring help to Italy, the campaign

3885-593: A method to demonstrate their piety and their wealth by extravagantly decorating these structures which in many cases would become the site of that person's tomb, as in the case of Grimoald (r. 662–671) who built San Ambrogio in Pavia and buried there after his death in 671. Aripert I had the basilica of Santissimo Salvatore built in 657, which became the mausoleum of the kings of the Bavarian dynasty . Perctarit (r. 661–662, 672–688) and his son Cunicpert (r.679–700) built

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4070-513: A mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. He took Iconium, Philomena, and many other cities, and reached Armenia, where, during great heat, he went into the river, which the natives call the Iron River, to bathe, and therein for our sins was miserably drowned, and so died to the loss of all Christendom. Saladin so greatly feared his approach that he ordered the walls of Laodicia , Gibelet , Tortosa , Biblium and Beyrout , to be pulled down, sparing only

4255-519: A new Roman emperor. Roman law gave a rational purpose for the existence of Frederick and his imperial ambitions. It was a counterweight to the claims of the Church to have authority because of divine revelation. The Church was opposed to Frederick for ideological reasons, not the least of which was the humanist nature found in the revival of the old Roman legal system. When Pepin the Short sought to become king of

4440-510: A nunnery and a church at Pavia during their reigns. Lombard churches were sometimes named after those who commissioned their construction, such as San Maria Theodota in Pavia. The monastery of San Michele alla Pusterla located at Pavia was the royal monastery of the Lombard kings. One of the most famous churches built by a Lombard king in Pavia is the church San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro . This famous church

4625-400: A province in the shape of a bunch of grapes , as it was defined by Gianni Brera , there are many fruits that this land offers and which are the origin of various local dishes. The wealth of springs and waterways have made Pavia, and its territory, one of the main Italian centers for the production of rice, it is therefore no coincidence that there are numerous recipes that allow you to discover

4810-667: A reputation as a place to have a "good time," as witness the Archpoet 's famous comments of 1163. In the following centuries Pavia was an important and active town. Pavia supported the emperor Frederick II against the Lombard League and the Pavese army took part in numerous operations in the service of the emperor and participated in the battle of Cortenuova in 1237. Under the Treaty of Pavia , Emperor Louis IV granted during his stay in Italy

4995-505: A rich frame, on top of which there is a mask with a crown count and often flanked by two angels holding the shield and the letters CO-PP (Comunitas Papie). The seal of the municipality depicts the Regisole , an ancient late antique bronze equestrian statue originally placed inside the Royal Palace and, probably in the 11th century, placed in the cathedral square. The statue was pulled down by

5180-558: A vigorous propaganda campaign designed to diminish Frederick and his ambition. To a large extent, this was successful. Frederick did little to encourage economic development in Germany prior to the autumn of 1165. In that year he visited the lower Rhineland, the most economically advanced region in Germany. He had already travelled to northern Italy, the most economically advanced region in the Empire, three times. From 1165 on, Frederick pursued economic policies to encourage growth and trade. There

5365-499: A wooden bridge he had built over the river Ticinum, on his way to search for Hannibal , who was rumoured to have managed to lead an army over the Alps and into Italy. The forces of Rome and Carthage ran into each other soon thereafter, and the Romans suffered the first of many crushing defeats at the hands of Hannibal, with the consul himself almost losing his life. The bridge was destroyed, but

5550-700: Is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy , in Northern Italy , 35 kilometres (22 miles) south of Milan on the lower Ticino near its confluence with the Po . It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major political centre in the medieval period, being the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom from 540 to 553, of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774, of the Kingdom of Italy from 774 to 1024 and seat of

5735-420: Is in places heavily dependent on classical precedent. For example, Rahewin's physical description of Frederick reproduces word-for-word (except for details of hair and beard) a description of another monarch, Theodoric II written nearly eight hundred years earlier by Sidonius Apollinaris: His character is such that not even those envious of his power can belittle its praise. His person is well-proportioned. He

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5920-644: Is little information, but, again in the eighth century, a Jewish community was also present in Pavia: Alcuin of York recalls a religious disputation that took place in the city between 750 and 766 between the Jew Julius of Pavia and the Christian Peter of Pisa. Emperor Lothair I , king of Italy from 822 to 850, paid attention to schools when in 825 he issued his capitulary by means of which he prescribed that students from many towns of north Italy had to attend

6105-610: Is located in the cathedral's crypt. The third and largest tomb of the three located in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro contains the remains of St. Augustine of Hippo . St. Augustine is the early fifth-century Christian writer from Roman North Africa whose works such as On Christian Doctrine revolutionized the way in which the Christian scripture is interpreted and understood. On October 1, 1695, artisans working in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro rediscovered St. Augustine's remains after lifting up some of

6290-598: Is no question that his reign was a period of major economic growth in Germany, but it is impossible now to determine how much of that growth was owed to Frederick's policies. The number of mints in Germany increased ninefold in the reign of Frederick and his son Henry, from about two dozen mints at the start of his reign to 215 mints in 1197 and from a mere two royal mints to 28. Frederick himself established at least twelve royal mints, including those of Aachen, Donauwörth, Ulm, Haguenau, Duisburg, Kaiserswerth, Frankfurt, Gelnhausen and Dortmund. He also granted privileges exempting

6475-570: Is not dead, but asleep with his knights in a cave in the Kyffhäuser mountains in Thuringia or Mount Untersberg at the border between Bavaria, Germany, and Salzburg , Austria , and that when the ravens cease to fly around the mountain he will awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness. According to the story, his red beard has grown through the table at which he sits. His eyes are half closed in sleep, but now and then he raises his hand and sends

6660-702: Is shoemaking. Handily shoemaking began to expand during the First World War and, by the 1950s, Vigevano was known as Italy's "shoe capital". Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (German: Friedrich I ; Italian: Federico I ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 1152. He

6845-433: Is shorter than very tall men, but taller and more noble than men of medium height. His hair is golden, curling a little above his forehead ... His eyes are sharp and piercing, his beard reddish [ barba subrufa ], his lips delicate ... His whole face is bright and cheerful. His teeth are even and snow-white in color ... Modesty rather than anger causes him to blush frequently. His shoulders are rather broad, and he

7030-512: Is strongly built ... In the opinion of Norman Cantor, Frederick's charisma led to a fantastic juggling act that, over a quarter of a century, restored the imperial authority in the German states. His formidable enemies defeated him on almost every side, yet in the end he emerged triumphant. When Frederick came to the throne, the prospects for the revival of German imperial power were extremely thin. The great German princes had increased their power and land holdings. The king had been left with only

7215-683: Is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pavia . The city possesses many artistic and cultural treasures, including several important churches and museums , such as the well known Certosa di Pavia . The municipality of Pavia is part of the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino (a Nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves ) and preserves two forests ( Strict nature reserve Bosco Siro Negri and Bosco Grande nature reserve ) that they show us

7400-533: The Adriatic Sea and because of its defence structures. In 325 Martin of Tours came to Pavia as a child following his father, a Roman officer. Pavia was the seat of an important Roman mint between 273 and 326. The reign of Romulus Augustulus (r. 475–476), the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire ended at Pavia in 476 CE, and Roman rule thereby ceased in Italy. Romulus Augustulus, while considered

7585-510: The Angevin Empire . He returned home after he signed the Treaty of Ramla agreeing that Jerusalem would remain under Muslim control while allowing unarmed Christian pilgrims and traders to visit the city. The treaty also reduced the Latin Kingdom to a geopolitical coastal strip extending from Tyre to Jaffa. The increase in wealth of the trading cities of northern Italy led to a revival in

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7770-496: The Byzantine Empire , an ill crusader stopped in a monastery outside Adrianople to recuperate. There he was robbed and killed. Conrad ordered Frederick to avenge him. The duke of Swabia razed the monastery, captured and executed the robbers and demanded they return the stolen money. The intervention of the Byzantine general Prosuch prevented further escalation. A few weeks later, on 8 September, Frederick and Welf VI were among

7955-704: The Consolation of Philosophy . Pavia played an important role in the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths that began in 535. After the Eastern Roman general Belisarius 's victory over the Ostrogothic leader Wittigis in 540 and the loss of most of the Ostrogoth lands in Italy, Pavia was among the last centres of Ostrogothic resistance that continued the war and opposed Eastern Roman rule. After

8140-719: The Electorate of the Palatinate to his brother Duke Rudolph's descendants. Pavia held out against the domination of Milan , finally yielding to the Visconti family, rulers of that city in 1359 after a difficult siege; under the Visconti Pavia became an intellectual and artistic centre, being the seat from 1361 of the University of Pavia founded around the nucleus of the old school of law, which attracted students from many countries. During

8325-653: The Girolamo Cardano University of Pavia, while, probably in 1511, Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy together with Marcantonio della Torre , professor of anatomy at the university. In 1597, by the will of Philip II of Spain, the Jewish community of Pavia had to abandon the city. During the Franco-Spanish war , Pavia was besieged from 24 July to 14 September 1655 by a large French, Savoyard and Estense army commanded by Thomas Francis, prince of Carignano , but

8510-506: The Jacobins in 1796. The Pavia municipality falls in the orographic system of the Po Valley formed after the alluvial filling of the wide of the gulf occupied by the Adriatic Sea before the Quaternary . A large part of the historic city center is located on the edge of the river Ticino . The city occupies an area of 62.86 km (24.27 sq mi) west of Lombardy , located along

8695-416: The Jews of Germany to fund the crusade. He also put the Jews under his protection and forbade anyone to preach against the Jews. When mobs threatened the Jews of Mainz on the eve of the assembly in March, Frederick sent the imperial marshal Henry of Kalden to disperse them. Rabbi Moses then met with the emperor, which resulted in an imperial edict threatening maiming or death for anyone who maimed or killed

8880-445: The Kingdom of Sicily , over the objections of Pope Urban III . Pope Urban III died shortly after, and was succeeded by Pope Gregory VIII , who even as Papal Chancellor had pursued a more conciliatory line with the Emperor than previous popes and was more concerned with troubling reports from the Holy Land than with a power struggle with Barbarossa. Around 23 November 1187, Frederick received letters that had been sent to him from

9065-433: The Pavia cathedral from 1497 is also exhibited inside the picture gallery. The university's museum network is very vast, consisting of the University History Museum of the University of Pavia, divided between the Section of Medicine, where anatomical and pathological preparations, surgical instruments are also exhibited (the surgical paraphernalia of Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla ) and life-size anatomical waxes, made by

9250-417: The Peace of Venice in 1177, Frederick and Alexander III were formally reconciled. With decisions of Paschal III nullfied, Beatrice ceased to be referred as empress. The scene was similar to that which had occurred between Pope Gregory VII and Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor at Canossa a century earlier. The conflict was the same as that resolved in the Concordat of Worms : Did the Holy Roman Emperor have

9435-416: The Ponte Coperto . The humidity of the area is quite high (75–80% is the annual average), and this causes the typical fog, starting mainly during late autumn and winter. Pavia's most famous landmark is the Certosa , or Carthusian monastery, founded in 1396 and located eight kilometres (5.0 miles) north of the city. Among other notable structures are: Pavia possesses a remarkable artistic treasure,

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9620-422: The Shrine of the Three Kings in the Cologne cathedral . After the death of the antipope Victor IV, Frederick supported antipope Paschal III , but he was soon driven from Rome, leading to the return of Pope Alexander III in 1165. In the meantime Frederick was focused on restoring peace in the Rhineland, where he organized a magnificent celebration of the canonization of Charlemagne at Aachen, under

9805-435: The Times Higher Education among the top 10 in Italy and among the 300 best in the world ), which together with the IUSS (Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia), Ghislieri College , Borromeo College , Nuovo College, Santa Caterina College, and the Istituto per il Diritto allo Studio (EDiSU), belongs to the Pavia Study System. The 15th-century Policlinico San Matteo is one of the most important hospitals in Italy. Pavia

9990-430: The Visconti court from 1365 to 1413. Pavia is the capital of the fertile province of Pavia , which is known for a variety of agricultural products, including wine , rice , cereals, and dairy products. Although there are a number of industries located in the suburbs, these tend not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the town. It is home to the ancient University of Pavia (founded in 1361 and recognized in 2022 by

10175-443: The diocese of Pavia since the tenth century. The Centro per gli studi sulla tradizione manoscritta di autori moderni e contemporanei (Formerly the "Research Center on the Manuscript Tradition of Modern and Contemporary Authors", also known as the "Manuscript Center"), founded by Maria Corti in 1980, is responsible for the conservation and to the study of modern and contemporary archival and bibliographic heritage. The center, among

10360-406: The legacy of Frederick , attempt to untangle legend from historical reality—these efforts result in new perspectives on both the emperor as a person and the social developments associated with him. Frederick was born in mid-December 1122 in Haguenau , to Frederick II, Duke of Swabia and Judith of Bavaria . His father was from the Hohenstaufen family, and his mother was from the Welf family,

10545-437: The prince-bishop of Bamberg were at his deathbed. Both asserted afterwards that Conrad had, in full possession of his mental faculties, handed the royal insignia to Frederick and indicated that he, rather than Conrad's own six-year-old son, the future Frederick IV, Duke of Swabia , succeed him as king. Frederick energetically pursued the crown and at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 the kingdom's princely electors designated him as

10730-440: The university (then the only one of all the Duchy of Milan ) to promising young people, but with scarce economic resources. In 1754, by the will of Empress Maria Theresa , the Biblioteca Universitaria was created, the most important in terms of book heritage in the city, which also preserves 1,404 manuscripts, 702 incunabula , 1,153 parchments (from 1103 to 1787), the 3,592 old prints, and 1,287 old geographical maps. In 1887

10915-406: The 12th century, Pavia acquired the status of a self-governing commune . In the political division between Guelphs and Ghibellines that characterized the Italian Middle Ages, Pavia was traditionally Ghibelline, a position that was as much supported by the rivalry with Milan as it was a mark of the defiance of the Emperor that led the Lombard League against the emperor Frederick Barbarossa , who

11100-410: The 13th century: a red banner with a white cross. This symbol, probably derived from blutfahne, the original flag of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire , had a clear political meaning: to underline Pavia's belonging to the Ghibelline faction. The coat of arms of the municipality also depicts the cross which, starting from the end of the 16th century, began to be represented in an oval shape and within

11285-410: The 15th century, when Elijah ben Shabbetai, personal doctor of Filippo Maria Visconti and professor at the University of Pavia and, above all, Joseph Colon Trabotto , who was a 15th-century rabbi who is considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar and Talmudist of his era, and in the same university a Hebrew course was activated in 1490. Also in the fifteenth century, by the will of the Dukes of Milan,

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11470-403: The Alps into northern Italy defeating the Lombard army commanded by king Desiderius (r. 757–774). Between the autumn of 773 and June of 774 Charlemagne laid siege to Pavia first and then Verona, capturing the seat of Lombard power and quickly crushing any resistance from the northern Lombard fortified cities. Pavia had been the official capital of the Lombards since the 620s, but it was also

11655-431: The Archivio Storico Civico (established in 1895), which also contains collections containing the archives of many aristocratic families from Pavia and of city personalities, such as Gaetano Sacchi, Benedetto Cairoli and Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti . The Archivio di Stato (founded in 1959) also collect funds from noble archives (Beccaria, Bottigella, Belcredi, Malaspina ) and more, such as the Mori collection, which collects

11840-423: The Biblioteca Civica Carlo Bonetta was established, the main seat of the library system of the city which is divided into eight loan and reading points distributed evenly over the entire municipal area. Among the university libraries we should mention the Library of Humanistic Studies, born from the amalgamation of several libraries of the university's humanistic faculties, such as that of archeology (built in 1819),

12025-407: The Calvenza) and by the Vernavola. The two valleys tend to converge just behind the area of the ancient city, so that primitive Pavia found itself on an almost isolated and difficult to reach trunk or stump of terrace, almost triangular in shape, which Ticino had to the south, the Calvenza and then the Navigliaccio to the north-west and the Vernavola to the north-east. From an elevation point of view,

12210-447: The Crusader army under the command of the rivals Philip II and Richard , who had traveled to Palestine separately by sea, and ultimately led to its dissolution. Richard continued to the East where he fought Saladin, winning territories along the shores of Palestine, but ultimately failed to win the war by conquering Jerusalem itself before he was forced to return to his own territories in north-western Europe, known to modern historians as

12395-424: The English feudalistic system. While in England the pledge of fealty went in a direct line from overlords to those under them, the Germans pledged oaths only to the direct overlord, so that in Henry's case, those below him in the feudal chain owed nothing to Frederick. Thus, despite the diminished stature of Henry the Lion, Frederick did not gain his allegiances. Frederick was faced with the reality of disorder among

12580-400: The Florentine ceroplast Clemente Susini and the Physics Section which houses the physics cabinet of Alessandro Volta (where hundreds of scientific instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries are exhibited, some belonging to Alessandro Volta). The University's Museum of Archeology was established by Pier Vittorio Aldini in 1819 and houses prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan (including

12765-415: The Franks in the 8th century, the church needed military protection, so Pepin found it convenient to make an ally of the pope. Frederick, however, desired to put the pope aside and claim the crown of old Rome simply because he was in the likeness of the great emperors of old, who tended to have a domineering role over the church, Caesaropapism . Pope Adrian IV was naturally opposed to this view and undertook

12950-537: The German army sailed out of Acre. On the route home, Conrad III and Frederick stopped in Thessaloniki where they swore oaths to uphold the treaty that Conrad had agreed with Emperor Manuel I Komnenos the previous winter. This treaty obligated the Germans to attack King Roger II of Sicily in cooperation with the Byzantines. After confirming the treaty, Frederick was sent ahead to Germany. He passed through Bulgaria and Hungary and arrived in Germany in April 1149. When Conrad died in February 1152, only Frederick and

13135-403: The German king were "Caesar", "Augustus", and "Emperor of the Romans". By the time Frederick would assume these, they were little more than propaganda slogans with little other meaning. Frederick was a pragmatist who dealt with the princes by finding a mutual self-interest. Unlike Henry II of England , Frederick did not attempt to end medieval feudalism, but rather tried to restore it, though this

13320-634: The German princes and ending the civil wars within the kingdom, Frederick further appeased Henry by issuing him with the Privilegium Minus , granting him unprecedented entitlements as Duke of Austria. This was a large concession on the part of Frederick, who realized that Henry the Lion had to be accommodated, even to the point of sharing some power with him. Frederick could not afford to make an outright enemy of Henry. On 9 June 1156 at Würzburg , Frederick married Beatrice of Burgundy , daughter and heiress of Renaud III , thus adding to his possessions

13505-562: The German states, where continuous civil wars were waged between pretenders and the ambitious who wanted the crown for themselves. Italian unity under German rule was more myth than truth. Despite proclamations of German hegemony, the pope was the most powerful force in Italy. When Frederick returned to Germany after his defeat in northern Italy, he was a bitter and exhausted man. The German princes, far from being subordinated to royal control, were intensifying their hold on wealth and power in Germany and entrenching their positions. There began to be

13690-459: The Hohenstaufen monarchy. Barbarossa had the duchies of Swabia and Franconia, the force of his own personality, and very little else to construct an empire. The Germany that Frederick tried to unite was a patchwork of more than 1,600 individual states, each with its own prince. A few of these, such as Bavaria and Saxony, were large. Many were too small to pinpoint on a map. The titles afforded to

13875-724: The Holy Roman Emperor had shifted to one between a French party (allied with the Pope) and a party supporting the Emperor and King of Spain Charles V . Thus, during the Valois - Habsburg Italian Wars , Pavia was naturally on the Imperial (and Spanish) side. The defeat and capture of King Francis I of France during the battle ushered in a period of Spanish occupation. In the same years, he studied at

14060-555: The Holy Roman Empire's greatest medieval emperors. He combined qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: his longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organization, his battlefield acumen, and his political perspicacity. His contributions to Central European society and culture include the re-establishment of the Corpus Juris Civilis , or the Roman rule of law, which counterbalanced

14245-782: The Hungarian Prince Géza , brother of King Béla III of Hungary , to join the Crusade. The king agreed, and a Hungarian army of 2,000 men led by Géza escorted the German emperor's forces. Later on, Frederick camped in Philippopolis , then in Adrianople in the autumn of 1189 to avoid the winter climate in Anatolia , in the meantime, he received imprisoned German emissaries who were held in Constantinople, and exchanged hostages with Isaac II, as

14430-454: The Imperial army and drove the emperor as a fugitive to Germany, where he remained for the ensuing six years. During this period, Frederick decided conflicting claims to various bishoprics, asserted imperial authority over Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, initiated friendly relations with Manuel I, and tried to come to a better understanding with Henry II of England and Louis VII of France . Many Swabian counts, including his cousin

14615-492: The Justinian code was used, perhaps unscrupulously, by Frederick to lay claim to divine powers. In Germany, Frederick was a political realist, taking what he could and leaving the rest. In Italy, he tended to be a romantic reactionary, reveling in the antiquarian spirit of the age, exemplified by a revival of classical studies and Roman law. It was through the use of the restored Justinian code that Frederick came to view himself as

14800-930: The Library of Science and Technology, where the library also merged of the Botanical Garden (established in 1773), the Law Library (1880), The Science Library, which also houses the volumes of the Medical and Surgical Society of Pavia (founded by Camillo Golgi in 1885), the Area Library Medica Adolfo Ferrata, the Political Science Library (built in 1925 ), the Economics Library and the Giasone del Maino College Library (born in 2000). Capital of

14985-422: The Lion and his Saxon troops. This expedition resulted in the revolt and capture of Milan , the Diet of Roncaglia that saw the establishment of imperial officers and ecclesiastical reforms in the cities of northern Italy, and the beginning of the long struggle with Pope Alexander III . Milan soon rebelled again and humiliated Empress Beatrice (see Legend below). The death of Pope Adrian IV in 1159 led to

15170-810: The Lion for refusing to come to his aid in 1176. By 1180, Henry had successfully established a powerful state comprising Saxony, Bavaria, and substantial territories in the north and east of Germany. Taking advantage of the hostility of other German princes to Henry, Frederick had Henry tried in absentia by a court of bishops and princes in 1180, declared that imperial law overruled traditional German law, and had Henry stripped of his lands and declared an outlaw. He then invaded Saxony with an imperial army to force his cousin to surrender. Henry's allies deserted him, and he finally had to submit to Frederick at an Imperial Diet in Erfurt in November 1181. Henry spent three years in exile at

15355-481: The Risorgimento museum, dedicating particular space to the social, economic and cultural life of Pavia between the 18th and 19th centuries, the collection of African objects collected by Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti during his explorations and the numismatic collection, which houses more than 50,000 coins, most of them belonging to Camillo Brambilla, which cover a chronological period between the classical Greek issues and

15540-569: The Salians through his mother Judith as she hailed from Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu . Therefore, Frederick carried on the bloodline of Emperor Otto the Great and his wives, Eadgyth and Adelaide . He learned to ride, hunt and use weapons at an early age, but could neither read nor write, and was also unable to speak the Latin language until later in life. He took part in several Hoftage during

15725-526: The Two Cities ) had been an exposition of the Civitas Dei ( The City of God ) of Augustine of Hippo , full of Augustinian negativity concerning the nature of the world and history. His work on Frederick is of opposite tone, being an optimistic portrayal of the glorious potentials of imperial authority. Otto died after finishing the first two books, leaving the last two to Rahewin , his provost. Rahewin's text

15910-451: The University of Pavia experienced a phase of great development: it began to attract students from both Italy and other European countries and taught teachers of great fame, such as Baldo degli Ubaldi , Lorenzo Valla or Giasone del Maino . The Battle of Pavia (1525) marked a watershed in the city's fortunes, since by that time, the former schism between the supporters of the Pope and those of

16095-601: The Visconteo Sforzesca Library, established in the second half of the fourteenth century by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the Visconti Castle , where the precious illuminated manuscripts of the dukes of Milan were kept. In 1499, with the fall of Ludovico il Moro , the king of France Louis XII took most of the manuscripts from the castle and they are now kept in the Bibliothéque Nationale de France in Paris . Of

16280-402: The acclamations of the German army. The Romans began to riot, and Frederick spent his coronation day putting down the revolt, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Romans and many more thousands injured. The next day, Frederick, Adrian, and the German army travelled to Tivoli . From there, a combination of the unhealthy Italian summer and the effects of his year-long absence from Germany meant he

16465-440: The authority of Manuel I; at the same time, his forces achieved a great victory over the Romans at the Battle of Monte Porzio . Heartened by this victory, Frederick lifted the siege of Ancona and hurried to Rome, where he had his wife crowned empress and also received a second coronation from Paschal III. His campaign was halted by the sudden outbreak of an epidemic ( malaria or the plague ), which threatened to destroy

16650-800: The authority of the antipope Paschal III. Concerned over rumours that Alexander III was about to enter into an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor Manuel ;I , in October 1166 Frederick embarked on his fourth Italian campaign, hoping as well to secure the claim of Paschal III and the coronation of his wife Beatrice as Holy Roman Empress. This time, Henry the Lion refused to join Frederick on his Italian trip, tending instead to his own disputes with neighbors and his continuing expansion into Slavic territories in northeastern Germany. In 1167 Frederick began besieging Ancona , which had acknowledged

16835-588: The besiegers were unable to conquer the city. The Spanish period ended in 1706, when Pavia was occupied, after a short siege, by the Austrians led by Wirich Philipp von Daun during the War of the Spanish Succession and the city remained Austrian until 1796, when it was occupied by the French army under Napoleon . During this Austrian period the university was greatly supported by Maria Theresa of Austria and oversaw

17020-608: The building of the Certosa , built at the end of the Visconti Park, which connected the Certosa to the castle of Pavia. The church, the last edifice of the complex to be built, was to be the family mausoleum of the Visconti. In 1389, by the will of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, some families of German Jews settled in Pavia, mainly active in financial activities. The Jewish community of Pavia grew in

17205-617: The building of the Roman-styled amphitheatre and bath complex in Pavia; in the seventh century these would be among the few still functioning bath complexes in Europe outside of the Eastern Roman Empire . Near the end of Theoderic's reign the Christian philosopher Boethius was imprisoned in one of Pavia's churches from 522 to 525 before his execution for treason. It was during Boethius's captivity in Pavia that he wrote his seminal work

17390-528: The capital implies the residence of the royal court, the presence of the central administrative structure of the kingdom, and the city's pre-eminence over the other urban centres in the military organization of the seasonal wars. The city of Pavia played a key role in the war between the Lombard Kingdom of Pavia and the Franks led by Charlemagne. In 773, Charlemagne king of the Franks declared war and invaded across

17575-463: The capitulation of the Ostrogothic leadership in 540 more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia and Verona dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule. Since 540 Pavia became the permanent capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom , stable site of the court and the royal treasury. The resilience of Ostrogoth strongholds like Pavia against invading forces allowed pockets of Ostrogothic rule to limp along until finally being defeated in 561. Pavia and

17760-491: The city has various heights. The highest point is located in the area of the Visconti Castle , about 80 m (260 ft) above sea level, and then slowly declines. From an altitude of 80 m (260 ft), you pass to 77 m (253 ft) in about 500 m (550 yd; 1,600 ft). Downstream from Piazza Vittoria, where the cardo and decumanus of the Roman city crossed, the slope becomes more pronounced, up to just under 60 m (200 ft) above sea level near

17945-450: The city on April 30, 1945. At the institutional referendum of 2 June 1946 Pavia assigned 67.1% of the votes to the Republic, while the monarchy obtained only 38.2%. The symbols of Pavia are the coat of arms, the banner and the seal, as reported in the municipal statute. The banner used by the modern city of Pavia faithfully reproduces the one used by the municipality of Pavia at least since

18130-409: The close of 1162, Frederick prevented the escalation of conflicts between Henry the Lion from Saxony and a number of neighbouring princes who were growing weary of Henry's power, influence, and territorial gains. He also severely punished the citizens of Mainz for their rebellion against Archbishop Arnold. In Frederick's third visit to Italy in 1163, his plans for the conquest of Sicily were ruined by

18315-550: The collections of zoology, comparative anatomy and paleontology. Then there is the Golgi Museum, located in the same environments in which both Camillo Golgi and his students worked, rooms and laboratories that preserve both the original furnishings and the scientific instruments of the time, in order to allow the visitor to enter inside a 19th-century research center; while the Museum of Electrical Technique, built in 2007, illustrates

18500-409: The command of one of his officers named Odoacer , rebelled and killed Orestes in the city of Pavia in 476. The rioting that took place as part of Odoacer's uprising against Orestes sparked fires that burnt much of Pavia to the point that Odoacer, as the new king of Italy, had to suspend the taxes for the city for five years so that it could finance its recovery. Without his father, Romulus Augustulus

18685-462: The court of his father-in-law Henry II of England in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany. He finished his days in Germany, as the much-diminished Duke of Brunswick. Frederick's desire for revenge was sated. Henry the Lion lived a relatively quiet life, sponsoring arts and architecture. Frederick's victory over Henry did not gain him as much in the German feudalistic system as it would have in

18870-402: The cross through messengers and then in a personal meeting on 25 December on the border between Ivois and Mouzon . On 27 March 1188, at the Diet of Mainz , the archbishop of Cologne submitted to Frederick. Bishop of Würzburg, Godfrey of Spitzenberg , preached a crusade sermon and Frederick asked the assembly whether he should take the cross. At the universal acclaim of the assembly, he took

19055-400: The crusader's vow. His second son, the duke of Swabia, followed suit. The eldest, Henry VI, was to remain behind in Germany as regent. At Mainz Frederick proclaimed a "general expedition against the pagans". He set the period of preparation as 17 April 1188 to 8 April 1189 and scheduled the army to assemble at Regensburg on 23 April 1189. At Strasbourg, Frederick had imposed a small tax on

19240-579: The crusaders. The envoys of Stefan Nemanja , grand prince of Serbia, announced that their prince would receive Frederick in Niš . Only with difficulty was an agreement reached with the Byzantine envoy, John Kamateros . Frederick sent a large embassy ahead to make preparations in Byzantium. On 15 April 1189 in Haguenau , Frederick formally and symbolically accepted the staff and scrip of a pilgrim and set out. His crusade

19425-463: The design to Antonio da Lonate . The edifice was completed in 1606. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles, and houses works by Macrino d'Alba , Bernardino Ferrari and others, as well as tempera polyptych of the school of Leonardo da Vinci . For centuries, the city was a manufacturing centre, especially for the silk and cotton industry. The key sector of Vigevano industry

19610-568: The duke berated his brother for permitting his son to go. The elder Frederick, who was dying, expected his son to look after his widow and younger half-brother once he had passed on, not risk his life by going on a crusade. Perhaps in preparation for the crusade, Frederick married Adelaide of Vohburg sometime before March 1147. His father died on 4 or 6 April and Frederick succeeded him as the Duke of Swabia. The German crusader army departed from Regensburg seven weeks later. In August 1147, while crossing

19795-545: The election of two rival popes, Alexander III and the antipope Victor IV , and both sought Frederick's support. Frederick, busy with the siege of Crema , appeared unsupportive of Alexander III, and after the sacking of Crema demanded that Alexander appear before the emperor at Pavia and to accept the imperial decree. Alexander refused, and Frederick recognised Victor IV as the legitimate pope in 1160. In response, Alexander III excommunicated both Frederick I and Victor IV. Frederick attempted to convoke

19980-655: The emperor's overlordship of the Imperial Church. Also in the Peace of Venice, a truce was made with the Lombard cities, which took effect in August 1178. The grounds for a permanent peace were not established until 1183, however, in the Peace of Constance , when Frederick conceded their right to freely elect town magistrates. By this move, Frederick recovered his nominal domination over Italy, which became his chief means of applying pressure on

20165-400: The few German crusaders who survived when a flash flood destroyed the main camp. They had decided to encamp on a hill a ways away from the main army. The remains of the army reached Constantinople the following day. Conrad III attempted to lead the army across Anatolia but finding this too difficult in the face of constant Turkish attacks near Dorylaeum, decided to turn back. The rearguard

20350-501: The first steamships began to operate in the Pavia dock and, between 1854 and 1859, the Österreichischer Lloyd organized a regular navigation line, again using steamships, between Pavia, Venice and Trieste . With the Second War of Italian Independence (1859) and the unification of Italy one year later, Pavia passed, together with the rest of Lombardy, to the Kingdom of Italy . In 1894 Albert Einstein 's father moved to Pavia to start

20535-700: The formation of a powerful league against him, brought together mainly by opposition to imperial taxes. In 1164, Frederick took what are believed to be the relics of the "Biblical Magi" (the Wise Men or Three Kings ) from the Basilica di Sant'Eustorgio in Milan and gave them as a gift (or as loot) to the Archbishop of Cologne , Rainald of Dassel . The relics had great religious significance and could be counted upon to draw pilgrims from all over Christendom . Today they are kept in

20720-468: The fortified camp, which at the time was the most forward Roman military outpost in the Po Valley , somehow survived the long Second Punic War , and gradually evolved into a garrison town. Its importance grew with the extension of the Via Aemilia from Ariminum (Rimini) to the river Po (187 BCE), which it crossed at Placentia ( Piacenza ) and there forked, one branch going to Mediolanum ( Milan ) and

20905-550: The fortified city of Pavia. Paul the Deacon 's History of the Lombards written more than a hundred years after the Siege of Ticinum provides one of the few records of this period: "The city of Ticinum (Pavia) at this time held out bravely, withstanding a siege more than three years, while the army of the Langobards remained close at hand on the western side. Meanwhile, Alboin, after driving out

21090-511: The fortresses, that is the citadels and towers. Frederick's death caused several thousand German soldiers to leave the force and return home through the Cilician and Syrian ports. The German-Hungarian army was struck with an onset of disease near Antioch , weakening it further. Only 5,000 soldiers, a third of the original force, arrived in Acre . Barbarossa's son, Frederick VI of Swabia, carried on with

21275-555: The great patron born in the town, who transformed the fortification/hunting lodge of Luchino Visconti (who in turn had re-used a Lombard fortress) into a rich noble residence, at the cusp of Gothic and Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci was his guest at Vigevano, as was Bramante , who is ascribed with the tall tower that watches over the piazza from the Castello Sforzesco. The old castle has a unique raised covered road, high enough for horsemen to ride through, that communicates between

21460-514: The history of electrical technology within five sections. Then come the Museum of Chemistry, that of Physics and the Museum of Mineralogy, founded by Lazzaro Spallanzani. Next to the Cathedral , inside the crypt of the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria del Popolo (11th century), is the Diocesan Museum of Pavia , inaugurated in 2023, which collects silverware and liturgical objects (among which

21645-454: The kingdom's capital, Pavia in the late seventh century also became one of the central locations of the Lombards' efforts to mint their own coinage. The bust of the Lombard king would have been etched on the coins as a symbolic gesture so that those who used the coins, mostly Lombard nobles, would understand that king had the ultimate power and control of wealth in the Kingdom of Pavia. The role of

21830-561: The knighting of a son were part of the expectations of an overlord in England and France, only a "gift" was given in Germany for such an occasion. Frederick's monetary gain from this celebration is said to have been modest. Later in 1184, Frederick again moved into Italy, this time joining forces with the local rural nobility to reduce the power of the Tuscan cities. In 1186, he engineered the marriage of his son Henry to Constance of Sicily , heiress to

22015-598: The last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was actually a usurper of the imperial throne ; his father Flavius Orestes dethroned the previous emperor, Julius Nepos , and raised the young Romulus Augustulus to the imperial throne at Ravenna in 475. Though being the emperor, Romulus Augustulus was simply the mouthpiece for his father Orestes, who was the person who actually exercised power and governed Italy during Romulus Augustulus' short reign. Ten months after Romulus Augustulus's reign began, Orestes's soldiers under

22200-474: The law of the state as a reflection of natural moral law, the principle of rationality in the universe. By the time Frederick assumed the throne, this legal system was well established on both sides of the Alps. He was the first to use the availability of the new professional class of lawyers. The Civil Law allowed Frederick to use these lawyers to administer his kingdom in a logical and consistent manner. It also provided

22385-534: The lectures in the school of Pavia. In 924, the Hungarians, led by the deposed Lombard king, Berengar I , besieged but did not conquer the city. With Otto II Pavia become the stable site of the court, first with queen Adelaide of Italy and then with the wife of Otto II Theophanum . During the Ottonian period Pavia enjoyed a period of well-being and development. The ancient Lombard capital distinguished itself from

22570-602: The main residence for the Lombard rulers. Under Lombard rule many monasteries, nunneries, and churches were built at Pavia by the devout Christian Lombard monarchs. Even though the first Lombard kings were Arian Christians, sources from the period such as Paul the Deacon have recorded that the Arian Lombards were very tolerant of their Catholic subjects' faith and that up to the 690s Arian and Catholic cathedrals coexisted in Pavia. Lombard kings, queens, and nobles would engage in building churches, monasteries, and nunneries as

22755-511: The majority of his army had already departed toward Hungary on land, Frederick sailed from Regensburg down the River Danube. When he came to the village of Mauthausen, Frederick ordered the village to be burned for levying a toll on the crusader army. The Crusaders then passed through Hungary , Serbia , and Bulgaria before entering Byzantine territory. While in Hungary, Barbarossa personally asked

22940-431: The meantime, Frederick had to deal with another rebellion at Milan, in which the city surrendered on 6 March 1162; much of it was destroyed three weeks later on the emperor's orders. The fate of Milan led to the submission of Brescia , Placentia , and many other northern Italian cities. In August 1162 he triumphantly entered Turin and was crowned with his consort in the cathedral on August 15. Returning to Germany towards

23125-528: The merchants of Aachen, Gelnhausen, Haguenau, Monza, Rome, Pisa and Venice from all tolls within the Empire. Otto of Freising , Frederick's uncle, wrote an account of his reign entitled Gesta Friderici I imperatoris (Deeds of the Emperor Frederick), which is considered to be an accurate history of the king. Otto's other major work, the Chronica sive Historia de duabus civitatibus ( Chronicle or History of

23310-669: The minting of the modern period. The Pinacoteca Malaspina (which is part of the Pavia Civic Museums) established by the Marquis Luigi Malaspina di Sannazzaro (Pavia 1754– 1834), houses works by important artists of the Italian and international scene, from the 13th to the 20th century, such as Gentile da Fabriano , Vincenzo Foppa , Giovanni Bellini , Antonello da Messina , Bernardino Luini , Correggio , Paolo Veronese , Guido Reni , Francesco Hayez , Giovanni Segantini and Renato Gottuso . The monumental wooden model of

23495-739: The most important of its kind in Italy, preserves collections of documentary material (manuscripts, typescripts, letters, first editions, libraries, photographs, drawings, furnishings, paintings and other objects) relating to writers, intellectuals, publishers, artists and scientists of the past two centuries. Among the archival collections preserved we remember those of Alberto Arbasino , Riccardo Bacchelli , Romano Bilenchi , Emilio De Marchi , Ennio Flaiano , Alfonso Gatto , Tonino Guerra , Claudio Magris , Luigi Meneghello , Eugenio Montale , Indro Montanelli , Salvatore Quasimodo , Mario Rigoni Stern , Amelia Rosselli , Umberto Saba and Roberto Sanesi. The library tradition of Pavia among its origins from

23680-661: The nearly one thousand manuscripts that made up the library, only one codex remained in Pavia: I Trionfi di Francesco Petrarca kept in the Biblioteca Universitaria. In the second half of the 16th century, three historic libraries arose in the city: that of the Episcopal Seminary and the libraries of the Borromeo and Ghislieri Colleges, founded respectively by Charles Borromeo and Pope Pius V to allow access to

23865-561: The new palace and the old fortifications; there is a Falconry, an elegant loggiato supported by 48 columns, and, in the rear area of the mastio , the Ladies' Loggia made for Duchess Beatrice d'Este . Vigevano's main attraction is the Piazza Ducale, an elongated rectangle that is almost in the proportions 1:3, built for Ludovico Sforza , starting in 1492-93 and completed in record time, unusual for early Renaissance town planning. Piazza Ducale

24050-433: The next German king. He was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen several days later, on 9 March 1152. The reigns of Henry IV and Henry V left the status of the German empire in disarray, its power waning under the weight of the investiture controversy . For a quarter of a century following the death of Henry V in 1125, the German monarchy was largely a nominal title with no real power behind it. The king, chosen by

24235-432: The original state of the nature of the Po valley before the arrival of the Romans, before human settlement. In Roman times, Pavia was called Ticinum . It began to be called Papia , whence Pavia , only since Lombard times, one of the very few Roman municipia in Italy that changed their names during the early Middle Ages . The origin of the modern name is still uncertain today. Dating back to pre-Roman times,

24420-641: The other cities of the Po Valley for its fundamental function as a crossroads of important trade, both in foodstuffs and in luxury items. Commercial traffic was favored above all by the waterways used by the emperor for his travels: from Ticino the Po was easily reached, a direct axis with the Adriatic Sea and maritime traffic. Furthermore, with the advent of the Ottoni, Milan again lost importance in favor of Pavia, whose pre-eminence

24605-472: The other to Ticinum, and thence to Laumellum where it divided once more, one branch going to Vercellae – and thence to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria – and the other to Valentia – and thence to Augusta Taurinorum ( Turin ). The town was built on flatted ground with square blocks. The " cardo Maximus " road corresponded to the current Strada Nuova up to the Roman bridge while the " decumanus " road corresponded to corso Cavour-corso Mazzini. Under most of

24790-442: The outside of town is the La Sforzesca , a rectangular villa-fortress with corner palace-towers, built in 1486 by Ludovico il Moro. In the 17th century one end of the Piazza Ducale was enclosed by the concave Baroque façade of the Cathedral, cleverly adjusted to bring the ancient duomo into a line perpendicular to the axis of the piazza and centered on it. The Cathedral was begun in 1532 under Duke Francesco II , who commissioned

24975-456: The papacy, to make no peace with king Roger II of Sicily or other enemies of the Church without the consent of Eugene, and to help Eugene regain control of the city of Rome. Frederick undertook six expeditions into Italy. In the first, beginning in October 1154, his plan was to launch a campaign against the Normans under King William I of Sicily . He marched down and almost immediately encountered resistance to his authority. Obtaining

25160-450: The papacy. In a move to consolidate his reign after the disastrous expedition into Italy, Frederick was formally crowned King of Burgundy at Arles on 30 June 1178. Although traditionally the German kings had automatically inherited the royal crown of Arles since the time of Conrad II , Frederick felt the need to be crowned by the Archbishop of Arles, regardless of his laying claim to the title from 1152. Frederick did not forgive Henry

25345-481: The papal power that dominated the German states since the conclusion of the Investiture controversy . Due to his popularity and notoriety, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, he was used as a political symbol by many movements and regimes: the Risorgimento , the Wilhelmine government in Germany (especially under Emperor Wilhelm I ), and the Nazi movement ( Operation Barbarossa , Barbarossa decree ) resulting in mixed legacies. Modern researchers, while exploring

25530-419: The papers of Cesare Mori . Also preserved in the archive are the acts of the notaries of Pavia (1256–1907), the maps of the Teresian Cadastre of the Pavia area (18th–19th centuries), and the archives of the university (1341–1897), of the San Matteo Hospital (1063–1900), the Prefecture, the Police Headquarters and the Court. Equally important is the Archivio Storico Diocesano, which houses the documentation of

25715-531: The paving stones that compose the cathedral's floor. Liutprand was a very devout Christian and like many of the Lombard kings was zealous about collecting relics of saints. Liutprand paid a great deal to have the relics removed from Cagliari and brought to Pavia so that they would be out of the reach and safe from the Saracens on Sardinia where St. Augustine's remains had been resting. Very little of Liutprand's original church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro consecrated by Pope Zacharias in 743 remains today. Originally

25900-408: The peninsula of Italy did not remain long under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, for in 568 CE a new people invaded Italy: the Lombards (otherwise called the Longobards). In their invasion of Italy in 568, the Lombards were led by their king Alboin (r. 560–572), who would become the first Lombard king of Italy. Alboin captured much of northern Italy in 568 but his progress was halted in 569 by

26085-414: The place upon where the Lombard Kingdom in Italy ended. Upon entering Pavia in triumph, Charlemagne crowned himself king of the lands of the former Kingdom of Pavia. The Lombard kingdom and its northern territories from then onwards were a sub-kingdom of the Frankish Empire, while the Lombard southern duchy of Benevento persisted for several centuries longer with relative independence and autonomy. There

26270-437: The power to name the pope and bishops? The Investiture controversy from previous centuries had been brought to a tendentious peace with the Concordat of Worms and affirmed in the First Council of the Lateran . Now it had recurred, in a slightly different form. Frederick had to humble himself before Alexander III at Venice. The emperor acknowledged the pope's sovereignty over the Papal States, and in return Alexander acknowledged

26455-423: The prince-electors, was given no resources outside those of his own duchy and he was at the same time prevented from exercising any real authority or leadership. The royal title was furthermore passed from one family to another to preclude the development of any dynastic interest in the German crown. When Frederick was chosen as king in 1152, royal power had been in effective abeyance for over twenty-five years, and to

26640-431: The regency of Galeazzo II and Gian Galeazzo the memory of the capital's role and the Lombard traditions of Pavia jointly entered the "propaganda" of the new masters of Pavia: Galeazzo II moved his court from Milan to Pavia and between 1361 and 1365 Galeazzo II built a large palace ( Visconti castle ) with a major Park ( Visconti Park ), which became the official residence of the dynasty. In 1396 Gian Galeazzo commissioned

26825-468: The region, in stone, brick and lime. In Pavia, Ibrāhīm al-Turtuši, was very impressed by the equestrian statue of Regisole , which he places near one of the doors of the Royal palace and by the 300 jurists working inside the palace. Also at the turn of the tenth and eleventh centuries, the city was the birthplace of Liutprand of Cremona , bishop, chronicler and diplomat in the service of Berengar II first and then of Otto I and Otto II and of Lanfranc ,

27010-532: The reign of his uncle, King Conrad III , which were a form of informal and irregular assembly popular among the nobles of the Holy Roman Empire. One took place in 1141 in Strasbourg , another in 1142 in Konstanz , 1143 in Ulm , 1144 in Würzburg and 1145 in Worms . In early 1147, Frederick decided to join the Second Crusade after his uncle, King Conrad III, had taken the crusader vow in public on 28 December 1146. Frederick's father, Duke Frederick II , strongly objected to this and according to Otto of Freising ,

27195-424: The remnants of the German army, along with the Hungarian army under the command of Prince Géza, with the aim of burying the emperor in Jerusalem , but efforts to preserve his body in vinegar failed. Hence, his flesh was interred in the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Antioch, his bones in the Cathedral of Tyre, and his heart and inner organs in Saint Paul's Church , Tarsus . The unexpected demise of Frederick left

27380-451: The restoration of Milan in 1169. In 1174 Frederick made his fifth expedition to Italy. (It was probably during this time that the famous Tafelgüterverzeichnis , a record of the royal estates, was made. ) He was opposed by the pro-papal Lombard League (now joined by Venice , Sicily and Constantinople ), which had previously formed to stand against him. The cities of northern Italy had become exceedingly wealthy through trade, representing

27565-426: The rival House of Welf . Frederick, therefore, descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's prince-electors . Frederick joined the Third Crusade and opted to travel overland to the Holy Land . In 1190, Frederick drowned attempting to cross the Saleph River, leading to most of his army abandoning the Crusade before reaching Acre. Historians consider him among

27750-452: The roof of its apse was decorated with mosaics, making San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro the first instance of mosaics being used to decorate a Lombard church. It is now a modern church with the only significant link to its antiquity being its round apse. The Lombards built their churches in a very Romanesque style, with the best example of Lombard churches from the period of Lombardic rule being the Basilica of San Michele still intact at Pavia. As

27935-420: The rulers of the Crusader states in the Near East urging him to come to their aid. Around 1 December, Cardinal Henry of Marcy preached a crusade sermon before Frederick and a public assembly in Strasbourg . Frederick expressed support for the crusade but declined to take the cross on the grounds of his ongoing conflict with Archbishop Philip of Cologne . He did, however, urge King Philip II of France to take

28120-612: The sizeable realm of the County of Burgundy . In an attempt to create comity, Emperor Frederick proclaimed the Peace of the Land , written between 1152 and 1157, which enacted punishments for a variety of crimes, as well as systems for adjudicating many disputes. He also declared himself the sole Augustus of the Roman world, ceasing to recognise Manuel I at Constantinople. The retreat of Frederick in 1155 forced Pope Adrian IV to come to terms with King William I of Sicily, granting to William I territories that Frederick viewed as his dominion. This aggrieved Frederick, and he

28305-406: The so-called " Karst spring 's belt", where there is the meeting, in the subsoil, between geological layers with different permeability, an aspect that allows the deep waters to resurface on the surface. The fluvial terrace on which Pavia stands appears engraved by two deep furrows due to the erosive action of two postglacial rivers, represented today by the Navigliaccio (originally occupied by

28490-412: The soldiers, took possession of everything as far as Tuscany except Rome and Ravenna and some other fortified places which were situated on the shore of the sea." The Siege of Ticinum finally ended with the Lombards capturing the city of Pavia in 572. Pavia's strategic location and the Ostrogoth palaces located within it would make Pavia by the 620s the main capital of the Lombards' Kingdom of Pavia and

28675-418: The streets of the historic center there are still the brick ducts of the Roman sewer system which continued to function throughout the Middle Ages and the modern age without interruption, until about 1970. Pavia was important as a Military site ( near the city , in 271, the emperor Aurelian defeated the Juthungi ) because of the easy access to water communications (through the rivers Ticino and Po ) up to

28860-399: The study of the Justinian Code , a Latin legal system that had become extinct centuries earlier. Legal scholars renewed its application. It is speculated that Pope Gregory VII personally encouraged the Justinian rule of law and had a copy of it. The historian Norman Cantor described Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian Body of Civil Law) as "the greatest legal code ever devised". It envisaged

29045-427: The submission of Milan , he successfully besieged Tortona on 13 February 1155, razing it to the ground on 18 April. He moved on to Pavia , where he according to some historians received the Iron Crown and the title of King of Italy on 24 April in the Basilica of San Michele Maggiore . Other historians instead suggest his coronation took place in Monza on 15 April. Moving through Bologna and Tuscany , he

29230-408: The thousand faces of this cereal. such as the Carthusian risotto, according to the legend created by the monks of the Certosa , based on crayfishes , carrots and onions, risotto with eye beans or the one with sausage and bonarda and risotto with common hops (ürtis in pavese dialect). Among the first courses, in addition to rice, the pavese soup also stands out, created, according to tradition, by

29415-533: The tombs of kings or queens. Then there is the Romanesque and Renaissance section which exhibits sculptural, architectural and mosaic. The Romanesque collection is very rich, one of the largest in northern Italy, which also preserves important oriental architectural dishes from the Islamic and Byzantine East that adorned the facades of churches and buildings. Works by Jacopino da Tradate , Giovanni Antonio Amadeo , Cristoforo and Antonio Mantegazza and Annibale Fontana are also exhibited. The Civic Museums also house

29600-453: The town of Pavia was said by Pliny the Elder to have been founded by the Laevi and Marici , two Ligurian , or Celto-Ligurian, tribes, while Ptolemy attributes it to the Insubres , a Celtic population. The Roman city, known as Ticinum , was a municipality and an important military site (a castrum ) under the Roman Empire . It most likely began as a small military camp built by the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio in 218 BCE to guard

29785-418: The traditional family domains and a vestige of power over the bishops and abbeys. The backwash of the Investiture controversy had left the German states in continuous turmoil. Rival states were in perpetual war. These conditions allowed Frederick to be both warrior and occasional peace-maker, both to his advantage. Frederick is the subject of many legends, including that of a Kyffhäuser legend . Legend says he

29970-434: The two most powerful families in Germany. The Hohenstaufens were often called Ghibellines , which derives from the Italianized name for Waiblingen castle, the family seat in Swabia; the Welfs, in a similar Italianization, were called Guelfs . Frederick was also a descendant of the Salian dynasty through his paternal grandmother Agnes as she was the daughter of Emperor Henry IV and Bertha of Savoy . He also had ties to

30155-472: The works on the Naviglio Pavese were completed: the canal, conceived as a waterway between Milan, Pavia and Ticino and as an irrigation canal, contributed to the development of the city, so much so that a few years after its construction, in 1821, Borgo Calvenzano was built behind the Visconti Castle , a long series of arcaded buildings where there were warehouses, taverns, shipping and customs offices, hotels, stables, all in support of inland navigation. In 1820

30340-444: The young Duke of Swabia, Frederick IV, died in 1167, so he was able to organize a new mighty territory in the Duchy of Swabia under his reign in this time. Consequently, his younger son Frederick V became the new Duke of Swabia in 1167, while his eldest son Henry was crowned King of the Romans in 1169, alongside his father who also retained the title. Increasing anti-German sentiment swept through Lombardy, culminating in

30525-451: Was "the most meticulously planned and organized" up to that time. According to one source written in the 1220s, Frederick organized a grand army of 100,000 men (including 20,000 knights) and set out on the overland route to the Holy Land; This number is believed to be inaccurate by modern scholars using incomplete contemporary sources that place the size of his army at 12,000–15,000 men, including 3,000–4,000 knights. On 11 May 1189, after

30710-458: Was a brother of Adela's great-great-great-grandmother, making them fourth cousins, once removed). He then made a vain attempt to obtain a bride from the court of Constantinople . On his accession, Frederick had communicated the news of his election to Pope Eugene III , but had neglected to ask for papal confirmation. In March 1153, Frederick concluded the Treaty of Constance with the Pope, wherein he promised, in return for his coronation, to defend

30895-433: Was a complete failure. Frederick suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Legnano near Milan, on 29 May 1176, where he was wounded and for some time was believed to be dead. This battle marked the turning point in Frederick's claim to empire. He had no choice other than to begin negotiations for peace with Alexander III and the Lombard League. In the Peace of Anagni in 1176, Frederick recognized Alexander III as pope, and in

31080-412: Was actually planned to form a noble forecourt to his castle, unified by the arcades that completely surround the square, an amenity of the new North Italian towns built in the 13th century. The town's main street enters through a sham arcaded façade that preserves the unity of the space as at the Place des Vosges . Ludovico demolished the former palazzo of the commune of Vigevano to create the space. At

31265-469: Was attempting to reassert long-dormant Imperial influence over Italy. Frederick I celebrated two coronations in Pavia (1155 and 1162) in the basilica of San Michele Maggiore and resieded in a new imperial palace near the royal monastery of St. Salvatore . Several times the Pavia army fought with the emperor against the forces of the Lombard League , participating in the sieges of Tortona , Crema and Milan and in other military operations. The city also had

31450-427: Was beyond his ability. The great players in the German civil war had been the Pope, Emperor, Ghibellines and the Guelfs, but none of these had emerged as the winner. Eager to restore the Empire to the position it had occupied under Charlemagne and Otto I the Great , the new king saw clearly that the restoration of order in Germany was a necessary preliminary to the enforcement of the imperial rights in Italy. Issuing

31635-434: Was built, with the adjacent Dominican convent, by Filippo Maria Visconti in 1445. In the last years of Visconti domination it sustained a siege by Francesco Sforza . Once he was settled in power in Lombardy, Sforza arranged for Vigevano to be set up as the seat of a bishop and provided its revenues. Vigevano is crowned by the Castello Sforzesco , a stronghold rebuilt 1492–94 for Ludovico Maria Sforza ( Ludovico il Moro ),

31820-436: Was commissioned by king Liutprand (r. 712–744) and it would become the site of his tomb as well as two other famous Christian figures. In building San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro the unit of measurement used by the builders was the length of Liutprand's royal foot. The first important Christian figure interred at San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro was the previously mentioned philosopher Boethius, author of The Consolation of Philosophy , who

32005-451: Was crowned King of Italy on 24 April 1155 in Pavia and emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155 in Rome . Two years later, the term sacrum ("holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his empire. He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy , at Arles on 30 June 1178. He was named Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule: Barbarossa means "red beard" in Italian; in German, he

32190-416: Was forced to put off his planned campaign against the Normans of Sicily . On their way northwards, they attacked Spoleto and encountered the ambassadors of Manuel I Comnenus, who showered Frederick with costly gifts. At Verona , Frederick declared his fury with the rebellious Milanese before finally returning to Germany. Disorder was again rampant in Germany, especially in Bavaria, but general peace

32375-424: Was forced to weaken his force at the Siege of Acre and send troops to the north to block the arrival of the Germans. Barbarossa opted on the local Armenians' advice to follow a shortcut along the Saleph River. Meanwhile, the army started to traverse the mountain path. On 10 June 1190, he drowned near Silifke Castle in the Saleph River. There are several conflicting accounts of the event: Jacques de Vitry ,

32560-423: Was further displeased when Papal legates chose to interpret a letter from Adrian to Frederick in a manner that seemed to imply that the imperial crown was a gift from the Papacy and that in fact the Empire itself was a fief of the Papacy. Disgusted with the pope, and still wishing to crush the Normans in the south of Italy, in June 1158, Frederick set out upon his second Italian expedition, accompanied by Henry

32745-422: Was impressed by the charitable works of the Knights Hospitaller . He took part in the council of Acre on 24 June, where a decision was reached that the crusaders would attack Damascus . The Siege of Damascus (24–28 July) lasted a mere five days and ended in failure. Gilbert of Mons , writing fifty years later, recorded that Frederick "prevailed in arms before all others in front of Damascus". On 8 September,

32930-463: Was known as Kaiser Rotbart , which in English means "Emperor Redbeard." The prevalence of the Italian nickname, even in later German usage, reflects the centrality of the Italian campaigns under his reign. Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III) before his imperial election in 1152 . He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith , daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria , from

33115-469: Was not charged with heresy. As Frederick approached the gates of Rome, the Pope advanced to meet him. At the royal tent the king received him, and after kissing the pope's feet, Frederick expected to receive the traditional kiss of peace. Frederick had declined to hold the Pope's stirrup while leading him to the tent, however, so Adrian refused to give the kiss until this protocol had been complied with. Frederick hesitated, and Adrian IV withdrew; after

33300-407: Was occupied by the German army. In September 1944, the US air forces carried out several bombings on the city with the aim of destroying the three bridges over the Ticino, strategic for supplying men. Weapons and provisions the German units engaged along the Gothic line . These operations led to the destruction of the Ponte Coperto and resulted in the deaths of 119 civilians. Allied troops entered

33485-476: Was powerless. Instead of killing Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer pensioned him off at 6,000 solidi a year before declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and himself king of the new Kingdom of Italy. Odoacer's reign as king of Italy did not last long, because in 488 the Ostrogothic peoples led by their king Theoderic invaded Italy and waged war against Odoacer. After fighting for 5 years, Theoderic defeated Odoacer and on March 15, 493, assassinated Odoacer at

33670-468: Was restored by Frederick's vigorous, but conciliatory, measures. The duchy of Bavaria was transferred from Henry II Jasomirgott , margrave of Austria, to Frederick's formidable younger cousin Henry the Lion , Duke of Saxony , of the House of Guelph , whose father had previously held both duchies. Henry II Jasomirgott was named Duke of Austria in compensation for his loss of Bavaria. As part of his general policy of concessions of formal power to

33855-423: Was sanctioned, among other things, by the minting of the Pavia mint. The importance of the city in those centuries is also highlighted by the account of the Arab geographer Ibrāhīm al-Turtuši, who traveled to central-western Europe between 960 and 965 and visited Verona, Rocca di Garda and Pavia, which he defined the main city of Longobardia, very populous, rich in merchants and entirely built, unlike other centers in

34040-441: Was soon approaching the city of Rome. There, Pope Adrian IV was struggling with the forces of the republican city commune led by Arnold of Brescia , a student of Abelard . As a sign of good faith, Frederick dismissed the ambassadors from the revived Roman Senate, and Imperial forces suppressed the republicans. Arnold was captured and hanged for treason and rebellion. Despite his unorthodox teaching concerning theology, Arnold

34225-533: Was subsequently annihilated. Conrad sent Frederick ahead to inform King Louis VII of France of the disaster and ask for help. The two armies, French and German, then advanced together. When Conrad fell ill around Christmas in Ephesus , he returned to Constantinople by ship with his personal retinue, which included Frederick. With Byzantine ships and money, the German army once again left Constantinople on 7 March 1148 and arrived in Acre on 11 April. After Easter, Conrad and Frederick visited Jerusalem , where Frederick

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