History of Tuscany - Middle Ages

Middle Ages

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire the region went under the Ostrogoth and Byzantine dominations, before the Lombard conquest in 569. Tuscany was made a Duchy, its seat in Lucca. After the destruction of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne, it became a county first, and then a march. In the 11th century the marquisate went to the Attoni family from Canossa, who also held Modena, Reggio Emilia and Mantua. Matilda of Canossa was their most famous member.

In this period Tuscany acquired many castles, abbeys and monasteries, while the main towns started again to grow demographically, turning themselves into communes mostly independent from the Holy Roman Empire. Lucca was in fact the first commune in Italy; the other most important ones were Arezzo, Florence, Siena and Pisa, often struggling between each other. The south of current Tuscany (roughly identifiable with the modern province of Grosseto) was instead a feudal dominion of the Aldobrandeschi family.

Pilgrims travelling along the Via Francigena between Rome and France brought wealth and development during the Middle Ages. The food and shelter required by these travellers fuelled the growth of communities around churches and taverns.

In the 11th century Pisa became the most powerful of them, building a trade (as well as colonial) empire in the Mediterranean and playing a key role in the Crusades. Banking, soon turned into an international activity with branches in Flanders, France and England, was instead the main resource of Florence, Siena and Lucca. The latter was also an important center for silk production.

Pisa began to decline in the 13th/14th centuries after its defeat by Genoa at the Battle of Meloria. After its conquest of Arezzo and Pisa, by the early 15th century Florence had gained a prominent role in Tuscany, as well as in Italy, and was also the cultural capital of the region. Its only remaining rival in Tuscany was Siena.