Italienzug

Italienzug (also known as Romfahrt or Romzug, Latin expeditio italica) was king of the Roman's march to Rome, where he would be crowned the Holy Roman emperor.[1]

Prior to the reforms of Frederick Barbarossa, the kings of the Romans struggled to muster an army for the expedition, for they need the formal approval of the Reichstag. If such permission was granted, the king had permission to recruit knights for their military service in Italy for 410 days. However, the nobility was generally disinterested and would rather substitute the service with a monetary payment. Therefore, the small force tended to be composed out of mercenaries and high ranking clergymen, reinforced by loyal Italian cities.[2] Occasionally the substitution wasn't enough and kings like Henry V ended up using their dowry to fund their Italienzug.[3]

Following Barbarossa's struggles against the Lombard League towards the end of the 12th century, the system was reformed by banning monetary substitution and requiring each prince to contribute a fixed amount of troops for the cause.[2]

References
  1. Heath, Ian (2016). Armies of Feudal Europe 1066-1300. p. 69. ISBN 9781326256524. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  2. Esposito, Gabriele (2019). Armies of the Medieval Italian Wars 1125–1325. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9781472833419. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  3. Chibnall, Marjorie (1993). The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English. Wiley. p. 16. ISBN 9780631190288. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
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