During The Feudal Era
In quick succession, the lords of Montefeltro, the Malatesta of Rimini, and the lords of Urbino attempted to conquer the little town, but without success. The land area of San Marino consisted only of Mount Titano until 1463, at which time the republic entered into an alliance against Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, duke of Rimini, who was later defeated. As a result, Pope Pius II gave San Marino some castles and the towns of Fiorentino, Montegiardino and Serravalle. Later that year, the town of Faetano joined the republic on its own accord. Since then, the size of San Marino has remained unchanged.
As the political scientist Jorri Duursma notes, "San Marino does not have an official Constitution as such. The first legal documents which mentioned San Marino's institutional organs were the Statutes of 1600." Popular misunderstanding sometimes credit the country with a "written constitution" dating from 1600.
San Marino faced many potential threats. Thus a treaty of protection was signed in 1602 with Pope Clement VIII, which came into force in 1631.
San Marino has been occupied by foreign militaries three times in its history, each for only a short period of time. Two of these periods were in the feudal era. In 1503, Cesare Borgia occupied the republic until his death several months later. On October 17, 1739, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, legate (papal governor) of Ravenna who in 1739, aiding certain rebels, possibly contrary to the orders of Pope Clement XII, used military force to occupy the country, imposed a new constitution, and endeavored to force the Sanmarinesi to submit to the government of the Papal States. However, civil disobedience was used to protest this, and clandestine notes sent to the Pope to obtain justice were answered by papal recognition of San Marino's rights, which restored them to independence.
Read more about this topic: History Of San Marino
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