THE CITIZENSHIP OF IVREA

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People who wanted to get the citizenship of Ivrea with their family, had to live there, to own at least ten imperial coins and to be registered by the "Credenza" in one of the districts, called "terzieri", to which they would pay taxes.

Besides, they had to give the City Council a crossbow with all accessories; however, other kinds of agreement could be established. During the following years, the Credenza changed the obligation of giving crossbows to the City Council offering instead spingals or culverins.

 One of the most frequent agreements was the obligation of buying houses and lands (in the city or in the district), on which the council imposed taxes, that were used as a pledge. It must be clear, however, that only feudatories and rich bourgeois could become citizens of Ivrea.

RIGHTS - Every citizen had the right to hold a position; he could enjoy the advantages given by the City Council and to profit from the city common lands, which at first were only used as pasture lands, but then could also be bought. Agreements between the City Council and the citizens were reciprocal. In fact, the City Council guaranteed defence to the citizens.

The citizen’s most important right was the one of being protected by the City Council that assured him his personal and his properties’ safety against everyone. If a citizen was robbed in the district, the City Council paid him the whole damage, if he couldn’t have his property back from the thief. The commune also defended the citizens who had been wronged by the foreigners, by helping them in taking possession of the foreigner’ s properties, in the case the latter couldn’t pay the damage off; the thief was then arrested.

If the offender was unknown, a clash took place where the offence had occurred. The permission was given for a certain period, and the City Council provided its army.

DUTIES - In order to enjoy the advantages given by the commune, the citizens had to :

If the citizens didn’ t respect these conditions, they were deprived of their own offices and of every kind of right and, eventually, they were denied justice too.