The Italian policy of the Roman-German Emperors was
not characterized by an entirely smooth course, although
it is true that no other power was able to challenge the
supremacy of their position. However, with the growth in
the power of the papacy after the reform of Gregory VII
(1073- 1085), two different directions of development began
to emerge which were reflected in a centuries' long struggle
between the supreme temporal and spiritul authorities of
the Occident-imperium and sacerdotium.
Success favoured now one side, now the other, but it
was inevitable that the pope should find allies among all
those who felt threatened by Imperial ambitions-not only
among the particularistic powers within Germany itself but
also among those citizens of the aspiring cities of Lombardy
whose prosperity was exploited only too readily by rulers
who were always in need of money. Conversely, the latter
endeavoured to establish a party which, within the circles
of the Italian aristocracy was loyal to the emperor and op-
posed the political ambitions of the popes or viewed with
suspicion the unstoppable rise of the urban middle-class.
The Salian emperors had ended their "investiture con-
troversy" with the papacy in 1122 by the compromise of
the Concordat ofWorms. However, under the Hohenstau-
fens, points of contention again appeared and led to even
more violent reactions than before. To begin with, events
were dominated by Conrad II (1138- 1152) and Frederick 1
Barbarossa. The latter devastated Milan, the centre of the
Lombard League in 1162 but was unable to exploit the ad-
Knight (Frederick 1 Barbarossa) in chain-mail and
nose-piece helmet and armed with a mace at the
time of the battle of Legnano, followed by foot-
warriors carrying swords, spears and shields. Mini-
ature of 1 190 from the Annals of Genoa.
vantage gained in the face of increasing resistance and the
1
unyielding attitude of the successor of St. Peter. Campaigns
and peace treaties alternated with each other until there
wasyet another open confrontation between the League and
the emperor in 1176 at Legnano.
There are several good accounts of what happened.
From the Italian viewpoint, the most significant of these
are the Annales Mediolanenses maiores or the Gesta Frederici J
Imperatoris in Lombardia, written by a citizen of Milan, the
Annales Romualdi by the archbishop of Salerno and the Vita
Alexandri IJJ by Cardinal Boso. The standpoint of the em-
peror is related by Godfrey of Viterbo who lived in Italy
from 1174 to 1178 and was a tutor of the prince at the
court of Frederick 1. There are also reports of the battle
in the royal chronicle of Cologne and the annals of Magde-
burgo
Frederick Barbarossa ("Frederick of the Red Beard"),
who had spent the winter in Pavia with a small army, hast-
ened to the Como are a on hearing of the approach of the
reinforcements summoned from Germany. It was here that
the Imperial forces assembled, consisting of the vassals of
various temporal and spiritual princes and lords who were
obliged by fealty to make the "journey to Rome", i.e., to
take part in the ltalian campaign. However, in 1175/76, the
Guelph Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria and
the most powerful of the German lord s, took the part of
Pope Alexander III and refused to follow the emperor.
Including all those who had joined en route, the Imperial
army consequently numbered only 3,000 to 3,500 knights
-not counting the vassals on foot who did not take an
activepart in the battle.
Knights mounted and on foot attack the standard-carriage
The numerical strength of the Lombard army is less which is defended by citizens and mercenaries. Copperplate
well reported. The figures reported fluctuate wildly be- engraving by icola Sanesi.
tween100,000 men and 12,000 knights whereas a more criti-
cal examination and the course of the battle would indica te knights, the infantry was not a tactical force either, and
a forceofsome 3,000 to 4,000 knights in armour and approx- could not carry out tactical operations on the battle-field. Its
imatelythe same number of foot-soldiers. The army of the strength lay in its concentrated mass which was capable of
Lombard League was made up of contingents from the offering prolonged resistance as long as its cohesiveness was
various cities; its main strength was likewise its body of maintained. The foot-soldiers of the Lombard League
knights, 50 of whom carne from Lodi, 300 from ovara took up their positions around the carroccio or flag-carriage
and Vercelli and 200 from Piacenza; other knights from on which there was a flag or a bundle of flags and a mon-
Bresciawere still en route at the beginning of the battle. In strance with the consecrated host. Unlike the usual military
addition, however, the cities disposed of a substantial force vehicles and carriages, this was consequently not a means
of foot-soldiers, armed with shields and lances. Like the of transportation for troops, weapons or supplies or part of
a barricade of waggons. The flag-carriage served as a blessed
symbol of the pious civil spirit-under the slogan "God
with us!", as it were-and was in tended to raise the combat
morale of the warriors, who were mostly artisans from the
guilds, few ofwhom had any experience ofwar. The carroc-
cio, the communal "substitute" for a royal banner, was not
of any direct military importance.
The two armies approached each other at Legnano,
three miles to the northwest ofMilan whose archbishop pos-
sessed a castle here. In the early hours of 29 May 1176, the
Lombards sent out a force of 700 knights in the direction
of Como to reconnoitre the position of the enemy. This
advance party carne across a group of about 300 knights of
the Imperial army who, for their part, were carrying out a
reconnaissance of the Lombard forces. Fighting broke out
between the two bodies ofknights but the numerical superi-
ority of the Lombards proved of no avail since the main
forces of the German army rapidly appeared on the scene
and put the Lombard knights to flight. Some ofthe latter fell
back to the main camp but others simply fled as fast as they
could from the battlefield. Thus in the first stages it seemed
that victory was favouring the Imperial side.
The foot-soldiers gathered around the flag-carriage
still offered resistance, however, and they were supported
by the knights of the advance guard who had returned here
after making contact with the Imperial army. Frederick
Barbarossa, who had hoped that his heavily armed troops
would score a rapid victory over the Lombard army despite
the disloyalty of Henry the Lion, was disappointed in his
expectations. He had underestimated the resistance of the
militia contingents. In massed ranks, they had faced the
enemy with lance and shield at the ready and had repeat-
edly repulsed the attacks of the German knights, the posi-
tion of the defenders being favoured by a trench which
hampered the onslaughts of the enemy.
In the meantime, there was a major change in the state
of affairs away from the battlefield. The Lombard knights
who had initially fled from the Imperial army met up with
arriving mounted knights of the other towns in the League
and returned with them to the scene of the fighting. lt was
the appearance of these new contingents which determined
the outcome of the battle. The emperor's troops proved to
be too exhausted to ward off their attack since they had
suffered heavy losses in the confrantation with the Lom-
bard mili tia. Thus the third phase of the battle ended for
them with a serious defeat. Many of the German knights
were taken prisoner while others took to their heels and
were drowned in the River Ticino. The Imperial camp was
captured by the Lombards.
Frederick himself escaped to Pavia and drew the cor-
rect conclusion from his failure at Legnano. He exchanged
the sword for the pen of the diplomat, abandoned his exag-
gerated claims against the Lombards and concluded peace
in neutral Venice with their patron, the pope. Using the
freedom of movement he had regained, he broke the power
of Henry the Lion in Germany and married his son and
successor to the heiress of the wealthy orman kingdom of
Sicily and Naples. His strange death in the waters of the
distant River Saleph during the third Crusade (1 190) helped
to transform the Hohenstaufen emperor into a personage
of the K yff'hauser Saga. The development of the orthern
ltalian cities, now relieved from direct pressure, took a more
prosaic course and, after many challenges in which a second
Frederick of the Hohenstaufen dynasty (12 I 2- 1250) was
not unconcerned, they became the centre ofEuropean com-
merce and manufacturing where early capitalist relations
first emerged.
The battle of Legnano was not yet an epoch-making
victory of infantry forces over knights. To be sure, the foot-
soldiers of the Lombard League, rallying around the flag-
carriage, had firmly repulsed an attack by knights but were
incapable of resolving the battle by themselves. For this,
they were still too inexperienced, they lacked training and
their organizational cohesiveness was weak, although the
awareness of the city mili tia that they were fighting for the
defence of their rights against the alien Imperial power
gave a patriotic flavour to their resistance and certainly
strengthened their resolution. The successful defensive ac-
tion of a body of foot-soldiers which, at Legnano, was also
supported by a large number of knights remained for the
time being an isolated episode in the history of war. Never-
theless, it anticipated that line of development which, in
the 14th and 15th centuries with the Flemish citizens' mili-
tia, the Swiss peasants and ultimately the Czech Hussites,
led to the independent army of foot-soldiers.