The Tuscan League, also known as the League of San Genesio, was formed on 11 November 1197 at Borgo San Genesio by the chief cities, barons and bishops of the Duchy of Tuscany shortly after the death of the
Emperor Henry VI
Henry VI (German: ''Heinrich VI.''; November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of Sic ...
(27 September). The league was the work of Pope Celestine III and his two papal legates: Pandulf, cardinal priest of Santi Apostoli, and
Bernard
Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "bra ...
, cardinal priest of San Pietro in Vincoli. It was directed against the Holy Roman Emperor in alliance with the papacy. Its members swore not to make any alliances without papal approval, nor to make any peace or truce "with any emperor, king, prince, duke or margrave" without the approval of the rectors of the league. The original signatories were the communes of
Lucca
Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.
Lucca is known as one ...
,
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
and
Siena
Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.
The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...
, the people living under the castles of Prato and
San Miniato
San Miniato is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy.
San Miniato sits at an historically strategic location atop three small hills where it dominates the lower Arno valley, between the valleys of Egol ...
, and the
bishopric of Volterra
The Diocese of Volterra ( la, Dioecesis Volaterrana) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Tuscany, central Italy. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Pisa.Arezzo joined on 2 December; Pisa refused and was placed under
interdict
In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits persons, certain active Church individuals or groups from participating in certain rites, or that the rites and services of the church are banished from ...
by Celestine.
The real objective of the league was to secure for its members control of their respective regions. War was to be made on any city, town, count or bishop who refused to join the league when asked to do so, yet none were allowed to join without recognising their "legitimate" overlords, which in practice usually meant recognising one of the communes as lord. An exception was made for
Poggibonsi
Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located on the river Elsa and is the main centre of the Valdelsa Valley.
History
The area around Poggibonsi was already settled in the Neolithic age, although the firs ...
, since there were many claims on it.
Shortly after the election of 1198, the new pope,
Innocent III
Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...
, condemned the Tuscan League as a dishonorable interference in the affairs of Tuscany, which he now claimed—on the basis of the ''
Liber censuum
The ''Liber Censuum Romanæ Ecclesiæ'' (Latin for "Census Book of the Roman Church"; also referred to as the Codex of Cencius)Gregorovius, 1896, p. 645. is an eighteen-volume (originally) financial record of the real estate revenues of the papac ...
'' (1192)—belonged entirely to the temporal jurisdiction of the Roman church. Celestine had not openly claimed authority in imperial or ducal Tuscany, but Innocent was prepared to extend papal claims to cover all of Tuscany. (The Tuscan duchy corresponded to old "Lombard" Tuscany, while papal Tuscany was "Roman", or suburbicarian, Tuscany—a distinction going back to the eighth century.) He thus revoked the interdict on Pisa and persuaded
Viterbo
Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo.
It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history ...
and
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 pa ...
not to join. He sent Pandulf and Bernard back to try to negotiate the submission of the Tuscan cities and barons to him. Seven months of negotiations failed and Innocent was forced to accept the Tuscan League, even threatening Pisa with a renewed interdict.