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Republic of Pisa
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Republic of Pisa

Repubblica di Pisa  (Italian)

11th century–1406

Flag
 Coat of arms

Motto: Urbis me dignum pisane noscite signum

Map of Pisa in the 11th century

Status Client state of the Duchy of Milan (1399–

1406)

Capital Pisa

Common language Tuscan, Latin, Italian
s

Government Oligarchic republic

Doge  

History  

• Established 11th century

• Disestablished 1406
 Kingdom of Italy Republic of
(Holy Roman Florence
Empire)
Principality
March of Tuscany of Piombino

Today part of  Italy

 France
 Spain

The Cathedral of Pisa was built during the Republic's heyday (11th and 12th centuries) and financed by the
spoils and loot from the Mahdia campaign of 1087

The territorial extent of the Republic of Pisa (12th century)

Relief of the seaport of Pisa on the Tower of Pisa

The Republic of Pisa (Italian: Repubblica di Pisa) was a de facto independent state

centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late 10th and 11th centuries. It rose to
become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center
whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being
 surpassed and superseded by the Republic of Genoa. The power of Pisa as a mighty
maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century when it
acquired traditional fame as one of the main historical Maritime Republics of Italy.

Contents

 1Rise to power

o 1.1Pisa and the Crusades

 2Decline

 3See also

 4Notes

 5References

 6External links

Rise to power[edit]
During the High Middle Ages the city grew into a very important commercial and naval
center and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded
its influence through the sack of Reggio di Calabria in the south of Italy in 1005. Pisa
was in continuous conflict with the Saracens for control of the Mediterranean. In alliance
with Genoa, Sardinia was captured in 1016 with the defeat of the Saracen
leader Mujāhid al-‘Āmirī (Latin: Mogehidus). This victory gave Pisa supremacy in
the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia,
a new conflict and rivalry was born between the two maritime republics. Between 1030
and 1035 Pisa went on to successfully defeat several rival towns in the Emirate of
Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052 Admiral Jacopo
Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, the
Pisans approached the Norman Roger I of Sicily, who was conducting a campaign to
conquer Sicily that would last over three decades, with the prospect of a joint attack
against Palermo. Roger declined due to other commitments. With no land support, the
Pisan attack against Palermo failed.
In 1060 Pisa engaged in its first battle against Genoa and the Pisan victory helped to
consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognized in 1077 the
new "laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and Holy Roman
Emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a
Council of Elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because at
the time the marquis of Tuscany (the nominal feudal sovereign of Pisa) had already
been excluded from power. Pisa sacked the Zirid city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years
later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castile force El Cid out
of Valencia. In 1092 Pope Urban II awarded Pisa supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia
and at the same time elevated the Diocese of Pisa to the rank of
metropolitan archdiocese.
Pisa and the Crusades[edit]

Dagobert sailing in a ship flying the cross of St George

A Pisan fleet of 120 ships participated in the First Crusade and the Pisans were
instrumental in the siege of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land the Pisan
ships did not miss the opportunity to sack several Byzantine islands. The Pisan
crusaders were led by their archbishop, Dagobert, the future Latin Patriarch of
Jerusalem.
Pisa and the other maritime republics took advantage of the crusade to establish trading
posts and colonies in the eastern coastal regions of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. In
particular the Pisans founded colonies in Antioch, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre and Latakia.
They also established other territorial possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, in
addition to smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria and of
course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted
them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities the Pisans were granted
privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to their defence in case of
attack. In the 12th century the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had
grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century Pisa was the most prominent
merchant and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, surpassing the Republic of
Venice itself.
In the Western Mediterranean, though Pope Gregory VII had granted suzerainty over
the Balearic Islands to Pisa in 1085,[1] and Pisan merchants were among the initiators of
the 1113–1115 Balearic Islands expedition, they were unsuccessful in permanently
dislodging the Muslim taifa there.
 

Pisan watchtower on Elba built by the Republic as a defence against Saracen pirates

 

The Pisa Griffin - a spoil from one of Pisa's many campaigns against Islamic strongholds
 

The Flag of Pisa (Pisan cross) flying on the Leaning Tower of Pisa (build 12th-14th century)

Decline[edit]
Pisa, as an international power, was destroyed forever by the crushing defeat of its navy
in the Battle of Meloria against Genoa in 1284. In this battle, most of the Pisan galleys
were destroyed and many of its mariners were taken prisoner. In 1290, an assault by
Genoese ships against the Porto Pisano sealed the fate of the independent Pisan state.
Between 1323 and 1326 Pisa was also driven out of Sardinia by the Crown of Aragon.
As part of Gabriele Maria Visconti's dominions after 1399, Pisa was then sold
to Florence in 1402. After a bloody and useless resistance, the municipality was at last
subjugated in 1406.

See also[edit]
 History of Pisa
 Maritime republics
 Notes[edit]
1. ^ Charles Julian Bishko (1975), "The Spanish and Portuguese Reconquest, 1095–1492", A
History of the Crusades, Vol. 3: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, ed. Harry W. Hazard
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press), 405.

References[edit]
 Norwich, John Julius. The Normans in the South 1016-1130. Longmans: London, 1967.

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Republic
of Pisa.

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List of historic states of Italy

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 Maritime republics

Categories: 

 Republic of Pisa
 History of Pisa
 Geography of Pisa
 Populated coastal places in the Republic of Pisa
 Gothic sites in Tuscany
 Romanesque architecture in Tuscany
 Maritime republics
 Former countries on the Italian Peninsula
 1406 disestablishments in Europe
 States and territories established in the 10th century
 Italian city-states
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