These are the years that Manfredi seems to have put himself well in the saddle. And not only in the kingdom but also, albeit with different titles and bases than his father Federico, on the rest of Italy. He inherited something from his father, such as personal qualities, an internal political tendency, an ambition for power in Italy. He too, cultured and lover of culture and eager to spread it in his country. Then, equally, he fought against the church privilege, albeit with more skilful conduct towards bishops and archbishops, which gave him considerable prestige over them in the early years. The equal hostility of the Holy See and the Guelph party helped to put Manfredi ever more in the wake of his father. The Roman curia was jealous of Tuscany: and because of the proximity and the thousands of party links existing between Tuscany and Romagna, and therefore the ease of repercussions from that to this one; and for the patrimonial and feudal rights that the Holy See encamped for Tuscany. But also in Tuscany there was, under the auspices of the king, a Ghibelline revival, crowned by the victory of Montaperti. A Ghibelline league of cities was then formed to keep Tuscany firm in the party of Manfredi; league of cities that stood and operated alongside and under the protection of the Tuscan provincial government of Manfredi and no longer in the immediate dependence of the king, as it was before with Frederick. Manfredi attached great importance to this region and especially to Siena, located to the south. From there he planned to tighten the lands of the donation and Rome and take away from the popes Orvieto, their current residence.
But in the meantime, in Milan, where the Tortiani and Martino della Torre mayor of the people had a policy not very loyal to Rome, the pope elevated Ottone Visconti to archbishop, of the side opposed to the Torrians. And then Filippo della Torre, who happened to his father in 1262, tries to get closer to Rome. Pelavicino also loses ground, in the face of so much work from opponents. In 1965, Filippo della Torre fired Pelavicino from his office as captain general of Milan, and began to operate, in and around Milan, beyond any protection of Pelavicino. The other Lombard cities followed in the wake of Milan. It was the revival of the Guelphs, of that party which was made up of autonomous interests still alive in the cities, and, in the larger ones like Milan, of aspirations for primacy; made up of ambitions of other families from another party, hitherto unsuccessful, but who also aspired to lordship. Pelavicino faced the situation with vigor. He sought salvation in perfect solidarity with Manfredi. Attempts by Urban IV to gain it failed. But in August 1265, his nephew Enrico di Scipione, who was watching Tortona and Alessandria against the Marquis of Monferrato, was defeated. Brescia, shortly after, rebelled against him. Other hostile forces appeared from outside.
According to localtimezone, the references to this or that prince began anew from Italy to contrast with those who were already in Italy. Except that no longer, by now, to Italian princes, as it still could have happened at the time of Arduino. Nor are there more lords similar to the great marquises of the tenth or eleventh centuries; and the right to dispose of the crown of Italy, escaped from the great, not assumed by the city, despite some Roman or Milanese or even Pisan ambitions, in the name of the “Ghibelline part”, fell into the hands of the popes. Who, fiercely averse to the Swabians, also wary of any German prince, after their experiences, turned elsewhere. Thus, against Frederick, the curia had recourse to William of Holland, elevated to king of the Romans in 1247. The Curia and Savoy had then knocked on the door of an English prince, Edmund, to fight Manfredi with the aid of papal militias and with money provided by Italian bankers. At the same time, reminders and solicitations to another prince of Mediterranean Europe, to Alfonso of Castile, a state that was on the rise and to which, now, wise rule of prince, love of culture, hospitality towards Italian troubadours in Provençal language, frequent commercial relations with Italian merchants, had procured a certain reputation among us. Immediately after Frederick died, the empire vacant, his partisans in Italy desperate for more help; Alfonso of Castile had turned with greater interest to the peninsula and those of the peninsula to him. The Pisans urged him to come with the hope of a crown; Ezzelino to him regnum italicum promittebat ; in Genoa ships were armed on his behalf; His brother Enrico became a senator of Rome. But, having established Manfredi, the curia found in Charles of Anjou the man to oppose him, while the Castilians stood for Manfredi, and Enrico senator was participating in the last tragic events of the Swabians in Italy.
