We're all in anticipation this Friday morning, waiting to hear how this war turned out.
Prof Morengay's grinning as he puts his map up on the overhead.
"What we have here is the continental situation between Italy and Germany during the Lombardia War as it came to be called. Both kingdoms were made up of disconnected power centers, making a swift conclusion quite difficult. You'll notice that Sicily is not on this map.
With claims on Lucca, Ferrara, and Mantua in hand, King Louis I declared war and battle was joined. After a series of initial promising victories, the Italians were dealt a terrible blow in Cremona and Bologna, as the bulk of the continental Italian forces were crushed by the German menace. Left with no choice but to call up the Sicilian reigments, Louis did so with a heavy heart and also requested aid of certain of his vassals, which they readily lent. These vassals were able to secure several important victories in German royal possessions, but the September 1094 Battle of Modena resulted in Louis's Sicilian regiments being crushed by Duke Magnus Billing of Saxony and Brunswick, an annihilation nearly as brutal as the whipping the Duke of Alsace gave Louis in the Battle of Cremona some months before.
Despite the difficulties, Louis managed to scrap together enough troops from his remaining vassals and the reserves from Siracusa to engage in another series of quick conquests of King Friedrich's personal domains. By late May 1095, most of the German king's lands were in Louis's hands and a valiant assault by the remnants of the Palermo regiment along with the Siracusa regiment freed Bologna and Modena. Sensing war weariness on his opponent's part and knowing that he would never be in a better position against the Germans, King Louis sent an envoy to Friedrich in Modena offering peace in exchange for Lucca, Ferrara, and Mantua. Friedrich, wishing to hurry back to his capital province that was under siege and deal with other wars, quickly agreed.
And so in one sense, the Lombardia War was a success. The Kingdom of Italy gained three very valuable new territories in their quest to consolidate their northern Italian core. But the treasure was over 1,600 florins in debt, which at that time was a monstrous sum, in the several hundred millions, possibly even single billions by today's standards. The rest of Europe also looked down on Louis for grabbing those domains when they felt he didn't really deserve them. The war also failed in its original intent, to save the Duchess of Lombardia, who died without heir before the war ended. What will be important to remember later on, however, is that King Friedrich of Germany did not keep the land when it reverted to him. Instead, he named a new Duke of Lombardia and Count of Grisons.
Of course, despite the fact that there was a massive war debt, it must be remembered that the Kingdom of Italy was, in fact, extremely wealthy, so that by early fall 1096, roughly half of the debt was paid and another year or two would be sufficient to bring the kingdom back to solvency, provided no other conflicts broke out. Louis's reputation was also on the mend. While still regarded with some suspicion by his fellow monarchs, their trust was gradually coming back.
Two other important things happened that autumn. First, King Louis, who'd done so much for his family and had made the kingdom of Italy what it was, fell ill. Second, he discovered the territory he wanted to conquer next and resolved that when both he and the treasury recovered, he would go to war to get that piece of land.
But that... will come Monday! Have a good weekend!"
As I walk out of the room, I glance at Melody's empty seat. Guess she was telling the truth about being sick.