In 827 the Saracens begin their attacks on Italy and Sicily. Their fortunes are varied, but by 890 the fall of the Carlovingian dynasty has enabled the Greeks to take many cities from the Saracens and raise a new power that comprises southern Italy as far north as Salerno. This territory ruled by a patrician or catapan remains a part of the Eastern Empire until 1043. Charlemagne does not overthrow the political system in the north, and the great lords retain their territories they have enjoyed since the days of Theodoric. With the decay of Charlemagne’s dynasty, these local rulers correspondingly increase their power, and the bishops appointed to the cities have become almost independent sovereigns. This local ascendency is never suppressed by the emperor, and to it is due the rise of the mediæval Italian republics.
At the beginning of the tenth century we find these great territorial lords and bishops the chief powers in northern Italy—among them the archbishop of Milan, the duke of Friuli, and the count of Tuscany, the latter asserting his predominance since the time of Boniface I in 823. The obedience they pay the king of Italy is merely nominal, and indeed the king is constantly at war with his great vassals. From the deposition of Charles the Fat (888) to the intrusion of Otto I into the affairs of Italy (961) the crown of that country is the bone of contention between the great lords of Friuli and Benevento. The Magyars and Saracens also repeatedly invade the land, and the defended cities rise in power and importance.
With the advent of Otto I their municipal liberty is not much curtailed. The government of the city is generally carried on by two or more consuls chosen by popular vote. In 997 the Venetians’ conquest of the Adriatic coast and islands as far as Ragusa, put themselves in a more independent attitude towards the Eastern emperor.
THE ELEVENTH CENTURY
The untimely death of Otto III (1002) is an important event in the development of the Italian cities. In the resulting dispute for the crown, Pavia upholds the Lombard nobles in their choice of Arduin. Milan crowns the German king Henry II.
1003 War between Pisa and Lucca, the first waged between the mediæval Italian cities.
1004 Henry burns Pavia. Milan and Pavia wake to independent life and action in this struggle. The Saracens capture a portion of Pisa.
1011 Second attack of the Saracens on Pisa, which now assumes the offensive.
1017 The Pisans drive the Saracens from Sardinia and take the island.
1018 Heribert becomes archbishop of Milan, and the most powerful lord in northern Italy.