The arimanni (singular ''arimannus'') were a
warrior class
A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have been p ...
of
freemen in
Lombard and later
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. In contemporary documents ''arimanni'' are sometimes denominated as ''liberi homines'' (free men) or ''exercitales'' (soldiers).
The ranks of the ''arimanni'' were originally filled by experienced warriors, the descendants of the Lombard freemen who invaded Italy in 569. The position of the ''arimanni'' declined after the
Frankish conquest of 774. By the mid-ninth century, many Franks were also ''arimanni'', no longer just Lombards. By the tenth century, the ''arimanni'' had declined to a position barely above that of
serfs.
The ''arimanni'' were typically small or medium landowners with a few tenants, or none, beneath them. They formed the basis of the Italian state as they owed it service, specifically ''oste et ponte et placito'': army, bridge, and court services. This service was not mediated by
feudal obligations. The ''arimanni'' held public offices at the local level. The
Carolingians took a special interest in the obligations and rights of the ''arimanni'' as they were foundational to royal control.
Lothair I tried to curb the tide of feudalisation by reasserting the public obligations of the ''arimanni'' even if landless, making these obligations due to the local
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
. In a conscious continuation of Carolingain policy, both
Guy and
Lambert in the 890s created legislation asserting the obligations, especially military, of the ''arimanni'' and outlawing the prevalent practice of granting public obligations to
vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
s as
benefices. The concept of ''arimanni'' survived into the eleventh century, when certain Tuscan citizens pleaded that status against the claims of the
House of Canossa
The House of Canossa was an Italian noble family from Lucca holding the castle of Canossa, from the early tenth to the early twelfth century.
Sigifred of Lucca, Sigifred of Lucca built the castle at Canossa around 940. Adalbert Atto appears in Can ...
.
Sources
* Cavanna, Adriano. Fara, sala, arimannia nella storia di un vico longobardo. Milano, 1967.
*Gasparri, Stefano. 'Strutture militari e legami di dipendenza in età longobarda e carolingia,' Rivista Storica Italiana 98 (1986), 664–726.
* Gasparri, Stefano. 'La questione degli arimanni,' Bullettino dell’Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo 87 (1978), 121–153.
* Gasparri, Stefano. 'Nobiles et credentes omines liberi arimanni'. Linguaccio, memoria sociale e tradizioni longobarde nel regno italico,' ed. S. Gasparri, Bullettino dell'Istituto storico italiano, Istituto storico italiano 105 (Rome, 2003), 25–51.
* Gasparri, Stefano. 'Il popolo-esercito degli arimanni. Gli studi longobardi di Giovanni Tabacco', Giovanni Tabacco e l'esegesi del passato. Quaderni, Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 14 (Torino, 2006), 21-36.
* Jarnut, Jörg. 'Beobachtungen zu den langobardischen arimanni und exercitales,' Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte. Germanistische Abteilung 88 (1971), 1-28.
*Tabacco, Giovanni. I liberi del re nell'Italia carolingia e postcarolingia. Spoleto, 1966.
*Wickham, Chris. Early Medieval Italy: Central Power and Local Society 400-1000. MacMillan Press: 1981.
{{Italy-hist-stub
Lombards
Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)