Italy in the Middle Ages

The history of Italy in the Middle Ages covers the time between the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the beginning of the Italian Renaissance. It started in the 7th century when Italy was ruled by groups like the Ostrogothic Kingdom and later the Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty. As time went on, new rulers such as the Lombards took control of much of the land.

In 773, Charlemagne invaded Italy, ending Lombard rule and creating two important areas: the Kingdom of Italy and the Papal States. This led to long-lasting conflicts between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor.

By the 11th century, many cities in northern and central Italy began to govern themselves, forming powerful city-states like Venice, Genoa, Florence, and others. These cities became rich through trade and set the stage for the later Italian Renaissance.

Eventually, Italy became a battleground for European powers, leading to battles and changes in rule. By the end of these conflicts, Habsburg Spain controlled much of southern Italy, a situation that lasted until Napoleon invaded in 1796.

Transition from Late Antiquity (6th to 8th centuries)

Further information: Late Antiquity, Ostrogothic Kingdom, Kingdom of the Lombards, and Military history of Italy

In the 5th century, Italy faced invasions by the Visigoths, and Rome was taken by Alaric in 410. The last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, was removed from power in 476 by a general named Odoacer. Odoacer ruled Italy for many years, keeping much of the old Roman ways but under his own leadership.

Soon after, the Ostrogoths came into Italy. In 493, their leader Theodoric the Great took control and ruled with help from Roman leaders. Though the Ostrogoths were a smaller group, they managed the land well. They fixed roads, expanded borders, and helped the economy grow. Many important Latin writings and ideas flourished during this time.

Later, the eastern part of the Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople, sent armies to Italy. After long battles called the Gothic Wars, they took over from the Ostrogoths in 552. These wars caused damage to towns and changed daily life. Most people turned to farming for their food.

With the Byzantine forces leaving, another group, the Lombards, moved into Italy. They took over much of the land and set up a kingdom with its capital in Pavia. Some areas stayed under Byzantine control, forming the Exarchate of Ravenna. Other parts of southern Italy were ruled by Lombard leaders in Spoleto and Benevento. A few coastal cities, like Genoa, Pisa, Venice, and Amalfi, began to act more independently.

Rise of the Patriarchate of Rome

The Church, especially the leader of Rome, known as the pope, became very important after the Western Roman Empire fell. The Church helped keep learning alive and provided services when governments were weak. After the Lombards arrived, the popes often had to protect Rome and its people, slowly building their own independent state.

Early Middle Ages (8th to 9th centuries)

Further information: Kingdom of Italy (medieval)

Collapse of the Exarchate

At the end of the 8th century, popes wanted to be independent. They made an alliance with the Carolingian dynasty of the Franks. The Carolingians needed support for their actions against the Merovingian kings, and the popes needed protection from the Lombards.

In 751, the Lombards took control of Ravenna and ended the Exarchate of Ravenna. This ended the power of the Byzantines in central Italy, though some coastal cities and parts of southern Italy stayed under Byzantine control until the 11th century. The popes asked the Franks for help against the Lombards. In 756, Frankish forces defeated the Lombards and gave the popes control over central Italy, creating the Papal States. The rest of Italy remained under Lombard or Byzantine control.

The Frankish (Carolingian) Empire

In 774, the Franks invaded Italy and took over the Lombards with the support of the pope. As a reward, the Frankish king Charlemagne received support from the pope. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the pope. This caused some disagreement and disputes over the Roman name. A war between the two empires followed, and in 812, the Byzantines agreed to recognize two Roman Empires if the Byzantines’ lands in Italy were left alone.

During this time, coastal regions and southern Italy stayed under Byzantine or Lombard control. The Frankish rule did not extend far south of the Italian Peninsula. Southern Italy was divided among the Lombard duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, who only loosely followed Charlemagne’s rules. Coastal cities like Gaeta, Amalfi, Naples on the Tyrrhenian Sea, and Venice on the Adriatic Sea were becoming more independent from Byzantium. Charlemagne avoided attacking Benevento to keep good relations with the Pope. This period under Charlemagne was stable for Italy but mostly influenced by non-Italian powers. Italy grew more separate from the Eastern world and closer to France and Germany. Leo III was the first Pope to date documents from Charlemagne’s rule instead of the Byzantine emperors. This separation from the Eastern Empire and connection with Western Europe was completed by the early 9th century. Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, and Venice were exceptions.

After Charlemagne died in 814, his weaker successors led to the empire breaking apart. After Louis the Pious died in 840, the treaty of Verdun in 843 split the empire. Lothair I became ruler of the Central Franks. His sons divided this area, and Northern Italy became the Kingdom of Italy under Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor in 839.

The first half of the 9th century was difficult for Italy. In 827, Muslim Arabs known as Aghlabids invaded and took over Sicily; their leaders, the Kalbids, ruled the island until 1053. In 846, Muslim Arabs attacked Rome and took valuable items from St. Peter's Basilica. In response, Pope Leo IV began building walls around the Vatican City in 847; they were finished in 853. In the late 9th century, the Byzantines and Franks worked together to fight the Arabs in southern Italy.

Southern Italy

Further information: Duchy of Benevento, History of Islam in southern Italy, and Norman conquest of southern Italy

With Charlemagne’s conquest in 774, the north of Italy became separate from the south. The Byzantines still held most of Apulia and Calabria, and the Lombard duchies in the south had been independent of northern policies for about a century. This separation grew worse after the central Lombard authority in the north weakened.

Creation of independent moieties (774–849)

Under Arechis II of Benevento and his successors, Benevento followed a policy of honoring the Carolingian emperors but ignoring their decisions. This led to de facto independence from both Frankish and Byzantine control. The Duchy of Benevento grew largest under Sicard in the 830s. During his time, the area suffered from attacks by the Saracens, whom Sicard fought constantly. He also fought against his Byzantine neighbors, especially Sorrento, Naples, and Amalfi. During a war with Naples, Duke Andrew II hired Saracen mercenaries.

In 839, Sicard was killed, and a civil war began, showing how political power in the south was mostly held by land-owning nobles who chose the ruler. Some supported Radelchis I, the treasurer and killer, while others chose Siconulf of Salerno, who was placed in Salerno. This civil war lasted for ten years, during which the areas of Benevento became more independent, especially Capua, which supported Siconulf. In 849, Emperor Louis II, acting as King of Italy, invaded and made peace between the Lombard groups. He split the principality into two: one at Benevento and one at Salerno. From then on, the Lombard south became weaker and more divided.

In the Greek cities on the Tyrrhenian Sea, the violence inland and between them and other Greeks led to de facto independence. Naples, in particular, often differed from Byzantium and sometimes sought dependence on other powers, often the pope. In 801, a Byzantine leader of Sicily made Anthimus the duke. However, Anthimus could not control Gaeta and Amalfi. Later, the Byzantine leader tried to appoint his own candidate without approval. The people rebelled and chose Stephen III in 821. During Stephen’s rule, Naples broke all legal ties to Constantinople and even made its own coins. In 840, after a short time following Frankish rules and a Frankish duke, Duke Contard, the people of Naples elected Sergius I as their magister militum. Sergius started a dynasty, the Sergi, that ruled the area for the next three hundred years.

In Gaeta, as in Naples, the violence inland required new leadership to keep Byzantine control. Gaeta got its first imperial Byzantine leaders around the time of the Beneventan civil war. While the first leaders stayed loyal to Byzantium, in 866, a new dynasty under Docibilis I began, moving Gaeta toward independence. The first chosen ruler of Amalfi appeared in 839, around the same time as a leader in Gaeta. However, Naples, Gaeta, Amalfi, the Tyrrhenian cities, and Venice kept some loyalty to Byzantium until the 11th century—even after becoming de facto independent.

Period of confusion (849–915)

The time after the Beneventan civil war was confusing, caused by independence movements in cities and provinces and attacks by the Saracens. In Salerno, a palace dispute removed Siconulf’s successor Sico II in 853, causing instability until a new dynasty, the Dauferidi, took power in 861.

In 852, the Saracens took Bari and set up an emirate there. With Greek power and Adriatic trade threatened, the Byzantine emperor asked for help from Louis II of Italy. The prince of Benevento, Adelchis, also wanted Louis’s help. Louis came and retook Bari in 871 after a long siege. Louis tried to control the south more by placing his troops in Beneventan forts. Adelchis reacted by capturing and robbing the emperor while he was staying in the princely palace at Benevento. A month later, the Saracens attacked again, and Adelchis let Louis go to lead the fight against them. Adelchis made Louis promise not to enter Benevento with an army or take revenge. Louis went to Rome in 872 and was released from his promise by Pope Adrian II on 28 May. His attempts to punish Adelchis were not very successful. Adelchis switched between supporting the Carolingian and Byzantine emperors but, in fact, claimed to be the rightful Lombard “king” by changing the Edictum Rothari.

Adelchis’s successors were weak, and the principality of Benevento declined as Salernitan power grew. Guaifer of Salerno was friendly with the Saracens, which upset the popes and often caused problems with neighbors. Guaifer’s successor, Guaimar I, fought the Saracens. Guaifer had made Guaimar co-ruler, a practice that became common in the south and was especially seen in Capua.

Italian states from the 10th century

The Holy Roman Empire

In 951, King Otto I of Germany married Adelaide of Burgundy, the widow of King Lothair II of Italy. Otto took the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia. The rule of Italy and Germany were joined. When Margrave Berengar of Ivrea attacked the Papal States in 960, King Otto conquered the Kingdom of Italy and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Rome in 962. From then on, the kings of Italy were also kings of Germany, and Italy became part of the Holy Roman Empire, along with the Kingdom of Germany and, from 1032, Burgundy. The German king would be crowned by the Archbishop of Milan with the Iron Crown in Pavia before visiting Rome to be crowned Emperor by the Pope.

The Emperor, or his ruler of the Kingdom of Italy, controlled the northern Italian cities, but the monarch was often away, spending time in Germany and leaving Italy with little central control. There were also no strong landowners except in the Margraviate of Tuscany, which failed after the death of Matilda of Canossa in 1115. This created a power gap, which was filled by the papacy, bishops, and wealthy Italian cities that grew to control the land around them. The papacy went through a weak time, which ended in 999 when emperor Otto III chose Silvester II as pope.

After Emperor Otto III died in 1002, Margrave Arduin of Ivrea took the Italian crown and defeated imperial forces. But in 1004, new German King Henry II of Germany entered Italy and was crowned king of Italy. Arduin was the last Italian king until Victor Emmanuel II in 1861.

Henry's successor Conrad II tried to keep control against Aribert of Milan and other Italian leaders. While attacking Milan in 1037, he created the Constitutio de feudis to make sure supporters could keep their lands forever. Though Conrad kept his rule steady, the empire's power in Italy was still challenged.

Southern Italy

Under the Macedonian dynasty, Byzantine power grew again and was felt in southern Italy. By the late 9th century, Byzantine rule expanded from just the toe and heel of the peninsula. The Catepanate of Italy was created to manage the new lands. The rest of Southern Italy was split among Lombard kings and Italian cities. These areas were independent but paid loyalty to Byzantium.

Growth in Southern Italy slowed for several reasons. In 878, the Arabs captured Syracuse, and by 965, the whole island was under Arab rule. Lombard laws caused problems in Salerno. People in Apulia rebelled against Byzantine taxes in the 980s. In 990, earthquakes damaged Benevento and Capua.

High Middle Ages (11th–13th centuries)

In the 11th century, the Normans took over Lombard and Byzantine lands in Southern Italy, ending their six-century presence. The independent city-states were also taken over. The Normans also ended Muslim rule in Sicily. This angered Constantinople, which tried to reclaim Southern Italy in 1155 under Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, but failed by 1158. The conquest of Southern Italy took decades and many battles, unlike the quick conquest of England.

Through marriage between Emperor Henry VI and Constance, the Kingdom of Sicily was joined with the Holy Roman Empire from 1194 to 1254. The Kingdom of Sicily lasted under different rulers until the 19th century.

Between the 12th and 13th centuries, Italy developed differently from feudal Europe north of the Alps. With no strong powers, city-states became the main form of government. These cities stayed independent from church and empire control, prospering through trade and creating conditions for the later Renaissance.

Italian towns moved away from feudalism, with society based on merchants and trade. Northern cities like the Republic of Venice became important, enjoying freedom that helped science and art grow. Southern states had famous knights and mercenaries who were known across Europe.

Thanks to their position between East and West, Italian cities such as Venice became centers for trade, banking, and ideas. Cities like Milan, Florence, and Venice were key in developing banking and new economic ways of organizing.

During this time, Italy saw the rise of the Maritime Republics: Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi, Ragusa, Ancona, Gaeta, and Noli. From the 11th to the 13th centuries, these cities built fleets for protection and trade across the Mediterranean, playing a big role in the Crusades. Venice and Genoa became main points for trade with the East, setting up colonies as far as the Black Sea and controlling much trade with the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world.

The papacy regained its power and began a long struggle with the empire over church and state matters. The first big fight was the Investiture Controversy. In the 12th century, cities in the Holy Roman Empire won autonomy. In the north, a group called the Lombard League defeated Emperor Frederick Barbarossa at the Battle of Legnano in 1176. This made northern Italy a land of independent or nearly independent city-states until the 19th century. The revolts were supported by the Byzantine Empire, hoping to remove the Germanic peoples from Italy. This help was part of Byzantium's effort to regain influence it once had during the time of Justinian I.

Late Middle Ages and Renaissance (14th century to 1559)

Further information: Italian Renaissance and Italian Wars

In the 14th century, Italy was split into many different city-states, with powerful ones like Milan, Florence, Pisa, Siena, Genoa, Ferrara, Mantua, Verona, and Venice. These cities often fought each other and also had internal struggles between groups called Guelfs and Ghibellines. Florence grew very rich and became known for its work in banking, silk, and jewelry.

During this time, many wars happened between the cities, and sometimes outside powers tried to get involved. The Black Plague in the 1340s–50s caused many deaths across Europe, including Italy. This made the population older, with fewer young adults left. The Italian Renaissance began in cities like Florence and Siena and later influenced places like Venice and Rome. This period brought new ideas and art that spread to the rest of Europe.