The Italians (II)

East and West Roman Emperors 330-476

In 330, Constantine moved the seat of the Empire to Constantinople. It remained the capital of the east until its demise. During the decades of the Constantinian (307-361) and the later Valentinian (364-392) dynasties, the Empire was divided along an east-west axis, with dual power centers in Constantinople and Rome.

Valentinian and Theodosian dynasties 364-457

The role of choosing a new Augustus fell again to army officers. In 364, Pannonian officer Valentinian I was elected Augustus in Nicaea, Bithynia. The army had been left leaderless twice in less than a year and Valentinian chose his own younger brother Valens  as co-ruler. The two new Augusti parted the Empire in the pattern established by Diocletian: Valentinian would administer the Western Empire, while Valens took control over the Eastern Empire.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Empire faced its own problems with Germanic tribes. The Goths were East Germanic tribe on the Danube River frontier known to the Romans from the 1st century AD. The Goths split into two groups as they migrated south across Central Europe. The Visigoths (Tervingi) settled in modern Romania during the 2nd century. The Ostrogoths (Grethungi) settled farther to the east on the northwest coast of the Black Sea. Around 260, the Goths broke through the limes and the Danube frontier into Roman-controlled lands.

After 376, the Thervingi fled their former lands following an invasion by the Huns. Valens allowed them to settle as foederati on the southern bank of the Danube in 376. However, the newcomers faced problems from allegedly corrupted provincial commanders and a series of hardships. Their dissatisfaction led them to revolt against their Roman hosts.

On August 9, 378, the Battle of Adrianople resulted in the crushing defeat of the Romans and the death of Valens (end of Valentinian dynasty in the East Romans). 

The battle had far-reaching consequences. Veteran soldiers and valuable administrators were among the heavy casualties. There were few available replacements at the time, leaving the Empire with the problem of finding suitable leadership. The Roman army also started to face recruiting problems. In the following century much of the Roman army would consist of Germanic mercenaries.

Name	Succession	Reign	Death
Valentinian I	Elected to replace Jovian by the army	Feb 26, 364  – Nov 17, 375	Nov 17, 375. Natural causes
Valens	Brother of Valentinian I, appointed co-Augustus (for the east) by him	Mar 28, 364  – Aug 9, 378	Aug 9, 378. Killed in Battle of Adrianople against the Goths
Gratian	Son of Valentinian I, appointed 'junior' Augustus by him in 367, became 'senior' Augustus (for the west) after Valentinian's death.	Aug 4, 367 – Aug 25, 383	Aug 25, 383. Murdered by rebellious army faction
Valentinian II	Son of Valentinian I, proclaimed emperor by Pannonian army after Valentinian's death; accepted as co-Augustus for the west by Gratian	Nov 17, 375 – May 15, 392	May 15, 392. Unclear; possibly murdered or committed suicide

The replacement of Augustus for the Eastern Empire was Theodosius I. He was the last Emperor who ruled over the whole Roman Empire. After his death in 395, he gave the two halves of the Empire to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius; Arcadius became ruler in the East, with his capital in Constantinople, and Honorius became ruler in the West, with his capital in Milan and later Ravenna. 

Name	Succession	Reign	Death
Theodosius I	Son-in-law of Valentinian I, appointed as Augustus for the east by Gratian after the death of Valens; became sole 'senior' Augustus after death of Valentinian II	Jan 1, 379 – Jan 17, 395	Jan 17, 395 Natural causes
Arcadius EAST	Son of Theodosius I; appointed as 'junior' Augustus for the east by Theodosius in 383 (after the death of Gratian); became 'senior' Augustus for the east after his father's death	Jan 383  – May 1, 408	May 1, 408 Natural causes
Magnus Maximus with Flavius VictorWEST	Usurper in the West; legitimized along with his son Victor by Theodosius I as emperors of Britannia and Gaul.	383/384 – Aug 28, 388	Aug 28, 388 Executed by Theodosius I in Aquileia after the Battle of the Save; Victor killed by Arbogast
Honorius WEST	Son of Theodosius I; appointed as 'junior' Augustus for the west by Theodosius in 393 (after the death of Valentinian II); became 'senior' Augustus for the west after his father's death	Jan 23, 393  – Aug 15, 423	Aug 15, 423 Natural causes
Theodosius II EAST	Son of Arcadius; appointed as 'junior' Augustus for the east by Arcadius in 402; became 'senior' Augustus for the east after his father's death	Jan 402  – July 28, 450	July 28, 450 Natural causes
Constantine III with Constans IIWEST	Usurper who declared himself emperor in the west in 407, recognized as co-emperor by Honorius in 409. Elevated his son Constans II to co-emperor in 409, who was not recognized by Honorius.	407/409  - Aug or Sept 411	Aug or Sept 411 Executed by Constantius III
Constantius III WEST	Married to Theodosius I's daughter Galla Placidia, elevated to co-Augustus for the west by Honorius	Feb 8, 421  – Sept 2, 421	Sept 2, 421 Natural causes
Joannes WEST	A senior civil servant under Honorius, proclaimed emperor by Castinus; not recognized by the Eastern Empire	Aug 27, 423  – May 425	June or July 425 Defeated in battle by Theodosius II and Valentinian III, captured and executed
Valentinian III WEST	Son of Constantius III, appointed Caesar for the west by Theodosius II after the death of Honorius, in opposition to the Johannes; became Augustus for the west after the defeat of Johannes	Oct 23, 424 – March 16, 455	March 16, 455 Assassinated, possibly at the behest of Petronius Maximus
Marcian EAST	Nominated as successor (and husband) by Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II	Summer 50  – Jan 457	Jan 457 Natural causes

Barbarian invasions 370-476

The Migration Period or the Barbarian invasions, was a period of intensified human migration in Europe starting 370 within the Roman Empire and beyond its barbarian. The migrants were Germanic tribes such as the Goths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Lombards, Suebi and Franks; they were later pushed westwards by the Huns, Bulgars and Alans.

The Huns were nomads from the Central Asian Steppes. They first show up north of the Black Sea around 370. The Huns crossed the Volga River and attacked the Alans, whom they subjugated. Then the Huns and the surviving Alans started plundering Gothic settlements near Balkans in 376. 

After 376, the Goths were allowed to enter the Roman Empire and they crossed the Danube and settled in northern Thrace. As early as 380 CE, a group of Huns was given Foederati status and allowed to settle in Pannonia by Roman governors.

Hunnic Invasions 395-453

In 395 the Huns began their first large-scale attack on the East Roman Empire. Huns attacked in Thrace, overran Armenia, and pillaged Cappadocia before the East Romans were forced to sign a treaty. 

In 443, Constantinople again failed to deliver the tribute and war resumed. Attila, the Hun Emperor, and his armies came alarmingly close to Constantinople, sacking Sardica, Arcadiopolis and Philippopolis along the way. The Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II gave in to Hun demands and signed the Peace of Anatolius.

In 450 Honoria, sister of the Western Emperor Valentinian III, sent Attila a ring and requested his help to escape her betrothal to a senator. Attila claimed her as his bride and half the Western Empire as dowry. In 451, Attila's forces entered Gaul, accumulating contingents from the Franks, Goths and Burgundian tribes en route. 

In 452, Attila renewed his claims to Honoria. Leading his horde across the Alps and into Northern Italy, he sacked and razed the cities of Aquileia, Vicetia, Verona, Brixia, Bergamum and Milan. To avoid the sack of Rome, Valentinian III sent three envoys, the high civilian officers as well as Pope Leo I, who met Attila at Mincio in the vicinity of Mantua, and obtained from him the promise that he would withdraw from Italy. 

In 453 Attila married a girl with the Germanic name Ildico, and died of a haemorrhage on his wedding night. After his death, former subjects soon united under Ardaric, leader of the Gepids, against the Hun and the Hunnic Empire collapsed in 455, and many of the remaining Huns were often hired as mercenaries by Constantinople. The Pannonian basin then was occupied by the Gepids. 

After the fall of Attila, the Eastern Roman Empire enjoyed a period of peace and the Ostrogoths broke away from Hunnish rule and followed their cousins toward Italy late in the 5th century.

Germanic Invasions 405-476

The Suevi, Vandals and Alans crossed the Rhine in 405. Their entrance into the Roman Empire was at a moment when the Roman West was experiencing a series of invasions and civil wars. The Kingdom of the Suebi (409-585), based in the former Roman provinces of Gallaecia and northern Lusitania, was one of the first kingdoms to separate from the Roman Empire.

The Burgundians crossed the Rhine in 406, settled in the Roman province along the Middle Rhine. The Burgundian King Gunther started several campaigns into neighboring Gallia Belgica, which led to a crushing defeat by joined Roman and Hunnic troops in 436. The remaining Burgundians settled in the Sapaudia (today Savoy) region, again as foederati in the Roman Maxima Sequanorum province.

In the early 400s, the Visigoths led by their king Alaric, who had been attacking the Romans in the Balkans, turned to repeated invasions of Italy. In 410 they sacked Rome and were allowed to settle in southwestern Gaul (today Aquitaine).  

In 428, the Vandals and Alans crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the North Africa, where they founded the Vandal kingdom (435-534).

The Roman Empire was on the verge of collapsing after 455. Aquitania was abandoned to the Visigoths, who would established their Visigothic Kingdom (418-720) by conquering a significant southern Gaul as well most of the Iberian Peninsula. The Burgundians claimed their own kingdom, and northern Gaul was practically abandoned to the Franks.

End of the Western Empire 395-476

Throughout the final years of the Western Empire (395–476) the Eastern emperor was considered the senior emperor, and a Western emperor was only legitimate if recognized as such by the Eastern emperor. Western Emperors were usually figureheads, while the actual rulers were military strongmen who took the title of Magister militum. 

Furthermore, after 455 the Western emperor ceased to be a relevant figure and there was sometimes no claimant at all. The Western empire faced increasing economic and political crisis and frequent barbarian invasions. After the Milan city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna.

The year 476 is generally accepted as the formal end of the Western Empire. That year, Orestes, having stolen power from the emperor Julius Nepos the year before, refused the request of Germanic mercenaries in his service for lands in Italy. The dissatisfied mercenaries revolted. 

The revolt was led by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer. Odoacer and his men captured and executed Orestes; weeks later they captured Ravenna and deposed Orestes' usurper son, Romulus Augustus. They quickly conquered the remaining provinces of Italy. 

After the fall of Western Empire, the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno abolished the division of the Empire in 480, making himself sole Emperor. It survived the 5th century fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire and continued to exist for an additional thousand years centered at Byzantium (also known as Byzantine Empire).

Kings of Italy 476-962

King of Italy was the title given to the ruler who ruled part or all of the Italian Peninsula after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. 

After the deposition of the last Western Emperor in 476, Heruli leader Odoacer was appointed Dux Italiae ("Duke of Italy") by the reigning Byzantine Emperor Zeno. Later, the Germanic foederati, the Scirians and the Heruli, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, proclaimed Odoacer Rex Italiae ("King of Italy") .

Ostrogothic Kingdom 493–553

Odoacer's rule came to an end when the Ostrogoths, under the leadership of Theodoric, conquered Italy and killed Odoacer in 493. The Ostrogothic kingdom reached its zenith under Theoderic the Great, stretching from modern France in the west into modern Serbia in the southeast. He built one of his palaces in Verona and the other was in Ravenna.

Theoderic the Great (493–526)

Under his rule, Italy for thirty years enjoyed such good fortune that his successors also inherited peace. He governed two races at the same time, Romans and Goths, that although he himself was of the Arian sect, he nevertheless made no assault on the Catholic religion. 

The Goths were settled mostly in northern Italy, and kept themselves largely apart from the Roman population, a tendency reinforced by their different faiths. Unlike the Visigoths or the Vandals, there was considerable religious tolerance extended towards Jews. 

Athalaric (526–534), Theodahad (534–536), 
Witiges (536–540), Ildibad (540–541), Eraric (541), 
Totila (541–552), Teia (552–553).

The deaths of Theodoric, his nephew and heir, and his daughter had left her murderer, Theodahad, on the throne in 534, despite his weakened authority. This led to Byzantine Emperor Justinian attempted to reassert imperial authority in the territories of the Western Roman Empire. 

Byzantines Reconquers 540-568

In the resulting Gothic War (535–554) waged against the Ostrogothic Kingdom, Byzantine hopes of an early and easy triumph evolved into a long war of attrition that resulted in mass dislocation of population and destruction of property. Problems were further exacerbated by widespread famine (538–542) and a devastating plague pandemic (541–542).

During the second phase (541–553) of the war, the Goths' resistance was reinvigorated under Totila of Ostrogoth and put down only after a long struggle by Byzantines. 

Although the Byzantine Empire eventually prevailed, the triumph proved to be a pyrrhic victory, as all these factors leaving the conquered territories severely under populated and impoverished.

Kings of the Lombards 568–774

Although an invasion attempt by the Franks (allies of the Ostrogoths), late in the war was successfully repelled, a large migration by the Lombards, a Germanic people that had been allied with the Byzantines, ensued. In 568 the Lombards, led by King Alboin, moved from Pannonia and quickly overwhelmed the Byzantine army to guard Italy.

King Alboin ventured to recreate a barbarian kingdom in opposition to the Byzantine Empire and established his seat in Pavia (in the modern Italian region of Lombardy) in 572. The Lombard kings sometimes styled themselves Kings of Italy

The Lombard arrival broke the political unity of the Italian peninsula since the Roman conquest. They also conquered much of southern and central Italy by 570. The peninsula was now torn between the Lombards and Byzantines. the Byzantine-ruled Exarchate of Ravenna and Duchy of Rome separated the northern Lombard duchies, collectively known as Langobardia Maior, from the two large southern duchies of Spoleto and Benevento, which constituted Langobardia Minor.

The southern duchies were more autonomous than the smaller northern duchies. A decade of interregnum after the death of Alboin's successor in 574 left the Lombard dukes well settled in their new territories and quite independent of the Lombard kings at Pavia:

Over time, the Lombards gradually adopted Roman titles, names, and traditions. By the late 8th century, the Lombardic language, dress and hairstyles had all disappeared.  Lombardic, a Germanic language, made a large contribution to the formation of the Italian language in the sense that it hastened the population's detachment from vulgar Latin, causing it to take on autonomous forms known as Neo-Latin. 

Alboin (568–572), Cleph (572–574), 
Interregnum, Authari (584–590), 
Agilulf (591– 616), Adaloald (616–626), 
Arioald (626–636), Rothari (636–652), 
Rodoald (652–653), Aripert I (653–661), 
Perctarit and Godepert (661–662), Grimoald (662–671), 
Perctarit (671–688), restored from exile, 
Alahis (688–689), rebel, Cunincpert (688–700), 
Liutpert (700–701), Raginpert (701), 
Aripert II (701–712), Ansprand (712), 
Liutprand (712–744), Hildeprand (744), 
Ratchis (744–749), Aistulf (749–756), Desiderius (756–774).

Initially the Lombards were Arianist Christians, at odds with the Papacy both religiously and politically. However, by the end of the 7th century, their conversion to Catholicism was all but complete. Nevertheless, their conflict with the Papacy continued.

King Liutprand exploited the disputes between the pope and Constantinople over iconoclasm to take possession of many cities of the Exarchate and of the Pentapolis, posing as the protector of Catholics. In order not to antagonize the Pope, he gave up the occupation of the village of Sutri; however, he gave back the city not to the emperor, but to "the apostles Peter and Paul", as Paul the Deacon related in his Historia Langobardorum.

This donation, known as the Donation of Sutri, provided the legal precedent for attributing a temporal power to the papacy, which finally produced the Papal States.

When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the Duchy of Rome was completely cut off from the Byzantine Empire. The popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. 

The Carolingian Pepin the Short, who finally  overthrow the Merovingian dynasty and becoming king of the Franks in 751, led a Frankish army into Italy in 756 to defeat the Lombards, taking control of northern Italy, and made a gift (Donation of Pepin) of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the Pope, increasing the core area of the Papal States.

Charlemagne the Great (742-814), son of Pepin, continued his father's policy towards the papacy, and launched a decades-long military campaign against their heathen rivals. Between 773 and 774 he invaded Italy. Charlemagne, having prevailed against a tough resistance, captured the capital of the kingdom, Pavia. The last king Desiderius and his wife were deported to Gaul. 

Charlemagne and Carolingian Dynasty 774-887

Charles then called himself Gratia Dei rex Francorum et Langobardorum ("By the grace of God king of the Franks and the Lombards"), realizing a personal union of the two kingdoms.

The Iron Crown of Lombardy, one of the oldest surviving royal insignias of Christendom, may have originated in Lombard Italy as early as the 7th century and continued to be used to crown Kings of Italy until Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th century.

Charlemagne the Great reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned "Roman Emperor" by Pope Leo III, he was the first "Emperor of the Romans" after the fall of Western Roman Empire. Charlemagne' successors maintained the title until the death of Berengar I of Italy in 924:

Pepin (781–810), son of Charlemagne and King of the Lombards (781–810) under the authority of his father.

Bernard (810–818), legitimate son of Charlemagne and King of the Lombards.

Louis I the Pious (818–822), the only one son survived with Charlemagne, followed his father in 814 as the ruler of a united empire.

Lothair I (822–855) was the eldest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious. He led his full-brothers Pippin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German in revolt against their father to protest against attempts to make their half-brother Charles the Bald a co-heir to the Frankish domains. Upon the father's death, Charles and Louis joined forces against Lothair in a three-year civil war (840–843).

The Treaty of Verdun, signed in Aug 843, divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms among the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious:

1.  Lothair retained his title as emperor and he received the central portion of the  empire which later became, from north to south: the Low Countries, Lorraine, Alsace, Burgundy, Provence, and the Kingdom of Italy, collectively called Middle Francia.

2.  Louis the German received the eastern portion (east of the Rhine) and to the north and east of Italy, which was called East Francia and later became Germany.

3.  Charles the Bald received the western portion (west of the Rhône), which was called West Francia and later became France. Pepin II was granted the kingdom of Aquitaine, but only under the authority of Charles.

Louis II (825 –875) King of Italy and Roman Emperor from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone.

Kingdom of the Lotharingia was further partitioned between West and East Francia by the Treaty of Meerssen in 870.

Charles II the Bald (875–877)  In 875, after the death of the Louis II (son of his half-brother Lothair), supported by Pope John VIII, he traveled to Italy, receiving the royal crown at Pavia and the imperial insignia in Rome on 29 December.

Carloman (877–879) Eldest son of Louis the German. He was appointed by King Louis II of Italy as his successor, but the Kingdom of Italy was taken by his uncle Charles the Bald in 875. Carloman only conquered it in 877. In 879 he was incapacitated and abdicated Italy to his younger brother Charles the Fat.

Charles III the Fat (879–887) Charles was the last Carolingian to rule over the briefly re-united empire. During a coup led by his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia in November 887, Charles was deposed in January 888.

The Empire quickly fell apart after his death, splintering into five separate successor kingdoms, not to be restored again until the conquests of Napoleon I in 1804.

After the death of the Lothair I in 855, his three sons in turn divided Middle Francia between them into Lotharingia (centered on Lorraine), Burgundy, and Lombardy.


Instability 888–962

Italy fell into instability after 887, with many rulers claiming the kingship simultaneously : 

• Berengar I of Friuli (888–896), Guy of Spoleto (889–894).

• Lambert of Spoleto (891–896), Arnulf of Carinthia (894–899). 

• Arnulf of Carinthia lost control of Italy in 896, which was divided between Berengar I and Lambert of Spoleto. 

• Lambert of Spoleto (896–898), and Berengar I (896–924) who seized Lambert's portion upon the latter's death in 898 and crowned Emperor of Roman after 915.

• Louis III of Provence (900-905) opposed Berengar 900-902 and 905.

• Rudolph II of Burgundy (922–933) defeated Berengar but fled Italy in 926.

• Hugh of Arles (926–947) elected by Berengar's partisans in 925.

• Lothair II of Provence (945–950) son of Hugh of Arles, married at 947, to the fifteen-year-old Adelaide, the spirited and intelligent daughter of Rudolph II of Burgundy and Bertha of Swabia.

• Berengar II of Ivrea (950–961) attempted to cement his usurped political power in Lombardy by forcing Lothair's widow to marry his son Adalbert. 

• Adalbert of Ivrea (950–963) jointly with his father.

Italy within Holy Roman Empire 962–1559

In 940, Berengar II, Margrave of Ivrea, a grandson of former King Berengar I, led a revolt of Italian nobles against his uncle Hugh. In 945 Berengar II defeated Hugh and Hugh abdicated in favor of his son (as King Lothair II of Italy) and retired to Provence.  Berengar II made terms with Lothair and established himself as the decisive power behind the throne.

Lothair's brief "reign" came to an end with his death on November 950, and Berengar II was crowned king on December, with his son Adalbert of Ivrea as co-ruler. Failing to receive widespread support, Berengar II attempted to legitimize his reign and tried to force Adelaide of Burgundy, the respective daughter, daughter-in-law and widow of the last three Italian kings, into marriage with Adalbert.

When Adelaide of Burgundy refused to marry Adalbert of Ivrea, she was imprisoned for four months at Como. She managed to escape from captivity and send an emissary to Otto I of Saxony to ask for his protection and marriage. A marriage to Adelaide would have strengthened the king's position to claim the Italian throne and ultimately the Emperorship. Otto accepted Adelaide's marriage proposal and prepared for an expedition into Italy.

Otto arrived in northern Italy in September 951 without opposition from Berengar II. As they descended into the Po River valley, the Italian nobles and clergy withdrew their support for Berengar and provided aid to Otto and his advancing army. 

Recognizing his weakened position, Berengar II fled from his capital in Pavia. When Otto arrived at the old Lombard capital of Pavia on September 951, the city willingly opened its gate to the German king. Otto married Adelaide in Pavia, and in accordance with Lombard tradition, he was crowned with the Iron Crown of the Lombards on 10 October.

In 960 rival Berengar II attacked the Papal States again, King Otto (the Great), summoned by Pope John XII, conquered the Italian kingdom and had himself crowned Emperor of Roman at Rome in 962, and, breaking tradition, also crowned Adelaide as Holy Roman Empress. The union of the crowns of Italy and Germany with that of the Empire of the Romans, created the Holy Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Emperor evolved into an elected monarchy, but the emperor elect was (until Charles V) required to be crowned by the Pope before assuming the imperial title. The title was held in conjunction with the rule of the Kingdom of Germany and the Kingdom of Italy (Imperial Northern Italy).

Italian states of the Holy Roman Empire:

Kingdom of Italy (also called Kingdom of Lombardy)
March of Tuscany, March of Verona, 
March of Treviso, March of Ivrea, 
March of Turin, March of Montferrat,
March of Genoa, Patriarchate of Aquileia ,
Duchy of Spoleto, Bishopric of Brixen, 
Bishopric of Trent, County of Savoy, 
County of Gorizia, Marquisate of Saluzzo, 
Marquisate of Ceva, Marquisate of Incisa, 
Marquisate of Finale.

Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire) 962-1250

The Kingdom of Italy (Regnum Italiae) was one of the constituent kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire, along with the kingdoms of Germany, Bohemia, and Burgundy. It comprised northern and central Italy, but excluded the Republic of Venice. Its original capital was Pavia (until the 11th century). 

Although emperors sometimes appointed their heirs to rule in Italy and occasionally the Italian bishops and noblemen elected a king of their own in opposition to that of Germany, the absenteeism of the Italian monarch led to the rapid disappearance of central government in the High Middle Ages, but the idea that Italy was a kingdom within the empire remained and emperors frequently sought to impose their will on the evolving Italian city-states. 

The resulting wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the anti-imperialist and imperialist factions, respectively, were characteristic of Italian politics in the 12th–14th centuries. 

Subsequent emperors used the title "King of Italy" until Charles V (r. 1516-1556) of Habsburg. At first they were crowned in Pavia, later Milan, and Charles was crowned in Bologna.

Ottonian (962–1024)

Name	Life	Coronation	Ceased to be King
Otto I the Great	23 Nov 912 - 7 May 973	962	7 May 973
Otto II	955 - 7 Dec 983	c. Oct 980	7 Dec 983
Otto III	980 - 23 Jan 1002	c. Feb 996	23 Jan 1002
Arduin I of Ivrea	955 – 1015	1002	1014
Henry II	6 May 973 - 13 July 1024	1004	13 July 1024

In the 11th century, trade slowly recovered as the cities started to grow again. The Papacy regained its authority, and undertook a long struggle against the Holy Roman Empire.

Salian (1027–1125) 

Name	Life	Coronation	Ceased to be King
Conrad II	990 - 4 June 1039	1026	4 June 1039
Henry III	29 Oct 1017 - 5 Oct 1056	1039	5 Oct 1056
Henry IV	11 Nov 1050 - 7 Aug 1106	1056	Dec 1105
Conrad II of Italy	1074 – 1101	1093	1101
Henry V	8 Nov 1086- 23 May 1125	1106	23 May 1125

The early Salians owed much of their success to their alliance with the Church, a policy begun by Otto I, which gave them the material support they needed to subdue rebellious dukes. In time, however, the Church came to regret this close relationship. The alliance broke down in 1075 during the Investiture Controversy (or Investiture Dispute), a struggle in which the reformist Pope, Gregory VII, demanded that Emperor Henry IV renounce his rights over the Church in Germany.

The Investiture controversy, a conflict over two radically different views of whether secular authorities such as kings, counts, or dukes, had any legitimate role in appointments to ecclesiastical offices such as bishoprics, was finally resolved by the Concordat of Worms in 1122, although problems continued in many areas of Europe until the end of the medieval era.

Süpplingenburg (1125–1137)

Name	Life	Coronation	Ceased to be King
Lothair III (or II)	9 June 1075 - 4 Dec 1137	1125	4 Dec 1137

Hohenstaufen (1128–1250)

Name	Life	Coronation	Ceased to be King
Conrad III	1093 - 15 Feb 1152	1138	1152
Frederick I (Barbarossa)	1122 - 10 June 1190	1152	1186
Henry VI	Nov 1165 - 28 Sept 1197	1186	1197
Otto IV (House of Welf)	1176 - 19 May 1218	1209	1212
Frederick II	Dec 1194 - Dec 1250	1212	1250

The cities first demonstrated their increasing power during the reign of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1152–1190), whose attempts to restore imperial authority in the peninsula led to a series of wars with the Lombard League, a league of northern Italian cities, and ultimately to a decisive victory for the League at the Battle of Legnano in 1176, which forced Frederick to recognize the autonomy of the Italian cities.

Frederick's son Henry VI actually managed to extend Hohenstaufen authority by his conquest of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, which comprised Sicily and all of Southern Italy. Henry's son, Frederick II, — the first German Emperor to actually base himself in Italy — attempted to return to his father's task of restoring imperial authority in the northern Italian Kingdom, which led to fierce opposition not only from a reformed Lombard League, but also from the Popes, who had become increasingly jealous of their temporal realm in central Italy (theoretically a part of the Empire).

Frederick II's efforts to bring all of Italy under his control failed as signally as those of his grandfather, and his death in 1250 marked the effective end of the Kingdom of Italy as a genuine political unit. In 1250 the Lombard League became obsolete and was disbanded.

Holy Roman Emperors also crowned King of Italy 1311-1556

Conflict continued between Ghibellines and Guelfs, but these conflicts bore less and less relation to the origins of the parties in question.The Italian campaigns of the Holy Roman Emperors decreased, but the Kingdom did not become wholly meaningless. 

In 1310 the Luxembourg King Henry VII with 5,000 men again crossed the Alps, moved into Milan and had himself crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, sparking Guelph rebellions.Henry restored the rule of Matteo I Visconti and proceeded to Rome, where he was crowned Emperor in place of Pope Clement V in 1312. 

Successive emperors in the 14th and 15th centuries were bound in the struggle between the rivaling Luxembourg, Habsburg and Wittelsbach dynasties. In the conflict with Frederick the Fair, King Louis IV had himself crowned Emperor in Rome by Antipope Nicholas V in 1328. 

His successor Charles IV also returned to Rome to be crowned in 1355. None of the Emperors forgot their theoretical claims to dominion as Kings of Italy.

Wittelsbach (1327–1347)

Name	Life	Coronation	Ceased to be King
Louis IV	1 April 1282 - 11 Oct 1347	1327	11 Oct 1347

Luxembourg (1355–1437)

Name	Life	Coronation	Ceased to be King
Charles IV	14 May 1316 - 29 Nov 1378	1355	29 Nov 1378
Sigismund	14 Feb 1368 - 9 Dec 1437	1431	9 Dec 1437

Habsburg (1452–1556)

Name	King	Coronation	Ended	Notes
Albert II	18 Mar 1438	—	27 Oct 1439	Son-in-law of Sigismund
Frederick III	2 Feb 1440	16 Mar 1452	19 Aug 1493	2nd cousin of Albert II
Maximilian I	16 Feb 1486	4 Feb 1508 Emperor-elect	12 Jan 1519	Son of Frederick III; King of Germany under his father, 1486–1493; adopted the title Emperor-elect in 1508 with the pope's approval
Charles V	28 June 1519	24 Feb 1530	3 Aug 1556	Grandson of Maximilian I; Charles I of Spain, 1516-1556

Maximilian of Habsburg was proclaimed the new King of the Romans as Maximilian I in 1486. After the failure of his attempt to march to Rome and be crowned by the pope, in 1508, Maximilian proclaimed himself as the "chosen Emperor" (emperor-elect) and this was also recognized by the Pope due to changes in political alliances.

Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Clement VII in Bologna, the last German Emperor to receive a papal coronation and the title “King of Italy”. After Charles V, all Habsburg Emperors were merely emperors-elect.

From 1556 when Charles V abdicated his Imperial throne as well as the throne of Spain, there was no Italian monarch claiming the “King of Italy” title, until in 1805 when Napoleon I crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy

Italian City States 1167-1559

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, urban settlements in Italy generally enjoyed a greater continuity than in the rest of Europe. Many of these towns were survivors of earlier Etruscan, Umbrian and Roman towns which had existed within the Roman Empire. Some feudal lords existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land. By the 11th century, many cities had become large trading metropolis, able to obtain independence from their formal sovereigns.

The very first Italian city-state can be considered the Republic of Venice, which de facto broke apart from Byzantine Empire since 742, becoming de jure independent in the following centuries and upholds its own interests from as early as the 9th century through skillful diplomacy.

The Peace of Constance of 1183 was signed in the city of Konstanz by the emperor Frederick Barbarossa and representatives of the Italian Lombard League. The agreement confirmed the 1177 Treaty of Venice. The cities in the Kingdom of Italy retained several regalia of local jurisdiction over their territories, and had the freedom to elect their own councils and to enact their own legislation, as well as to keep their Lombard League alliance.

Genoa and Pisa, are strengthened through conflict. In about 934 Genoa is sacked by a Fatimid fleet from North Africa. Muslim raids are regular hazards in Corsica and Sardinia, the two large islands confronting the west coast of Italy. The Italian communes of the west coast demonstrate their strength in the 11th century when Genoan and Pisan fleets, often working in alliance, protect Corsica and Sardinia from the depredations of Muslims.

Other Italian city-states first appeared in northern Italy as a result of a struggle to gain greater autonomy from the German Holy Roman Empire. The Lombard League was an alliance formed around at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy including Milan, Piacenza, Cremona, Mantua, Crema, Bergamo, Brescia, Bologna, Padua, Treviso, Vicenza, Verona, Lodi, Reggio Emilia and Parma. It was formed in 1167 to counter the attempts by the Hohenstaufens Emperors to assert the influence of the Holy Roman Empire over the Kingdom of Italy.

The cities stopped fulfilling their obligations during the long struggle for the Imperial crown that followed the death of Frederick's son Emperor Henry VI in 1197, and the Peace of Constance was at the centre of the new conflict fought between the second Lombard League and Emperor Frederick II between 1226 and 1250. It was celebrated for the rest of the Middle Ages and beyond as the only Imperial recognition of the autonomy of a large group of Italian cities.

Republic of Venice 810-1797

Venice originated during the 5th century as a collection of lagoon communities, who banded together for mutual defense from the Lombards, Huns, and other invading peoples as the power of the Western Roman Empire dwindled in northern Italy. During the 7th century, Venice became the only remaining Byzantine possession in the north.

After Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Romans" in 800, Nikephoros I of the Byzantine Empire and Charlemagne tried to settle their imperial boundaries in 803. By a peace treaty of the Pax Nicephori (803-814) and the negotiations followed between Byzantium and the Franks, the two emperors had recognized that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence. Many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognized Venetian de facto independence.

Duchy of Milan 1395 – 1499

As a result of the independence that the Lombard cities gained in the Peace of Constance in 1183, Milan became a duchy. Much of the prior history of Milan was the tale of the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Eventually, the Visconti family was able to seize power in Milan, based on their "Ghibelline" friendship with the German Kings. In 1395, Luxemburg King Wenceslas (1378–1400), raised the Milanese to the dignity of a duchy, Gian Galeazzo Visconti became duke of Milan.

The Ghibelline Visconti family was to retain power in Milan until the end of the Visconti line in 1447. The Ambrosian Republic was then enacted, taking its name from St. Ambrose, popular patron saint of the city of Milan. Both the Guelph and the Ghibelline factions worked together to bring about the Ambrosian Republic. Nonetheless, the Republic collapsed when, in 1450, Milan was conquered by Francesco Sforza, of the House of Sforza, which made Milan one of the leading cities of the Italian Renaissance.

Ludovico Sforza (r. 1495-1499), the last independent ruler of Milan, was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists, and presided over the final and most productive stage of the Milanese.

Duchy of Savoy 1416 - 1559

The Duchy was created in 1416 following Emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg, awarded the title Duke to Count Amadeus VIII. The territory of the Duchy then included Moriana, the Valle d'Aosta, and Piedmont.

Being landlocked at its conception in 1388, the then-County of Savoy acquired a few kilometers of coastline around Nice. During this period, France was more or less free to control the affairs of Savoy, which bound Piedmont to the crown in Paris. In 1536 Francis I of France ordered the occupation of the Duchy, which was invaded by a strong military contingent.

Emmanuel Philibert was the Duke who more than any influenced the future policy of Savoy, managing to put an end to the more than twenty-year long occupation until the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, signed in 1559. The main center of life and the capital was moved to Turin in 1563, which had better defenses against the French.

The Crusades 1095-1291

The Crusades were a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The most commonly known Crusades were the campaigns in the Eastern Mediterranean aimed at recovering the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

In the High Middle Ages, Venice became extremely wealthy, expanding into the Adriatic Sea and establishing colonies as far as the Black Sea and often controlling most of the trade with the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Mediterranean world.

In 1095, Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in a sermon at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I, who needed reinforcements for his conflict with westward migrating Turks colonizing Anatolia. Urban's strategy may have been to unite the Eastern and Western branches of Christendom, which had been divided since the East–West Schism of 1054 and to establish himself as head of the unified Church.

The initial success of the Crusade established the first four Crusader states in the Eastern Mediterranean: the County of Edessa, Principality of Antioch, Kingdom of Jerusalem and County of Tripoli.

The Crusades had built lasting trade links to the Crusader states in Levant, and the Fourth Crusade in 1204 had done much to destroy the Byzantine Roman Empire as a commercial rival to the Venetians and Genoese. Venice and Genoa soon became Europe's main gateways to trade with the East. 

Luxury goods bought in the Levant, such as spices, dyes, and silks were imported to Italy and then resold throughout Europe. Milan and Florence played a crucial innovative role in financial development, devising the main instruments and practices of banking and the emergence of new forms of social and economic organization.

Renaissance Period 1350 - 1500

By the Late Middle Ages (1300 AD onward), Latium, the former heartland of the Roman Empire, and southern Italy were generally poorer than the North. Rome was a city of ancient ruins, and the Papal States were loosely administered, and vulnerable to external interference such as that of France, and later Spain. In contrast Northern and Central Italy had become far more prosperous.

Moreover, of all the Italian dialects, Tuscan has the greatest similarity in morphology and phonology from classical Latin, which makes it harmonize best with the Italian traditions of Latin culture. The Tuscan-derived Italian language came to be used in the courts of every state in the peninsula.

Italian towns had appeared to have exited from Feudalism, so that their society was based on merchants and commerce. The Italian independent communes and merchant republics enjoyed relative political freedom that boosted scientific and artistic advancement, ultimately creating the conditions for the artistic and intellectual changes produced by the Renaissance.

The Renaissance is generally considered to have started in Florence around the years 1350 to 1400. In the late 1300s, Florence had become a rich city. Wealthy merchants and businessmen had the money to hire artisans and craftspeople. This inspired competitions among artists and thinkers. Art began to flourish and new thoughts began to emerge. In the 1400's the Medici family came into power in Florence. They were wealthy bankers and helped the arts along by sponsoring many artists and using their personal funds to further the humanist movement.

The same is true for architecture, as practiced by Brunelleschi, Leone Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante. Their works include Florence Cathedral, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini.

The migration waves of Byzantine scholars and émigrés in the period following the Crusader sacking of Constantinople in 1204 and the later end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, is considered by many scholars key to the revival of Greek and Roman studies that led to the development of the Renaissance humanism and science. They brought to Western Europe the relatively well-preserved remnants and accumulated knowledge of their own (Greek) civilization, which had mostly not survived during the end of Western Roman Empire.

During Renaissance period, the Tuscan dialect of the descendant of Vulgar Latin language began to dominate. This may have happened because Tuscany’s central position in Italy and because of the aggressive commerce of its most important city, Florence. 

Italian Renaissance painting exercised a dominant influence on subsequent European painting for centuries afterwards, with artists such as Giotto di Bondone, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, and Titian.

Kingdoms of Southern Italy 831-1516

In south Italy and Sicily a different pattern develops, because this southern area is dominated by a succession of powerful dynasties from overseas.

Emirate of Sicily 831–1072

In south Italy and Sicily, there were attacks from the Umayyad Caliphate and the Abbasid Caliphate. The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state which existed from 831 to 1072. Its capital was Palermo.

Muslims, who first invaded in 652, seized control of the Island from the Byzantines in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902. An Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multi-confessional and multilingual state. The Emirate was finally conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily in 1071.

Byzantine Provinces 661-1071

The Duchy of Naples (661-1137) began as a Byzantine province that was constituted in the seventh century, in the reduced coastal lands that the Lombards had not conquered during their invasion of Italy in the sixth century.

The Catepanate of Italy (965-1071) was a province of the Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno, Amalfi and Naples.

Following the fall of the Exarchate of Ravenna in 751, Byzantium had been absent from the affairs of southern Italy for almost a century, but the accession of Basil I the Macedonian (r. 867–886) to the throne of Constantinople changed this: from 868 on, the imperial fleet and Byzantine diplomats were employed in an effort to secure the Adriatic Sea from Saracen raids, re-establish Byzantine dominance over Dalmatia, and extend Byzantine control once more over parts of Italy. 

They were conquered by the Norman by 1071 and Byzantine authority was finally terminated in Italy.

Norman Dynasties 1042-1194

Norman County and Duchy of Apulia and Calabria 1042-1130

The County of Apulia and Calabria, later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria, was a Norman country founded by William of Hauteville in 1042 in the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Campania, and Vulture. It became a duchy when Robert Guiscard was raised to the rank of duke by Pope Nicholas II in 1059.

In 1130 the last duke of Apulia and Calabria, Roger II of Sicily became King of Sicily. The title of duke was thereafter used intermittently as a title for the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Sicily.

Norman County of Sicily 1071-1130

The County of Sicily was a Norman state comprising the islands of Sicily and Malta from 1071 until 1130. The county began to form during the Christian reconquest of Sicily (1061–91) from the Muslim Emirate, thus a transitional period in the history of Sicily. After the Muslims had been defeated and either forced out or incorporated into the Norman military, a further period of transition took place for the Sicilians.

Norman Kingdom of Sicily (and Naples) 1130–1194

The Kingdom of Sicily was the successor state of Norman County of Sicily united with the areas included the Maltese Archipelago, which was conquered from the Arabs and the Byzantines.

The Norman Kingdom fell in 1194 to the House of Hohenstaufen, when King William II had named Constance, the daughter of Roger II who married future Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor his heiress.

Kingdom of Sicily (Holy Roman Empire) 1194–1268

At the death of Emperor Henry VI in 1197, his son Frederick was in Italy, traveling towards Germany. Frederick was hastily brought back to his mother Constance in Palermo, where he was crowned King of Sicily in May 1198, at the age of three.

Constance of Sicily was in her own right queen of Sicily, and she established herself as regent. Upon Constance's death in 1198, Pope Innocent III succeeded as Frederick's guardian.  Pope Innocent III had reasserted papal authority in Sicily, but recognized Frederick's rights.

In 1208, he was declared of age and he reassert his power over Sicily and southern Italy, where local barons and adventurers had usurped most of the authority. In 1211 at the Diet of Nuremberg Frederick was elected in absentia as German King by a rebellious faction backed by the pope.

After further negotiations between Frederick, Innocent III, and Honorius III – who succeeded to the papacy after Innocent's death in 1216 – that Frederick was crowned Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in Rome in 1220.

Frederick's reign saw the Holy Roman Empire achieve its greatest territorial extent. His political and cultural ambitions were enormous as he ruled a vast area beginning with Sicily and stretching through Italy all the way north to Germany. As the Crusades progressed, he acquired control of Jerusalem and styled himself king of the Jerusalem. However, the Papacy became his enemy, and it eventually prevailed. His dynasty collapsed soon after his death.

Speaking six languages (Latin, Sicilian, Old Germanic, Langues d'oïl, Greek and Arabic), Frederick was an avid patron of science and the arts. He played a major role in promoting literature through the Sicilian School of poetry. His Sicilian royal court in Palermo, beginning around 1220, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school had a significant influence on literature and on what was to become the modern Italian language.

Frederick continued the reformation with the Assizes of Capua (1220) and the promulgation of the Constitutions of Melfi (1231), a collection of laws for his realm that was remarkable for its time. For example, citizens were not allowed to carry weapons or wear armour in public unless they were under royal command. As a result, rebellions were reduced. The Constitutions made the Kingdom of Sicily an absolute monarchy, the first centralized state in Europe to emerge from feudalism; it also set a precedent for the primacy of written law.

After the death of Frederick II in 1250, he passed Sicily and Germany, as well as the title of Jerusalem, to his son Conrad, but the struggle with the pope continued. Conrad became Conrad IV of Germany and Conrad I of Sicily. In January 1252 he invaded Italy, however, he was not able to subdue the pope's supporters and he died in 1254.

The next legitimate heir was Conrad I’s son, Conrad II of Sicily, continued the struggle with the Papacy, although unsuccessfully. The Hohenstaufen rule in Sicily ended after the 1266 Angevin invasion and the death of Conrad II in 1268.

Anjou Dynasties 1268-1443

Anjou Sicily (1268-1302) and Naples (1268-1443)

In 1266, The Papacy declared the Kingdom escheated because of disloyalty of the Hohenstaufen. Under this pretext he came to an agreement with Louis IX, King of France. Louis's brother, Charles of Anjou, would become king of Sicily. With Papal and Guelph support Charles descended into Italy and defeated the Hohenstaufen at the battle of Benevento in 1266 and at the battle of Taglicozzo in 1268.

Opposition to French officialdom and taxation combined with incitement of rebellion by agents from the Crown of Aragon and the Byzantine Empire led to the successful insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers followed by the invitation and intervention by king Peter III of Aragon in 1282.

The resulting War of the Sicilian Vespers lasted until the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, dividing the old Kingdom of Sicily in two. The island of Sicily went to Frederick III of the house of Aragon. The peninsular territories (the Mezzogiorno), contemporaneously called Kingdom of Sicily but called Kingdom of Naples by modern scholarship, went to Charles II of the house of Anjou, who had likewise been ruling it.

Aragon Dynasties 1302-1516

Aragon Kingdom of Sicily and Naples 1302-1516

Sicily was ruled as an independent kingdom by relatives or cadet branch of the house of Aragon until 1409 and thence as part of the Crown of Aragon. The Kingdom of Naples was ruled by the Angevin ruler René of Anjou until the two thrones were reunited by Alfonso V of Aragon, after the successful siege of Naples and the defeat of René on June 6, 1443. In 1516 the Kingdom of Spain was formed due to the marriage of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, and Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples fell to Kingdom of Spain, House of Habsburg.

Aragon Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica 1324-1516

The kingdom initially consisted of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, sovereignty over both of which was claimed by the Papacy, which granted them as a fief, the regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae ("kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica"), to King James II of Aragon in 1297. Beginning in 1324, James and his successors conquered the island of Sardinia and established de facto their de jure authority. In 1420 the last competing claim to the island was bought out. After the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, Sardinia became a part of the burgeoning Spanish Empire.