Diet of Roncaglia

1158

Barbarossa convened the magnates of Italy in a meadow on the Po and, advised by four lawyers from Bologna, issued decrees asserting ancient imperial rights: tolls, coinage, and appointment of officials. The Lombard cities listened in silence and began plotting rebellion the moment he left. The Roncaglian decrees were a legal masterpiece grounded in rediscovered Roman law, but they provoked a coalition of urban resistance that would outlast the emperor.