The Tuscan League, also known as the League of San Genesio, was formed on 11 November 1197 at Borgo San Genesio by the chief cities, barons and bishops of the

March of Tuscany The March of Tuscany (; Modern ) was a march of the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages. Located in northwestern central Italy, it bordered the Papal States to the south, the Ligurian Sea to the west and Lombardy to ...

shortly after the death of

Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI (German language, German: ''Heinrich VI.''; November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was ...

on 27 September 1197.

History

The league was the work of

Pope Celestine III Pope Celestine III (; c. 1105 – 8 January 1198), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 March or 10 April 1191 to his death in 1198. He had a tense relationship with several monarchs, including Emperor ...

and his two papal legates: Pandulf, cardinal priest of Santi Apostoli, and

Bernard Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It has West Germanic origin and is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''be ...

, cardinal priest of San Pietro in Vincoli. It was directed against the

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 ...

in alliance with the papacy. Its members swore not to make any alliances without papal approval, nor to make any peace or truce "with any emperor, king, prince, duke or margrave" without the approval of the rectors of the league. The original signatories were the communes of

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, the people living under the castles of

Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

and

San Miniato San Miniato is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy. San Miniato sits at a historically strategic location atop three small hills where it dominates the lower Arno valley, between the valleys of the E ...

, and the

bishopric of Volterra The Diocese of Volterra () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Tuscany, central Italy. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Pisa.Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

joined on 2 December;

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

refused and was placed under

interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particular rites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for ...

by Celestine. The real objective of the league was to secure for its members control of their respective regions. War was to be made on any city, town, count or bishop who refused to join the league when asked to do so, yet none were allowed to join without recognising their "legitimate" overlords, which in practice usually meant recognising one of the communes as lord. An exception was made for

Poggibonsi Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Central Italy. It is located on the River Elsa (river), Elsa and is the main centre of the Valdelsa, Valdelsa Valley. History The area around Poggibonsi was already settled in the Neolithic ...

, since there were many claims on it. Shortly after the election of 1198, the new pope,

Innocent III Pope Innocent III (; born Lotario dei Conti di Segni; 22 February 1161 – 16 July 1216) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 until his death on 16 July 1216. Pope Innocent was one of the most power ...

, condemned the Tuscan League as a dishonorable interference in the affairs of Tuscany, which he now claimed—on the basis of the ''

Liber censuum The ''Liber Censuum Romanæ Ecclesiæ'' (Latin for "Census Book of the Roman Church"; also referred to as the Codex of Cencius)Gregorovius, 1896, p. 645. is an eighteen-volume (originally) financial record of the real estate revenues of the papa ...

'' (1192)—belonged entirely to the temporal jurisdiction of the Roman church. Celestine had not openly claimed authority in imperial or ducal Tuscany, but Innocent was prepared to extend papal claims to cover all of Tuscany. (The Tuscan duchy corresponded to old "Lombard" Tuscany, while papal Tuscany was "Roman", or suburbicarian, Tuscany—a distinction going back to the eighth century.) He thus revoked the interdict on Pisa and persuaded

Viterbo Viterbo (; Central Italian, Viterbese: ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Lazio region of Italy, the Capital city, capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in ...

and

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

not to join. He sent Pandulf and Bernard back to try to negotiate the submission of the Tuscan cities and barons to him. Seven months of negotiations failed and Innocent was forced to accept the Tuscan League, even threatening Pisa with a renewed interdict.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{refend 1197 establishments in Europe Republic of Lucca Republic of Siena Republic of Florence 12th-century military alliances Medieval history of Italy History of Tuscany