Battle of Calcinato (1201)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (September 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (September 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Italian article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 2,563 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at [[:it:Battaglia di Calcinato (1201)]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|it|Battaglia di Calcinato (1201)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The Battle of Calcinato was a military engagement during the wars between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. It took place on 9 August 1201 near Calcinato, southeast of Brescia. The Ghibelline forces won.^[1]

Background[]

The 12th century saw the resumption of the efforts by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I to reassert his authority in Northern Italy, which some Lombard cities resisted, and sought to preserve their autonomy by siding with Pope Innocent III. Still, a pro-imperial faction of cities also existed, termed the "Ghibelline" party after Waiblingen, one of the early centers of the Hohenstaufen power base. Among them was the city of Cremona. On the other hand, Brescia, a traditional rival of Cremona, belonged to the "Guelphs", named for the Guelph dynasty that took a pro-papal stand after its duke Henry the Lion fell out with Frederick I in 1180.

After the death of Frederick I, his son Henry VI became his successor. When Henry VI died in 1197, the conflict between Guelphs and Ghibelline reached a new phase in the German throne dispute between the Hohenstaufen candidate Philip of Swabia and the Guelph candidate Otto. Although this dispute was largely fought out in Germany itself, Italy continued to be the scene of proxy wars. They mainly revolved around the question of which local noble families were to rule their respective communes as podestá. In Brescia this was Rambertino Buvalelli, while the Ghibellines in Cremona were headed by the Suardi family.

Battle[]

The forces met on the plain of Albesago di Ponte San Marco (today's San Vito, a hamlet of Bedizzole, about a mile north of Calcinato). The battle was won by the Ghibellines of Cremona, who also captured the Brescian carroccio, the wagon bearing the city signs, a symbol of municipal autonomy and pride. Both communes then concluded in peace^{[clarification needed]} and exiles were allowed to return to their home cities.

References[]