Siege of Viterbo 1243
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1243 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Guelphs and Ghibellines | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Guelphs, Holy Roman Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 42.4186, 12.1042 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Viterbo was a military engagement fought in 1243 between forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the predominantly Guelph government of Viterbo, supported by the Papal States. The crisis began on 8 September when a revolt organised with the assistance of Cardinal Ranieri Capocci overthrew the city's pro-imperial government and confined an imperial garrison under Simone da Chieti in the fortified quarter of San Lorenzo. Frederick regarded Viterbo, approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Rome, as a strategically important base for imperial power in central Italy and personally led an army to recover it.
After several weeks of fighting, including two major imperial assaults, the Viterbese successfully defended their field fortifications. A large attack on 10 November was defeated by a counterattack which destroyed much of Frederick's siege equipment and forced him to abandon the operation. The imperial garrison subsequently evacuated the city under a negotiated agreement, leaving Viterbo under papal and Guelph control.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Viterbo (revision 1378354215), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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