The siege of Tortona in 1155 was the first major military engagement resulting from

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

's ambition to enforce Imperial

hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Background

Frederick began his first Italian campaign in October 1154, allegedly to attack the Norman Kingdom of Sicily in accordance with an agreement with the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. Upon encountering resistance and insubordination from the Northern Italian city states, his ostensible subjects, Frederick declared a preliminary Imperial ban on

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in December 1154.

Prelude

In February 1155 he advanced to capture Tortona, a key Milanese ally and an enemy of his

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

n supporters. The

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

of Tortona, situated on a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

, held a commanding position over the

Po valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

and was protected by massive

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or serves a decorative purpose. There are various types of walls, including border barriers between countries, brick wal ...

s and fortified towers. The Imperials began by reconnoitering the town on 7 February, then proceeded to launch a failed surprise attack. The town was held by 300 Milanese soldiers, Tortona's own

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

and the men of its overall commander Obizzo Malaspina.

Siege

On 13 February, the

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

began as the Imperials constructed siege works everywhere around Tortona to completely

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are ...

it. Henry the Lion's men to the south of town and the Pavian militia to the east and north attacked and burned the defenseless town on 17 February. Nightfall and a

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

averted the capture of the citadel as well. Imperial slingers, archers and

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar f ...

men pelted the defending troops on the walls with projectiles as the siege army constructed siege engines. A rock thrown by a mangonel destroyed part of the fortifications and killed three armoured knights. The besiegers used an engine to bore a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

to undermine one of the towers, but the defenders dug a counter-tunnel that collapsed the effort and killed some of the miners. Frederick then contaminated the garrison's

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

with corpses and burning

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

and pitch. Finally, the garrison capitulated on 18 April out of thirst.

Aftermath

The garrison was placed under guard, the Tortonians banished from the place and the Germans and Pavians burned everything in the city, including the

grave A grave is a location where a cadaver, dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is burial, buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of buria ...

s. The destruction accomplished little: the Tortonians re-entered on 1 May with Milanese help and rebuilt the city. Frederick celebrated his victory in Pavia on 24 April and was crowned

King of Italy King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by ...

with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in St. Michael's Church. He then made his way to Rome, where he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on 18 June.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , editor-last1=Kedar , editor-first1=Benjamin Z. , editor-last2=Phillips , editor-first2=Jonathan , editor-last3=Riley-Smith , editor-first3=Jonathan , author-last=Loud , author-first=Graham A. , title=Crusades: Volume 13 , publisher=Ashgate , location=Farnham , year=2014 , isbn=978-1472441676 Tortona Tortona Tortona Tortona Tortona Tortona Tortona Tortona