AD 800-1250 Medieval

This period was one of political fragmentation and internal strife in the Italian peninsula. In AD 774 the Frankish king Charlemagne annexed Italy; from then on, Italy was theoretically ruled by foreigners from beyond the Alps. German emperors from the Carolingians to the Hohenstaufens tried to exercise imperial authority over powerful landowners, independent towns and the popes. The papacy became a political force, initiating the First Crusade to the Holy Land in 1095, and struggling with the emperors for power.

In the 9th and 10th centuries Hungarian invaders launched devastating raids on northern Italy. Also in the 9th century, the Arabs conquered Sicily and parts of southern Italy from the Byzantines. Norman mercenaries and adventurers in the service of local princes gradually took control of the south, expelling the Arabs and the Byzantines, and eventually creating their own kingdom of Sicily in the 12th century.

Under the last great Hohenstaufen emperors Frederick I Barbarossa (‘red beard’) (reigned 1152-90) and his grandson Frederick II (reigned 1220-50) relations between the emperor and the papacy deteriorated, and Pope Innocent IV appealed to the French king for support. Italy once again became the scene of foreign invasions. Meanwhile, Italian towns, from great trading ports like Genoa and Venice to mercantile cities like Florence, flourished, unrivalled in wealth and enterprise.