Oh, for Commerce! An Italian City-State TL

Chapter 6: Conrad's Rebellion

The importance of the League's gains during the crusades is debatable. The property it gained in cities captured was marginally higher than the expense of its mission, but much more profitable measures could have been attempted. The real value of the crusade was securing the goodwill of Eastern Romans.

At the dawn of the 12th century, the League's position was tenuous. Genoa and Pisa had, while maintaining separate political structures, got along fairly well for a century. However both were now tied to Amalfi and the Duchies of Salerno and Gaeta, whose interests were less the expansion and maintenance of trade and League naval power than curbing Norman power in the South. By 1101, Behemond had triumphed over his brother for the title of Duke of Apulia, though his cousin Roger, Count of Sicily had successfully separated from the realm. Norman power was reduced, but the League's new possessions were far from secure.

Italy was gripped at the dawn of the 12th century in the investiture controversy, a struggle between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. The League was close to the Pope, who's sanction had led them to conquest and wealth.
In 1085, however, the Pope had turned to the Normans to defend him, leading to a Norman sack of Rome. Genoa and Pisa were infuriated by this; it may be a contributing factor to their decision to go to war in defense of Amalfi.
The new Pope Urban II was liked by the Italians. His scheme for ending the investiture controversy involved Conrad II of Italy, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV's son. In 1095, the pope arranged for Henry to marry the daughter of Roger, Count of Sicily, following the latter's conquest of Syracuse.

The League supported Conrad for several reasons. First, Matilda of Tuscany did in 1095 force Henry IV to retreat from her lands, which showed that the Emperor's position in Italy was so weak that he could not control his own vassals. Secondly, Conrad's alliance with the Count of Sicily put him at odds with Apulia. Third, the 1095 Council of Piacanza had accused Henry IV of various sexual indecencies, which led to Conrad II being promised the imperial crown by the Pope. Finally, Henry IV had refused to contribute to the Crusades, which as the highest ranking noble in Europe many felt he was obligated to do.

In 1098, Conrad was formally deposed and disinherited by his father. Conrad thus went to Sicily, where he contributed to the Norman civil war on behalf of Roger, seizing much Norman land for his count and overlord.
In 1101, following the return of the Crusaders, Conrad seized his opportunity to retake Italy. With the support of the Pope and Roger I he called together representatives of the Italian states to ferment rebellion against his father.
The League supported this rebellion on the condition of independence from Tuscany and the Kingdom of Italy.

Conrad's revolution was launched in early 1102. Backed by the League, Sicily, Tuscany, Spoleto and the Papa States, Conrad was initially very successful. By early 1103 all of Italy was under his control.
However, Conrad was unable to stop there. Many German lords supported his right to the Imperial throne. In addition to this, his father would certainly attempt to retake the Kingdom of Italy.
However in early 1104 Henry's younger son launched a rebellion against his excommunicated father. Henry was forced to resign the crown. Henry V of Germany however claimed the Kingdom of Italy as his brother claimed Germany.
Papal mediation resulted in a mutually unsatisfactory compromise. Italy was yielded to Conrad, who in turn yielded his right to the Empire. It is speculated that he did this due to the lack of support he received from German lords. Whatever the case, by late 1106 the Kingdom of Italy (promptly renamed by Conrad the Kingdom of Lombardy) was seperated from the Holy Roman Empire.
 
Chapter 7: Italian Republic

The League now demanded the independence it had been promised. Conrad begrudgingly agreed in early 1107. This marked a major transformation in the League.
The League's constituents had been de-facto independant for over a century. Genoa and Pisa were close; the Amalfians, not so much. The League however had now made enemies with Apulia, the Holy Roman Empire and potentially the new Kingdom of Lombardy. In the face of these potential foes, the League was restructured. The League's tributory states were also increasingly reluctant to hand over their levies to the League's defense; Saracen pirates didn't seem as much of a threat as they had a century ago, and the Sardinians and Corsicans were starting to think that perhaps their status wasn't in their best interests.

In 1109, following the Diet of Pisa, founded the Most Serene Republic of Italy.* Similar to the treaty, the Republic promised its members mutual defense. However, there were some key differences.

Firstly, all states of the Republic had a place in the Parlamento. The Parlamento elected every 4 years two Consuls (theoretically any member of the Republic could become Consul, but in practice they were virtually always from Genoa or Pisa) who commanded the collective military of the Republic and held veto power.
Secondly, the trade monopolies had to go. It was decided that only merchants liscensed by Pisa, Genoa or Amalfi could trade with non-Republic states; however, within the Republic merchants from all states were now able to trade at whim. This was deeply unpopular in Geno and Pisa, and if it weren't for reduction in tariffs that could be applied to them the Republic's foundation would probably not have occurred at all.
Finally, regardless of the cause of a war, if the Parlamento agreed all forces of the Republic's states could be mobilized for battle. The Republic would now fight as a coherent forces regardless of who their enemies were or if their struggle was aggressive of defensive.

The first action of the Republic, in 1110, was to issue Confidences** allowing to piratical attacks on Saracen and Venetian shipping. Venice was at this point the Republic's major rival for trade.
The Second action of the new, fragile Republic was the 1113 expedition of the Balaeric Isles, fought in the manner of a crusade. By 1115 the Isles had fallen to the League's forces. As was the pattern, a number of merchants who supported the expedition were granted lands there.


*I drew inspiration for the Italian Republic from the Dutch Republic
**Basically OTL Letters of Marque
 
Sorry for not posting for a little bit, didn't have internet. I thought I'd just take the time to describe the future of this TL a bit.

We're going to diversify away from just the Italian city states. I probably should have named this TL something better. Too late now?

The Italian Republic is far from secure. So far they've triumphed over every enemy they've faced; this won't be so for the future. Life will get hard on the Italian peninsula as the Venetians, Normans, Lombards and Italians struggle for their little scraps of land.

Al-Andalus is going to make a comeback. A Berber Empire is going to fight the enlarged Kingdom of Navarre over Spain, probably inconclusively. A side effect of this is that the trade in Ivory from Elephants is set back a long time, leading to a greater importance of North American ivory.

The Norweigans are going to barely hold onto England, but I'd like to see them expand a little more even. The other powers on the British isles are going to be looked at; the Welsh, Irish and Scottish have a big future.
France is going to see a lot of territory break off and become independent, and have to deal with that.
Finally, the Hanseatic League are going to show up.

Basically, the HRE is going to be somewhat contested due to there being two legitimate claimants. Northern Europe is going to be politically fragmented with a few exceptions of growing polities.
The Muslim powers have been trashed a little more soundly then I'd like; while I think it's plausible, I'd like to see them make a comeback.

Finally, Byzantium. The Eastern Romans are going to face religious questions, resurgent Arabs, Hungarians and the joys of vassal states. They're far from secure, even if they're making a bit of a comeback as well.

And yes, we will get a map. (Hooray!) Thanks for your patience.

EDIT:
I'm going to put this TL on the wikia Alternate History wiki because it's easier to format. You can find it here: http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Harald's_England
 
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