Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on the contributors
- Note on translations and usage
- Map
- Introduction
- Part I The Italian states
- 1 The kingdom of Sicily
- 2 The kingdom of Naples
- 3 The kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica
- 4 The papal state
- 5 Tuscan states: Florence and Siena
- 6 Ferrara and Mantua
- 7 Venice and the Terraferma
- 8 Lombardy under the Visconti and the Sforza
- 9 The feudal principalities: the west (Monferrato, Saluzzo, Savoy and Savoy-Acaia)
- 10 The feudal principalities: the east (Trent, Bressanone/Brixen, Aquileia, Tyrol and Gorizia)
- 11 Genoa
- Part II Themes and perspectives
- Bibliography
- Index
10 - The feudal principalities: the east (Trent, Bressanone/Brixen, Aquileia, Tyrol and Gorizia)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on the contributors
- Note on translations and usage
- Map
- Introduction
- Part I The Italian states
- 1 The kingdom of Sicily
- 2 The kingdom of Naples
- 3 The kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica
- 4 The papal state
- 5 Tuscan states: Florence and Siena
- 6 Ferrara and Mantua
- 7 Venice and the Terraferma
- 8 Lombardy under the Visconti and the Sforza
- 9 The feudal principalities: the west (Monferrato, Saluzzo, Savoy and Savoy-Acaia)
- 10 The feudal principalities: the east (Trent, Bressanone/Brixen, Aquileia, Tyrol and Gorizia)
- 11 Genoa
- Part II Themes and perspectives
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Introduction: the medieval background
During the early Middle Ages the eastern Alps comprised large swathes of territory assigned to ecclesiastical rulers who also enjoyed temporal sovereignty. The repeated involvement of the Holy Roman emperors in Italian politics, and therefore the need to defend communication routes between Germany and the peninsula, had led to the creation of the ecclesiastical principalities of Trent, Bressanone/Brixen and Aquileia, whose original function can be traced back to controlling stretches of the roads through the southern Alps.
Having been granted sovereign rights over the counties of Trent, Bolzano/Bozen, Venosta/Vinschgau and parts of the Val Pusteria/Pustertal between 1027 and 1034, the bishops of Trent and Bressanone/Brixen effectively controlled the roads that led south from the Resia and Brenner passes, or crossed the Val Pusteria/Pustertal to follow the line of the Roman road, the Claudia Augusta, on to the plains of the Veneto. Likewise, when the patriarch of Aquileia was granted the counties of Friuli, Istria and Carniola by the emperor in 1077 (albeit not permanently), a vast ecclesiastical dominion was formed to protect the roads over Monte Croce, in the Carnic Alps, and the Iron Road (the via vel strata Hungariorum), the best routes at the time for travellers heading for the Adriatic ports or for eastern Europe.
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- The Italian Renaissance State , pp. 197 - 219Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012