The Ideal Of Freedom Over Time

The ideal of freedom over time

The mid -twelfth century, Deporto de Fresigna acknowledged that in northern Italy a new and surprising form of social and political organization had emerged. It was discovered that practically the whole earth is divided between cities and that every man in all recognizes the authority of his city. Freedom created independent republics, governed every will of the consuls, before the rulers. Thus appeared, an official named "El Podestá" known as well because he was invested with the supreme power. The "Podestá" was normally a citizen of another city, who was destined to ensure that no local link or loyalty will hinder his impartial administration of justice. He was elected by popular mandate, and generally ruled advised by two main councils, the greatest of which could have up to six hundred members, while the internal or secret council was normally reduced to forty outstanding citizens. The podestá enjoyed vast powers, because it was expected that it was acting as a supreme judicial officer, as well as administrator of the city. Thus, de facto independence appeared (in fact), however, they remained, from Iure (by law), vassals of the Holy Roman Empire.

At the beginning of the 10th century, the Empire of Carlo Magno had united Germany and northern posterior Italy, Federico BarbarrojTrue situation of the Regnum (Kingdom) of Italy. One, the fact that cities began to shake the emperor’s authority and the other, if the emperor managed to subjugate the entire northern Italy, this would make him the master.

The first two expeditions of Federico Barbarroja virtually managed to dominate the entire Lombardy. Began by attacking the allies of Milan. However, this same triumph served to unite the cities against him. Milan took the initiative in 1167, forming a Lombard League to oppose its demands. When Barbarroja returned to reimpose their authority, the United forces of the League, helped by good fortune, managed to advise an absolutely decisive defeat to the imperial armies in Legnano. The next emperor who tried to carry out the idea of the Holy Roman Empire to reimpose his domain to Regnum Italicum, was Federico II, who took Vicenza in 1236, which caused the surrender of Ferrara. In 1248, the emperor lost in the taking of Vittoria;In 1249, his son was taken prisoner, when the forces of the league recovered Modena;And at the end of the following year Federico himself died. Subsequently, Enrique de Luxembourg, who arrived in Italy in 1310, became crowned potatoes in 1312 in Rome. His triumph moved his enemies to join, headed by Florence. The results were disastrous for the imperial cause.In the end the emperor died and it was already clear that Italy would never become an imperial regime.

The cities sought to build ideological weapons with which they tried to legitimate this continued resistance to their sovereign nominal. The responses to their demands consisted of the statement that he had the right to conserve his "freedom" against any external intervention. However, cities never managed to articulate their concept of "freedom" against the Empire. Thus, "Libertas" and "Libertá" were used as technical terms of Florentine politics and diplomacy. Since Freedom wanted to say, his independence from the emperor. A great reorientation figure was Bartolo de Sassoferrato, clearly expressed the intention of reinterpreting the Roman Civil Code. It gave way to a plurality of sovereign political authorities, separate and independent of the empire. Abandoned the cardinal assumption of glossators in the sense that, when the law does not seem to be in harmony with legal facts, the facts must be adapted until a literal interpretation of the law can be given. So, when the law and facts collide, it is the law that must enter into accordance with the facts. Bartolo begins his comment from the code recognizing that, from Iure, the emperor is the only Dominus Mundo.

Technically, the Empire constitutes the only jurisdictional unit in Europe, not being the independent kingdoms rather than imperial provinces, or civitates are equivalent to Roman imperial cities. The emperor can pretend to be from Iure, the only sovereign in the world, but there are many de facto peoples that do not obey him. As soon as Bartolo combines this with the observation that Italian cities contain “free peoples” that are in fact capable of making laws and statutes Em any form that chooses it. Open an entirely new perspective about the traditional Merum Imperium analysis. The law must accommodate the facts. It concludes that, in the case of the cities of the current Italy, which do not recognize any superior, they constitute a free people that therefore have Merum Imperium ”

Having reached this conclusion, allowed Bartolo, trained him to place on the proper legal foundations both the claims of his freedom. Bartolo showed his concept of Sibi Princes, to vindicate the idea that cities possessed freedom in the sense of being free from any legal intervention. However, such delegation is not possible in "cities that recognize a superior" because "they are obliged to refer to the emperor". Thus, the traditional hierarchy of appeals begins to outline, of judges lower than superiors who, supposedly, culminates in the supreme figure of the princeps or emperor. The judge, in this case, the people themselves must act as a judge of appeals.

On the other hand, the main ally of Italian cities had been the papacy. The alliance was forged by Pope Alejandro III, after Barbarroja had refused to recognize his rise to the throne, papal in 1159. Gregorio IX concluded an anti -imperial treaty with Genoa and Venice in 1238, and the following year he excommunicated the emperor and formally renewed his links with the Lombard League, it was at this point when the term "Güelfo" was used for the first time in the Tuscany fordenote those who were in alliance with the Pope. There was a danger, that the potatoes began to aspire to the Regnum Italicum. Then a succession of potatoes-jurists continued who continued to refine and extend the legal basis of papal law to exercise its fullness of temporal power, as well as spiritual. Then, the ultimate power of the temporal sword, as well as the spiritual, must be in the hands of the Vicar of Christ, since, the spiritual power has the authority to institute an earthly power and to judge it in case it did not act in a wayappropriate.

The Florentino writer, who offered all his support to the Emperor, was Dante in his “monarchy” treaty between 1309 and 1313. Taking into account that there is no peace or tranquility in Italy at that time due to the rejection of the legitimacy of the empire and the false belief that the "empire authority depends on the authority of the Church". His writing about the monarchy, it was important, asks to make total confidence in the figure of the emperor as the only unifying force capable of overcoming the features of Italy, and giving it peace. Dante explicitly repudiates the orthodox assumption that there is a single "final goal" for humanity, eternal beatitude, and therefore that, correspondingly, it must see a single sovereignty in Christian society, namely, of the Church. On the other hand, he insists that there must be last last, two final objectives for man. One, salvation and happiness in current life. Dante’s proposal could hardly seem like a very tempting solution to his difficulties.

However, a form of political argument was needed capable of linking his freedom against the Church without having to give it to anyone else. The key contribution was that of Marsilio de Padua, consisted of the claim that the sovereigns of the Church have misunderstood the nature of the Church by assuming that it is the type of institution capable of exercising some legal, or political form. It begins by isolating five main aspects of the full papal power: the claim to give "definitions of meaning", convene councils, excommunicate or call into question any "ruler, prince or country" and make decisions of the defining characteristics of the Catholic faith of the Catholic faith. He concludes that the Church founded by Christ cannot be considered, at all, as a jurisdictional body. Thus, the vital contribution that can be made to the ideology of the Republic cities consists in vindicating its total independence of the Church and thus.