Piana di Roncaglia. A great assembly is convened, with all the plenipotentiaries of the Kingdom, clergy, nobles, and representatives of the cities of the Kingdom of Italy, part of the Holy Roman Empire. Four legal experts from the newly founded University of Bologna are also present. Frederick here essentially orders the dissolution of the Kingdom of Italy into the much larger Holy Roman Empire, and to rule Italy as emperor, not king. He had never attempted anything similar with the Teutonic kingdoms. The complex and socially open world of Northern Italy is replaced with a highly hierarchical one. But this is not a situation destined to last…
