The Salt War of 1540 was a result of an insurrection by the city of

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

against the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

during the pontificate of

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

. The principal result was the city of Perugia's definitive subordination to papal control.

History

Perugia had been a free commune until 1370, when it was ''de jure'' incorporated into the Papal States. The Perugian elite continued to enjoy a sort of semi-autonomy, including several privileges like trial by a local (not papal-appointed) judge and freedom from paying any taxes on salt, then an important product for preserving food. Beginning in the late 15th century, successive popes attempted to rein in Perugian autonomy, despite resistance by the Perugians. This came to a head after a disastrous harvest in 1539, which drove up prices in Perugia and its rural hinterland. In this already economically difficult situation, Pope Paul III decided to levy a new tax on salt for all his subjects. This violated treaties between Perugia and previous popes, treaties which Paul III had confirmed at the beginning of his pontificate, but Perugian protests were to no avail. The Perugians decided to rebel but on 4 June 1540 papal troops, led by the pope's son

Pierluigi Farnese Pier Luigi Farnese (19 November 1503 – 10 September 1547) was the first Duke of Castro, Lazio, Castro from 1537 to 1545 and the first Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1545 to 1547. Born in Rome, Pier Luigi was the illegitimate son of Cardinal A ...

and his condottiere ''Alessandro da Terni'', forced a surrender. Shortly thereafter, an enormous fortress, the ''

Rocca Paolina The Rocca Paolina was a Renaissance fortress in Perugia, built in 1540-1543 for Pope Paul III to designs by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. It destroyed a large number of Etruscan, Roman and medieval buildings, including the Baglioni family's ho ...

'' (Pauline Fortress), was constructed on the plans designed by

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

and ''Aristotele'' da Sangallo. Built not to protect Perugia but, in

Julius III Pope Julius III ( la, Iulius PP. III; it, Giulio III; 10 September 1487 – 23 March 1555), born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 February 1550 to his death in March 155 ...

's words, "to slow down the burning of the Perugians and get rid of the opportunity to rebel against the Holy See," the fort was for centuries a symbol of oppressive papal rule. Despite the fact that a later Pope,

, gave the Perugians back a semblance of local rule in 1559, the city became part of the Papal States and remained so until

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

in 1860. One curious note about the war is that Perugian legend holds that as part of a popular protest against the new papal tax in 1540, citizens stopped putting salt in their bread (unsalted bread is the norm to this day). Recent research suggests that this is an

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

developed after 1860.

Bibliography

*M. Symonds, ''The Story of Perugia'', J.M. Dent & Sons, London, 1912. *L. Bonazzi, ''Storia di Perugia'', vol. II, 1879, Ris. Città di Castello 1960. *D. Bonella, A. Brunori, & A. Ciliani, ''La Rocca Paolina nella storia e nella realtà contemporanea'', Guerra Edizioni, Perugia, 2002. *M. Rita Zappelli, ''Caro Viario: Un viaggio nella vecchia Perugia attraverso le sue mura, porte, vie e piazza'', Guerra Edizioni, Perugia, 1999.

References

{{reflist Wars involving the Papal States Military history of Italy 1540 in Italy Perugia Conflicts in 1540 1540 in the Papal States

History

See also

Bibliography

References