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The Middle Ages
Home » Italy » Italy History & Overview » The Middle AgesPosted by Your Guide on May 4, 2006 5:29 PM
During the middle ages, Italy was ruled by a series of peoples including the Lombards, the Franks, and the Ottonians. During these periods, the Papacy emerged as a more localized form of government. Popes and kingdoms warred against each other for centuries to control the area.
In 774 A.D., Charlemagne conquered northern Italy from the Lombards and was named the Holy Roman Emperor (the area now under Germany’s control was referred to as the Holy Roman Empire, not to be confused with the original Roman Empire). For the next three hundred years, Charlemagne’s sons and grandsons governed northern Italy. They also ruled Germany and Austria, but primarily lived in Germany, leaving northern Italy ruled by distant kings. Central and southern Italy still belonged to the former Roman Empire, but the emperors in Constantinople paid little attention to the area in light of imminent attacks from other enemies. Consequently, the Popes in Rome became the main leaders of central and southern Italy.
By about 900 A.D. the Holy Roman Emperors began to lose power in Northern Italy, and the area divided into several independent warring city-states. In central Italy, the Papacy was losing power, but continued to rule, aided by French kings who were concerned about the German Holy Roman Emperors creeping farther south. Southern Italy was conquered by the Normans about 1100 AD and ruled by them for many years.
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