March of Montferrat
Encyclopedia
The March of Montferrat was frontier march
of the Kingdom of Italy
during the Middle Ages
and state of the Holy Roman Empire
. Originally part of the March of Western Liguria (Marca Liguriae Occidentalis) established by King Berengar II
about 950, the area of Montferrat
was constituted as the marca Aleramica ("Aleramic march") for his son-in-law Aleramo. The margraviate
was raised to become the Duchy of Montferrat
in 1574.
After King Otto I of Germany
had invaded Italy in 961 and displaced Berengar II, he began, in a manner much like his predecessors Berengar and Hugh of Arles
, to redefine the great fiefs of Italy. He reorganised the northwest into three great marches. Western Liguria he restored to Aleramo, Eastern Liguria
or the marca Januensis he gave to Oberto I
, and Turin
he made a march for Arduin Glaber
.
Aleram's descendants were relatively obscure until the time of Marquess Rainier in the early twelfth century. About 1133 Rainier's son Marquess William V
married Judith of Babenberg
, a half-sister of King Conrad III of Germany
, and so greatly increased his family's prestige. He entered into the Italian policies of Conrad and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos
, setting a Ghibelline
precedent for his successors, and with his sons became involved in the Crusades
. Marquess Boniface I was the leader of the Fourth Crusade
and established the Kingdom of Thessalonica
in the Latin Empire
of Greece
. Reuniting Thessalonic, inherited by Boniface's Greek son Demetrius
, with Montferrat became a goal of Boniface's Italian heirs, though nothing ever came of their endeavours.
In the thirteenth century, Montferrat waffled between the Guelph and Ghibelline parties under Boniface II
and William VII
. They had to wage several long wars against the independence-minded communes of Asti
and Alessandria
and they became the standard-bearers of a renewed Lombard League
forged to fight the spread of Angevin
influence into northern Italy. The capital of Montferrat at this time was Chivasso
, the centre of the margraves' power.
In 1305, the last Aleramici margrave died and Montferrat was inherited by the Greek imperial Palaiologos
dynasty, who held it until 1533, during a period of diminishing territoriality. In that year, Montferrat was seized by the Spanish under Emperor Charles V of Habsburg
, who restored it to Federico II, Duke of Mantua from the illustrious House of Gonzaga
in 1536. His son Margrave William X was elevated to a Duke of Montferrat in 1574 and the "march" ceased to exist as an entity, though it had already undergone the significant change from a feudal collection of frontier counties to one of the petty states of Renaissance
Italy, divided into two separated territories.
Marches
A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....
of the Kingdom of Italy
Kingdom of Italy (medieval)
The Kingdom of Italy was a political entity under control of Carolingian dynasty of Francia first, after the defeat of the Lombards in 774. It was finally incorporated as a part of the Holy Roman Empire in 962....
during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and state of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. Originally part of the March of Western Liguria (Marca Liguriae Occidentalis) established by King Berengar II
Berengar II of Italy
Berengar of Ivrea , sometimes also referred to as Berengar II of Italy, was Margrave of Ivrea and usurper King of Italy from 950 until his deposition in 961, the last before Italy's incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire...
about 950, the area of Montferrat
Montferrat
Montferrat is part of the region of Piedmont in Northern Italy. It comprises roughly the modern provinces of Alessandria and Asti. Montferrat is one of the most important wine districts of Italy...
was constituted as the marca Aleramica ("Aleramic march") for his son-in-law Aleramo. The margraviate
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
was raised to become the Duchy of Montferrat
Duchy of Montferrat
The Duchy of Montferrat was created out of what was left of the March of Montferrat after the last Palaeologus heir had died and the margraviate been briefly controlled by Spain . After that brief interlude, it passed to the Gonzaga Dukes of Mantua...
in 1574.
After King Otto I of Germany
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...
had invaded Italy in 961 and displaced Berengar II, he began, in a manner much like his predecessors Berengar and Hugh of Arles
Hugh of Italy
Hugh of Arles was King of Italy from 924 until his death. He was a Bosonid. During his reign, he empowered his relatives at the expense of the aristocracy and tried to establish a relationship with the Byzantine-Roman Empire...
, to redefine the great fiefs of Italy. He reorganised the northwest into three great marches. Western Liguria he restored to Aleramo, Eastern Liguria
March of Genoa
The March of Genoa or Eastern Liguria was created in 961 by the Emperor Otto I. It was originally called either the marca Obertenga after its first holder, Oberto I, or the marca Januensis after its original capital and chief city, Genoa. Its creation was part of a general reorganisation of the...
or the marca Januensis he gave to Oberto I
Oberto I
Oberto I Obizzo was an Italian count palatine and margrave and the oldest known member of the Obertenghi family. He was, by heredity, Count of Milan from 951...
, and Turin
March of Turin
The county or march of Turin was founded in 941 by Hugh of Italy, who appointed Arduin Glaber as its governor. Arduin had captured Turin and the Susa Valley from the Saracens...
he made a march for Arduin Glaber
Arduin Glaber
Arduin Glaber was the Count of Auriate from c. 935 and Margrave of Turin from c. 950. He placed his family, the Arduinici, on a firm foundation and established the march of Turin through conquests and royal concessions...
.
Aleram's descendants were relatively obscure until the time of Marquess Rainier in the early twelfth century. About 1133 Rainier's son Marquess William V
William V, Marquess of Montferrat
William V of Montferrat , also known as William the Old to distinguish him from his eldest son, William Longsword, was marquess of Montferrat from c. 1136 to his death in 1191...
married Judith of Babenberg
Judith of Babenberg
Judith of Babenberg , , was a daughter of Agnes of Germany and her second husband Leopold III of Austria. The chronicler Otto of Freising was one of her older brothers; Conrad III of Germany her half-brother. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor was her nephew.She married c...
, a half-sister of King Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...
, and so greatly increased his family's prestige. He entered into the Italian policies of Conrad and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean....
, setting a Ghibelline
Guelphs and Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of the Italian city-states...
precedent for his successors, and with his sons became involved in the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
. Marquess Boniface I was the leader of the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
and established the Kingdom of Thessalonica
Kingdom of Thessalonica
The Kingdom of Thessalonica was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over the conquered Byzantine lands.- Background :...
in the Latin Empire
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Reuniting Thessalonic, inherited by Boniface's Greek son Demetrius
Demetrius of Montferrat
Demetrius or Demetrios of Montferrat , , king of Thessalonica from 1207 to 1224.Demetrius was the son of Marquis Boniface of Montferrat by Margaret of Hungary, the widow of Emperor Isaac II Angelos. In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade Boniface had secured for himself the kingdom of Thessalonica...
, with Montferrat became a goal of Boniface's Italian heirs, though nothing ever came of their endeavours.
In the thirteenth century, Montferrat waffled between the Guelph and Ghibelline parties under Boniface II
Boniface II, Marquess of Montferrat
Boniface II , called the Giant, was the Margrave of Montferrat from 1225 until his death. He received the titularity of the Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1239....
and William VII
William VII, Marquess of Montferrat
William VII , called the Great , was the twelfth Margrave of Montferrat from 1253 to his death. He was also the titular King of Thessalonica.-Youth:...
. They had to wage several long wars against the independence-minded communes of Asti
Asti
Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...
and Alessandria
Alessandria
-Monuments:* The Citadel * The church of Santa Maria di Castello * The church of Santa Maria del Carmine * Palazzo Ghilini * Università del Piemonte Orientale-Museums:* The Marengo Battle Museum...
and they became the standard-bearers of a renewed Lombard League
Lombard League
The Lombard League was an alliance formed around 1167, which at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy , including, among others, Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Padua, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Venice, Vercelli, Vicenza, Verona,...
forged to fight the spread of Angevin
Capetian House of Anjou
The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...
influence into northern Italy. The capital of Montferrat at this time was Chivasso
Chivasso
Chivasso is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 20 km northeast of Turin. Chivasso has a population of about 25,000...
, the centre of the margraves' power.
In 1305, the last Aleramici margrave died and Montferrat was inherited by the Greek imperial Palaiologos
Palaiologos
Palaiologos , often latinized as Palaeologus, was a Byzantine Greek noble family, which produced the last ruling dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. After the Fourth Crusade, members of the family fled to the neighboring Empire of Nicaea, where Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor in 1259,...
dynasty, who held it until 1533, during a period of diminishing territoriality. In that year, Montferrat was seized by the Spanish under Emperor Charles V of Habsburg
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, who restored it to Federico II, Duke of Mantua from the illustrious House of Gonzaga
House of Gonzaga
The Gonzaga family ruled Mantua in Northern Italy from 1328 to 1708.-History:In 1433, Gianfrancesco I assumed the title of Marquis of Mantua, and in 1530 Federico II received the title of Duke of Mantua. In 1531, the family acquired the Duchy of Monferrato through marriage...
in 1536. His son Margrave William X was elevated to a Duke of Montferrat in 1574 and the "march" ceased to exist as an entity, though it had already undergone the significant change from a feudal collection of frontier counties to one of the petty states of Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
Italy, divided into two separated territories.
See also
- List of rulers of Montferrat, for a list of margraves and dukes
- Iudiciaria TorrensisIudiciaria TorrensisThe iudiciaria Torrensis, also known as fines Torrenses, comitatus Toresianus or Torresana, was a Carolingian district of north-west Italy which is referred to in charters from the second half of the 9th century and from the early years of the century following...
- Duchy of MontferratDuchy of MontferratThe Duchy of Montferrat was created out of what was left of the March of Montferrat after the last Palaeologus heir had died and the margraviate been briefly controlled by Spain . After that brief interlude, it passed to the Gonzaga Dukes of Mantua...