which countered the strength of the imperial armies with the force and enthusiasm of the civic militias. The treaty of Constance of 1183, by which the emperor recognized the right of the towns to belong to the Lombard League, marked a realization by the imperial power that the freedom of political action of the cities had to be accepted to some degree, though it did not prevent continued imperial interference in their affairs. Similarly, Pope Adrian IV chose to favour the town of Orvieto in 1157 by accepting the oath of fealty proffered by its consuls and whilst thus accepting the existence of the commune, used the city to police its region of the papal states.

By the end of the twelfth century, however, the problems of communal government had become only too clear. The need for decisive leadership on a military campaign, or at a time of danger to the commune had often, in the past, led to the appointment of a consul for one occasion. But as the problems of factionalism increased in the twelfth century, recourse was made to the figure of the podestà, sometimes an imperial representative, but often an outsider called in for a limited time. In Viterbo, a similar figure, the rector, appeared in 1170; by 1171 one could be found in Orvieto and by 1174 in Perugia. Whilst these men were often appointed by the forces of the commune to preserve its independence, there were dangers inherent in their position. They could show favour towards particular factions within the city; and more serious was the possibility that the podestà would seize power for himself. The seeds of the despotic government common in many Italian cities in the later Middle Ages were already sown by 1200 and reflected the difficulty of reconciling the various group interests present within the governing élites of the cities.

The Fall of the God-guarded City

The role of the Italian cities in the diversion of the Fourth Crusade to an attack on Constantinople rather than the Holy Land has been much debated. Certainly, the lucrative trading they enjoyed in the Byzantine capital encouraged a growth in Italian settlement there in the twelfth century and led to

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