XI CENTURY

Taking advantage of strong disagreements inside Germany, the Italian feudatories rebelled and, in 1002, they elected Arduino, Marquess of Ivrea, king of Italy. He distinguished himself particularly because of his fights against the Bishop-Count of Ivrea, Varmondo.

The Emperor Henry II came to Italy and in 1004 he defated Arduino, who was not helped, as he hoped, by many feudatories of northern Italy. Soon later, however, Arduino succeded in establishing new and stronger alliances, so that he was able to withstand a long siege, forcing Henry II to leave Italy. But King Arduino's kingdom was tormented by the frequent quarrels among his feudatories.

incorard.gif (27137 byte)

Arduino's coronation; fresco by G.P. Recchi in the castle of Aglič.

Finally, in 1014 Arduino, tired and upset about the various betrayals, retired in the abbey of Fruttuaria and became a monk. Here he died one year later in 1015. 

During the XI century Arduino's sons (called the "Arduinici") and the town of Ivrea were defeated over and over again by the German emperors so they were forced to recognize the emperor power. In that time the Bishops-Counts strengthened their authority on the town and the "Arduinici" maintained their power only on the county of Ivrea and no longer on the whole marquisate.

During this century Ivrea started getting organized into a "Commune" and exercising self-government thanks to its own rules. We don't know exactly when Ivrea became a Commune and, because of the lack of documents, it's quite difficult to state if in that time the church authority, represented by the Bishop, was higher than the lay authority, represented by the most powerful families in the town. Surely also Ivrea should have got some grants by the emperor like the permit to elect its own governors, to collect taxes, to administer justice, to mint money.