Milan faction

[chris7ian]

I was looking into who controlled what settlement during the 1150-1200. And every historical map I came across has Milan under HRE control. Was there really a Milan faction like the Venice faction? Some maps showed the Duchy of Burgandy in that area but still encompassed under the border of the HRE. Milan, Genoa, Florence, Ajaccio, Cagliari, and Ancona were all under HRE control.

[Frunk]

The Holy Roman Empire was never a centralised entity like the Kingdoms of England and France, for example, but rather was made up of literally hundreds of small realms, including the Duchy of Milan. Therefore, no, Milan's independence in this game, less the fact it begins at war with the HRE, is not accurate.

The Duchy of Burgundy, on the other hand, was not part of the Empire as far as I can tell. France, most of Germany and Northern Italy all used to be part of the one Empire ruled in the 800s by Charlemagne. When he died, it was divided into three kingdoms. A western one, which became the Kingdom of France, an eastern one, which became the Holy Roman Empire, and a central one, consisting of north Italy and the area in-between France and Germany. This map (click here) shows the division better than I can describe. Essentially, their was nothing to bind the peoples of Middle Francia, as it was called, and thus it dissolved. The Duchy of Burgundy was one of the largely independent states leftover after the dissolution.

Indeed, the Republic of Venice was an independent state for centuries. It was not controlled by the HRE or any one else.

Therefore, in this time period you describe, the city of Milan would have been part of the Holy Roman Empire. The city of Genoa was the capital of the Republic of Genoa, which was independent like Venice for many centuries and also had many overseas holdings, and in my opinion should be in the game instead of Milan. Florence, also a former part of Middle Francia, was as far as I can tell the capital of an independent state known as the Marquisate of Tuscany until 1115, when the Republic of Florence (again, independent like Venetian and Genoese Republics) was established. The Isle of Corsica where Ajaccio is located was controlled by the independent Republic of Pisa until 1282, when the Genoese gained control. The Isle of Sardinia, meanwhile, consisted of four small, independent kingdoms, as shown in this map. Three of them were destroyed in the mid-late 1200s, two, including Cagliari, by the Republic of Pisa and one by the Genoese. The fourth managed to remain independent until the late 1400s. Ancona, finally, remained independent until it was incorporated into the Papal States in the 1500s.

[chris7ian]

thx that cleared some things up for me. I was thinking of making more rebel settlements and starting a little sooner than 1180. some of the maps i came across in fact most of them were pretty useless.

[Frunk]

Glad I could help. Let me know if you need any more info. I learned most of this stuff while researching for a mod I'm planning myself.