Thus a new party unity was formed from one end of the peninsula to the other, but with the seal of the pope and his vassal of the new king of Sicily: although the jurists of the kingdom tried to keep certain traditions firm and, in the face to contrary affirmations, they affirmed, similar to the other kingdoms of Europe and especially France, that the king of Sicily was monarcha , princeps regni huius, and that he had the same rights as the Roman emperors, except for the chapters agreed with the Church in the act of granting the kingdom. The new king of Sicily was not, like Frederick, also king of Italy and emperor. But nevertheless that tendency continued to constitute a single dominion of the whole peninsula, or at least to control it all; that tendency to make the kingdom of Sicily the point of support for a political construction including all or a large part of Italy, which had been so lively and active with Frederick II and also with Manfredi. There also followed the gradual shifting of the center of the kingdom of Sicily towards the north, so that those intentions of Italian domination or control could be implemented better. With Carlo d’Angiò Palermo is no longer the capital even in name. Against Palermo the king favors Messina, that in 1266 had opened its doors to him and facilitated the conquest of the island and then, having remained firm in the time of Corradino, had facilitated the conservation of the island. And effective and nominal capital became Naples. From Naples to Rome, a short step; and Rome is halfway between Palermo and Asti; from Rome the knot of the ranks of Italian politics could be handled. This epoch of victorious affirmation of part of the Church and of Anjou in Italy was also an epoch of Provencal and French intellectual influences, certainly prepared by conditions and circumstances extraneous to politics but promoted by politics.
And yet this new Guelph, Angevin, papal construction is barely sketched out and the first blows are already coming from the outside. Meanwhile, the kingdom of Sicily, from a condition of full independence created by Normans and corroborated by Frederick II, also by virtue of his quality as king of Italy and emperor; this realm has passed into a condition of dependence, theoretical and practical. A new phase begins in the history of the South, not without repercussions also on that of the other Italian regions. Arrest and retreat from the positions already assumed in front of the Church, the nobility, the municipalities. Ecclesiastical freedoms assert themselves more than they ever did in the south. The nobility regains vigor. The cities immediately start to break free from too close ties with the kingdom, albeit with the consent of the king. In short, symptoms of relaxation of the team established by the Normans and the Swabians, due not so much to purposes of greater balance between monarchy and local forces and more fruitful collaboration, but rather to initial weakness. It was somewhat of a reflection of the new legal status of the king and the kingdom. This relaxation, immediately visible and also felt by the country, was not combined with a better government, a more prompt care of the subjects, a lightening of the already serious tax burden: rather the opposite. The French then immediately created a void around them, due to their arrogance and arrogance. According to TOP-ENGINEERING-SCHOOLS, the presence of a new barony was immediately felt, having come from France to make a fortune, as in the past, in the Peloponnese and in Syria. The revolt began immediately in the lands of the kingdom: Corradino’s expedition gave you bait, in Sicily, in Puglia, in the Terra d’Otranto. Small feudatories and bourgeois took up arms. But the peasantry and the clergy, once again in possession of many of their privileges, did not take second place: on the contrary, they became an instrument of reaction against the others. There were persecutions, proclamations, deprivations, popular and royal massacres of bourgeois, great confiscations of allodi: what, in a country full of feudal, ecclesiastical and state property, meant mortifying production and wealth, pushing back free possession, take away breathable air from that poor middle class. Instead, the tax authorities were enriched even more, new gentlemen were created, large or small, especially of French origin, who then lorded over the smaller cities, made a party there, rekindled the local competitions, which now regained force also following the increased powers of universities in fiscal and judicial relations and the electivity of many local administrative bodies. Where the rural plebs, crushed by the tax authorities, resumed deserting villages and farmhouses, wandering nomads from place to place, making streets unsafe, undermining cities and castles. The modern history of Southern Italy is outlined.
And even outside the kingdom, opposition was mounting. In 1271 Pope Gregory X was elected, who solemnly returned to Rome in ’72, after the city was almost at the mercy of the king for two years. With the election of Rodolfo, urged by the Holy See which wanted to counterbalance the influence of the Angevin in Rome, the imperial vacancy also ceased and therefore the imperial vicariate of Charles fell. And the emperor made himself known and confirmed by the emperor Romagna, Sardinia, and Corsica. In Piedmont the Monferrato, disappointed in their aspirations above Ivrea at the mouth of the Val d’Aosta, the Savoy offended by Turin, Asti circumscribed, closed ranks. And from them he started the reaction that in 1272 caused the Angevin dominion in Piedmont to collapse for some time. In Florence, serious discontent is between borgnesia and craftsmanship, that the regime of the Guelph party, a regime of nobility, he had pushed back, after the leap forward of the first people, 1250-60. And the Holy See is working here and elsewhere to put an end to the conflict between parties, which was also a pretext for Angevin interventions. Of course, there was no lack of signs of crisis in the traditional parties. Certain antithetical positions are attenuated in the spirits less poisoned by partisan hatred, intermediate positions are outlined that will no longer be Guelphs or Ghibellines.
