Carroccio

A carroccio (Italian pronunciation: [karˈrɔttʃo]; Lombard: carrocc) was a large four-wheeled wagon bearing the city signs around which the militia of the medieval communes gathered and fought.

[2] Defended by selected troops, paved with the colors of the municipality,[3] it was generally pulled by oxen and carried an altar, a bell (called martinella), the heraldic signs of the city and a mast surmounted by a Christian cross.

[12] The first document cited contains information on the need to make an iron shield to be placed in the choir of the church, which was located near the carroccio, with the lighting of a votive fire fed by a pound of oil.

[13] The carroccio was the protagonist in the battle of Legnano on 29 May 1176, during which it was defended, according to legend, by the Company of Death led by Alberto da Giussano, a fictional character who actually appeared only in literary works of the following century.

According to the legend, during the fight, three doves, out of the burials of the saints Sisinnio, Martirio and Alessandro at the basilica of San Simpliciano in Milan,[14] rested on the carroccio causing the flight of Frederick Barbarossa.

[15] Instead, according to the real historical facts, the municipal infantry arranged a decisive resistance around the carroccio which allowed the remaining part of the Lombard League army led by Guido da Landriano,[16] to arrive from Milan and defeat Frederick Barbarossa in the famous clash of Legnano.

One of the chronicles of the clash, the Cologne Annals, contain important information:[17] The Lombards, ready to win or die on the field, placed their army inside a large pit, so that when the battle was in full swing, no one could escape.

[16] This decision later proved to be strategically incorrect, given that Frederick Barbarossa came instead from Borsano, or from the opposite side, which forced the municipal troops to resist around the carroccio with the escape road blocked by the Olona.

When war was regarded as likely, the "martinell" was attached to the door of the Church of Santa Maria in the Mercato Nuovo in Florence and rung to warn both citizens and enemies.

Wrapped in scarlet cloth and drawn by three yoke of oxen that were caparisoned in the white with the red crosses of Saint George, the city's patron, it carried a crucifix so massive it took four men to put it in place, like a ship's mast.

When larger and more manoeuvrable armies began to appear, the municipal infantry were replaced by soldiers of "ventura", who, being mercenaries, lacked emotional ties and belonging to the city.

[13] The Lombard Lega infantry, during the battle of Legnano, managed to resist the various attacks perpetrated by the imperial cavalry due to the tactics of the latter, which foresaw assaults on small disorganized groups.

[22] Only after the clash of Legnano did the cavalry begin to change strategy, attacking the infantry in defence of the carroccio in conspicuous organized forces, thus succeeding in breaking its resistance.

Alessandro Visconti, in a book from 1945, referring to the chronicler Arnulf of Milan, reports this description: The sign that was to precede the fighters was like this: a tall antenna, like a ship's mast, planted in a sturdy wagon rose up high, bringing to the top a golden knob with two flaps of white hanging linen.

In the midst of that antenna the venerable Cross was fixed with the image of the Redeemer painted with open arms facing the surrounding ranks, because whatever the event of the war, looking at that sign, the soldiers comforted it…[c]Two depictions of the carroccio in the Middle Ages reached the 21st-century ichnographically.

From the description, made by Salimbene di Adam, of the dismantling of the one captured by the Parmesans to the Cremonese during the Battle of Parma in 1248, it can be deduced that there were five parts of the carroccio: four wheels, a platform, the flagpole, the flag and various decorations.

In the Chigi codex, the Florentine carroccio presents two flagpoles and the flag, which very often was not fixed to a sidebar, was in precious fabric usually divided into two halved colours, or it was decorated with a cross motif.

[27] In addition to checking the functionality of the wagon, the specialis magister participated in the war actions in which the carroccio was involved by dressing armor and carrying a sword.

[32] Giacomo da Lentini, an imperial official of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, dealt with the carroccio in the song Ben m'è venuto, which is a poetic piece of love inspired by the poems of the troubadours and probably composed before the battle of Cortenuova (between 1233 and 1237).