Fancomics and fanarts: Barbarossa e la Lega Lombarda - Part 4
Title: "Barbarossa e la Lega Lombarda - Part 4"
Author: J.J.
Warning: There’s lot of history and still this is a very summarized version of the events of that time (things were much more complex and, if you’re interested in knowing more, please read a book). It’s unbetaed and includes cussing in assorted Italian regional languages.
Notes: To keep things simple I’ll assume all the characters are speaking in Latin (which is of course translated in English to allow everyone to understand it) when they talk to each other, okay? However, when the Italies are upset, they tend to slip on speaking into their own variations of ancient Italian and no, I’ve no idea how to speak ancient Italian, so I replaced it with present time Italian regional languages...
Main Characters: Chibi North Italy Veneziano (Feliciano Vargas), Holy Roman Empire (Ludwig?).
Main Guest Character: Chibi South Italy Romano (Lovino Vargas) who, in no way shape or form will represent the pope. Consider yourself warned. Romano kindly accepted to take part to this merely to help you readers better understanding his brother’s mind (and because his land is kind of involved).
Other Guest Characters: Roman Empire, Germania (in the role of Longobards and Franks... sorry Germania-san, Himaruya-san hasn’t drawn them yet and I’ve noticed he used you in ‘The battle for America’ when he spoke of German mercenaries going in America along with Sweden and Finland so I did the same), France (Francis Bonnefoy), England (Arthur Kirkland), Spain (Antonio Fernandez Carriedo) and Mafia (an OC named Salvatore Martura).
Time: Loosely from around 1100 to 1177 but with glimpses of Italy’s far, far past, a quick look at 1282 in Sicily and mentions about what happened after.
Disclaimer: "Axis Powers Hetalia" belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz.
Hey, do I own something here? Oh yes, I own the plot and a sensible heart which would surely break if you give me harsh reviews... so please be honest but nice ok?
Summary: A quick look into how Holy Roman Empire and Italy married and how things went between the two of them during medieval time. Yes, really.
So now, after reading about Holy Roman Empire and Veneziano bitching you might wonder how strong the two of them were.
Well, actually you probably already know Holy Roman Empire had very strong soldiers at the time. In fact back then German nobles were trained from childhood to become good knights (foot soldiers was usually the role of peasants or low, low class nobles… usually people though they didn’t matter much, it was cavalry the real important thing in a army).
Now you might wonder… what about Italy? Was he a strong soldier back then?
Time to make another flashback on Italian history!
Do you think the soldiers of the Roman empire were solely from Rome? Wrong!
They were only Romans only in the beginning, later Italian soldiers also come to join their troops.
Just so you know, it seems Scipio’s soldiers who fought and won in Hispania and against Cartago were also from centre and south Italy, while Caesar’s favourite and most loyal division who fought and won in Gaul and south Britain was from north Italy.
So yes, under Roman Empire Italians, back then called Italics, were cool warriors, YAY for them.
However…
… in 192 the new emperor Settimio Severo, an African (actually his father was Punic and his mother Roman… but at the time, if your parents were married, what decides who you are is your father’s ancestry… in case your parents aren’t married however, what decides who you are is your mother’s ancestry), decided from now on Italians (Romans included) were spared from military service while everyone else in the empire had to go through it.
Do you think he was being nice with Italians?
Not really since the only way to get the power back then was through military service.
Result: he mostly cut out Italians from government and from learning how to fight to defend themselves or conquer lands.
But, you might wonder, what about when the Roman Empire fell? Surely things should have changed back then!
Not really. Do you really thinks Longobards or Franks wanted Italians to get to the power or to learn how to fight? It could have given them bad ideas, like trying to fight them away from Italy.
Therefore, while Franks and Longobards fought among them, Italians were mostly spectators…
… or at best, they were ‘allowed’ to be emergency foot soldiers or to have small political roles that required a certain culture and things should have continued like that even when they were under Holy Roman Empire, which was also why many tried to find a way to the power devoting themselves to the church. An Italian wasn’t allowed to become an emperor but he could become a pope and the pope ruled over the emperor or tried to. Of course, since the emperor didn’t like to be ruled over he also tried to turn into popes people he thought would be loyal to him. This gave life to a long chain of popes who aimed at being powerful rulers/supporter of the emperor and failed at being a spiritual guidance.
Besides, who didn’t aim at becoming a pope was usually busy trying to become rich a businessman or to keep active his business and therefore had no time to devote all his life to become a soldier.
So now you’re assuming that since Italy had no soldiers it should be a piece of cake for Holy Roman Empire to defeat Italy in an open battle, aren’t you? Well that’s what Holy Roman Empire though also but…
So yes, this was the Italian way to get knights… to turn into one everyone who could buy a horse and knew how to ride it. This system allowed Italy to get many knights and, as mentioned before, back then knights were considered the important part of the army, a force to reckon with. Okay, so Italian knights were definitively not strong since they hadn’t trained all their life to do it but, hey, they were many and sometimes battles could be won merely thanks to the sheer number of your soldiers. Also, they fought a lot among them so sometimes they could make up with experience they lack of training. Plus, as a bonus, if they were to win soldiers were allowed to sack the enemies and this meant MONEY and you know how Italy felt about money.
So Italy’s Lega Lombarda got his knights and, according to the legend, called the team of the best of them Compagnia della Morte (Company of Death) and let them go under the leadership of the legendary Alberto da Giussano.
Now… it seems that an Alberto de Gluxano existed (he’s mentioned in a document dated 1196)… but it’s actually unsure if he is the one who took formed the Compagnia della Morte or if there was another Alberto or even if there was an Alberto at all… but Alberto da Giussano is a cool name and someone should have lead them so let’s let this slide, okay?
Anyway, to be honest, the emperor already knew about the Italian way to get knights since when he previously fought Milan the Italian cities who sided him had to offer their knights (here HRE found out about it only now due to storytelling purposes) and knew that, since many cities were joined against him, this meant Italy could get many knights to place against him as well which is why he asked for reinforcements from Germany before attacking and, once he got them (few because guess what? The German nobles were again being rebellious) he tried to have them join his main army in Pavia as fast as he could.
Italy knew it would have been dangerous for him if this were to happen so he tried to stop the two armies before joining each other with some of the foot soldiers he had at Legnano.
Due to everyone rushing, the battle that took place near Legnano happened almost by coincidence, the soldiers of the two sides meeting each other all of sudden giving both sides little or no time to prepare themselves.
There are assorted versions about how things went but more or less this is what had happened…
That ‘thing’ Holy Roman Empire talks about is named ‘Carroccio’. It’s nothing more than a big chariot used to carry the injures, celebrate mass before the start of the battle, help the soldiers to orient themselves during the chaos of the battle and it was a good observation position from which the commanders could give orders to their troops, with, usually, the flag of the city who owned it. This time it was chosen it would wear a vexillum standard of Milan and the cross of the bishop Ariberto d’Intimiano (the legendary inventor of the Carroccio).
And, in this battle, it seems that the Carroccio was placed it in a large pit and the soldiers placed themselves around it. In short it meant when Holy Roman Empire’s troops would charge the Italian troops would have no way out to escape.
From that moment on Italy’s infantry could only fight till dead or till victory.
So? Will Holy Roman Empire win or will the Italic stubbornness prevail?
You’ll find out in the next part!
As sidenotes I’ll say the ancestor of Gelato (ice cream) didn’t really exist at the time in which Longobards and Franks fought against each other. However it seems back in Roman time there was something vaguely similar (made with snow from the Appennine, honey and fruit). Okay, it’s still rather anachronistic to have Roman and Feliciano eating an ice cream cone while watching the battle but it would have been even worse if they had been eating pop corn or potato chips… Besides the ancestor of ice cream along with the granite was invented by Arabs when they invaded Sicily and if you happen to go visit Sicily you can eat among the most delicious ice creams so I figured Romano would like my choice.
Even if Italy managed to get knights, since they usually didn’t become knights in the typical medieval way (nobles who spent a life training and studying the honour code and then a ceremony in which the king/emperor declared they were knights), they weren’t really appreciated by other countries and were judged weak and without honour.
To make things easier for me I draw only Veneziano around the Carroccio but actually all the soldiers were around it.
Translations
The translation used in the strips is the one that gives you the meaning of the sentences said. The direct translation is here:
Veh: Hetalia fans know this as Veneziano’s verbal tic but actually it has a meaning in some North Italian dialects. Basically it means ‘Look’, ‘Watch’, but it can be used to call someone, to make your point stronger, as an exclamation, as an interjection…
Translations from Palermitano language
Venezià? Mi pigghi p’o cul? ‘Veneziano? Are you taking me for my ass? (Veneziano? Are you making fun of me?)
Ciriveddu duru hai! ‘You have a hard head!’ (You’re being very stubborn!)
Venezià? Fottiti! ‘Veneziano? Fuck yourself!’ (Veneziano? Go to hell!)
Translations from Milanese language
Bauscia! ‘Bausch!’ (Boaster!)
Mi? Paga I tass a ti? ‘I? To pay the taxes to you?’
Ma va a ciapà i rat! ‘But go to catch the rats!’ (Forget it!)
Cagasott! ‘Shit under!’ (Coward!)
Don't grumble silently, please let me know what you're thinking of this!
Send me your comments!
Author: J.J.
Warning: There’s lot of history and still this is a very summarized version of the events of that time (things were much more complex and, if you’re interested in knowing more, please read a book). It’s unbetaed and includes cussing in assorted Italian regional languages.
Notes: To keep things simple I’ll assume all the characters are speaking in Latin (which is of course translated in English to allow everyone to understand it) when they talk to each other, okay? However, when the Italies are upset, they tend to slip on speaking into their own variations of ancient Italian and no, I’ve no idea how to speak ancient Italian, so I replaced it with present time Italian regional languages...
Main Characters: Chibi North Italy Veneziano (Feliciano Vargas), Holy Roman Empire (Ludwig?).
Main Guest Character: Chibi South Italy Romano (Lovino Vargas) who, in no way shape or form will represent the pope. Consider yourself warned. Romano kindly accepted to take part to this merely to help you readers better understanding his brother’s mind (and because his land is kind of involved).
Other Guest Characters: Roman Empire, Germania (in the role of Longobards and Franks... sorry Germania-san, Himaruya-san hasn’t drawn them yet and I’ve noticed he used you in ‘The battle for America’ when he spoke of German mercenaries going in America along with Sweden and Finland so I did the same), France (Francis Bonnefoy), England (Arthur Kirkland), Spain (Antonio Fernandez Carriedo) and Mafia (an OC named Salvatore Martura).
Time: Loosely from around 1100 to 1177 but with glimpses of Italy’s far, far past, a quick look at 1282 in Sicily and mentions about what happened after.
Disclaimer: "Axis Powers Hetalia" belongs to Himaruya Hidekaz.
Hey, do I own something here? Oh yes, I own the plot and a sensible heart which would surely break if you give me harsh reviews... so please be honest but nice ok?
Summary: A quick look into how Holy Roman Empire and Italy married and how things went between the two of them during medieval time. Yes, really.
So now, after reading about Holy Roman Empire and Veneziano bitching you might wonder how strong the two of them were.
Well, actually you probably already know Holy Roman Empire had very strong soldiers at the time. In fact back then German nobles were trained from childhood to become good knights (foot soldiers was usually the role of peasants or low, low class nobles… usually people though they didn’t matter much, it was cavalry the real important thing in a army).
Now you might wonder… what about Italy? Was he a strong soldier back then?
Time to make another flashback on Italian history!
Do you think the soldiers of the Roman empire were solely from Rome? Wrong!
They were only Romans only in the beginning, later Italian soldiers also come to join their troops.
Just so you know, it seems Scipio’s soldiers who fought and won in Hispania and against Cartago were also from centre and south Italy, while Caesar’s favourite and most loyal division who fought and won in Gaul and south Britain was from north Italy.
So yes, under Roman Empire Italians, back then called Italics, were cool warriors, YAY for them.
However…
… in 192 the new emperor Settimio Severo, an African (actually his father was Punic and his mother Roman… but at the time, if your parents were married, what decides who you are is your father’s ancestry… in case your parents aren’t married however, what decides who you are is your mother’s ancestry), decided from now on Italians (Romans included) were spared from military service while everyone else in the empire had to go through it.
Do you think he was being nice with Italians?
Not really since the only way to get the power back then was through military service.
Result: he mostly cut out Italians from government and from learning how to fight to defend themselves or conquer lands.
But, you might wonder, what about when the Roman Empire fell? Surely things should have changed back then!
Not really. Do you really thinks Longobards or Franks wanted Italians to get to the power or to learn how to fight? It could have given them bad ideas, like trying to fight them away from Italy.
Therefore, while Franks and Longobards fought among them, Italians were mostly spectators…
… or at best, they were ‘allowed’ to be emergency foot soldiers or to have small political roles that required a certain culture and things should have continued like that even when they were under Holy Roman Empire, which was also why many tried to find a way to the power devoting themselves to the church. An Italian wasn’t allowed to become an emperor but he could become a pope and the pope ruled over the emperor or tried to. Of course, since the emperor didn’t like to be ruled over he also tried to turn into popes people he thought would be loyal to him. This gave life to a long chain of popes who aimed at being powerful rulers/supporter of the emperor and failed at being a spiritual guidance.
Besides, who didn’t aim at becoming a pope was usually busy trying to become rich a businessman or to keep active his business and therefore had no time to devote all his life to become a soldier.
So now you’re assuming that since Italy had no soldiers it should be a piece of cake for Holy Roman Empire to defeat Italy in an open battle, aren’t you? Well that’s what Holy Roman Empire though also but…
So yes, this was the Italian way to get knights… to turn into one everyone who could buy a horse and knew how to ride it. This system allowed Italy to get many knights and, as mentioned before, back then knights were considered the important part of the army, a force to reckon with. Okay, so Italian knights were definitively not strong since they hadn’t trained all their life to do it but, hey, they were many and sometimes battles could be won merely thanks to the sheer number of your soldiers. Also, they fought a lot among them so sometimes they could make up with experience they lack of training. Plus, as a bonus, if they were to win soldiers were allowed to sack the enemies and this meant MONEY and you know how Italy felt about money.
So Italy’s Lega Lombarda got his knights and, according to the legend, called the team of the best of them Compagnia della Morte (Company of Death) and let them go under the leadership of the legendary Alberto da Giussano.
Now… it seems that an Alberto de Gluxano existed (he’s mentioned in a document dated 1196)… but it’s actually unsure if he is the one who took formed the Compagnia della Morte or if there was another Alberto or even if there was an Alberto at all… but Alberto da Giussano is a cool name and someone should have lead them so let’s let this slide, okay?
Anyway, to be honest, the emperor already knew about the Italian way to get knights since when he previously fought Milan the Italian cities who sided him had to offer their knights (here HRE found out about it only now due to storytelling purposes) and knew that, since many cities were joined against him, this meant Italy could get many knights to place against him as well which is why he asked for reinforcements from Germany before attacking and, once he got them (few because guess what? The German nobles were again being rebellious) he tried to have them join his main army in Pavia as fast as he could.
Italy knew it would have been dangerous for him if this were to happen so he tried to stop the two armies before joining each other with some of the foot soldiers he had at Legnano.
Due to everyone rushing, the battle that took place near Legnano happened almost by coincidence, the soldiers of the two sides meeting each other all of sudden giving both sides little or no time to prepare themselves.
There are assorted versions about how things went but more or less this is what had happened…
That ‘thing’ Holy Roman Empire talks about is named ‘Carroccio’. It’s nothing more than a big chariot used to carry the injures, celebrate mass before the start of the battle, help the soldiers to orient themselves during the chaos of the battle and it was a good observation position from which the commanders could give orders to their troops, with, usually, the flag of the city who owned it. This time it was chosen it would wear a vexillum standard of Milan and the cross of the bishop Ariberto d’Intimiano (the legendary inventor of the Carroccio).
And, in this battle, it seems that the Carroccio was placed it in a large pit and the soldiers placed themselves around it. In short it meant when Holy Roman Empire’s troops would charge the Italian troops would have no way out to escape.
From that moment on Italy’s infantry could only fight till dead or till victory.
So? Will Holy Roman Empire win or will the Italic stubbornness prevail?
You’ll find out in the next part!
As sidenotes I’ll say the ancestor of Gelato (ice cream) didn’t really exist at the time in which Longobards and Franks fought against each other. However it seems back in Roman time there was something vaguely similar (made with snow from the Appennine, honey and fruit). Okay, it’s still rather anachronistic to have Roman and Feliciano eating an ice cream cone while watching the battle but it would have been even worse if they had been eating pop corn or potato chips… Besides the ancestor of ice cream along with the granite was invented by Arabs when they invaded Sicily and if you happen to go visit Sicily you can eat among the most delicious ice creams so I figured Romano would like my choice.
Even if Italy managed to get knights, since they usually didn’t become knights in the typical medieval way (nobles who spent a life training and studying the honour code and then a ceremony in which the king/emperor declared they were knights), they weren’t really appreciated by other countries and were judged weak and without honour.
To make things easier for me I draw only Veneziano around the Carroccio but actually all the soldiers were around it.
Translations
The translation used in the strips is the one that gives you the meaning of the sentences said. The direct translation is here:
Veh: Hetalia fans know this as Veneziano’s verbal tic but actually it has a meaning in some North Italian dialects. Basically it means ‘Look’, ‘Watch’, but it can be used to call someone, to make your point stronger, as an exclamation, as an interjection…
Translations from Palermitano language
Venezià? Mi pigghi p’o cul? ‘Veneziano? Are you taking me for my ass? (Veneziano? Are you making fun of me?)
Ciriveddu duru hai! ‘You have a hard head!’ (You’re being very stubborn!)
Venezià? Fottiti! ‘Veneziano? Fuck yourself!’ (Veneziano? Go to hell!)
Translations from Milanese language
Bauscia! ‘Bausch!’ (Boaster!)
Mi? Paga I tass a ti? ‘I? To pay the taxes to you?’
Ma va a ciapà i rat! ‘But go to catch the rats!’ (Forget it!)
Cagasott! ‘Shit under!’ (Coward!)
Don't grumble silently, please let me know what you're thinking of this!
Send me your comments!