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In Umbria, the peoples of the
hill-towns lived in a chronic state of mutual enmity; they were in self-imposed isolation,
'foreigners' to each other though living only a few miles apart.
Before the end
of the tenth century Perugia had been divided into wards known then as Porte, now
as Rioni; there were five of them radiating from the central square, each having
its own gate. |
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| This dividing up of the city was
designed primarily to facilitate the organizing of able-bodied men as soldiers and the
handling of them in time of war. Its revival in the Middle Ages had great
significance, for it was associated with the organization of the Italian Comune,
a form of civic constitution which demanded freedom from external control:
self-government. Through their elected representatives the citizens managed all their
own affairs, internal as well as such external matters as warfare and contract-making. |
| Originating in the tenth century in
spite of the perpetual turmoil and the legacy of destruction and impediments left by the
centuries immediately preceding, the Comune continued in steady development during
the eleventh century : the triumph of city-government by the city-people. |
| From 1162 onwards the Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa devastated Italy throughout its length and breadth. Perugia
escaped damage. It is reported that the Emperor appointed as his representative in the
city a cousin of his, Oddo Ludivico Baglioni. In the train of the Emperor
came the families of the Ermanni, the Ranieri and the Degli Oddi. This group of German
nobles was destined to become the bloodthirsty aristocracy of Perugia in the
centuries near at hand. |
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