Barbarossa In Italy

"Barbarossa in Italy" presents a verse translation of the "Carmen de gestis Frederici I imperatoris in Lombardia." This Latin poem describes the conflict leading up to April of 1162 when Frederick I Hohenstaufen, the German emperor, destroyed Milan in an attempt to impose his rule on the emerging urban republics of northern Italy. The issues, personalities, and events that led up to this catastrophe are the subjects of this unfinished verse epic written by an anonymous citizen of Bergamo shortly…