Editing L'Aquila (section)

===Middle Ages===
The city's construction was begun by [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor]] and King of [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], out of several already existing villages (ninety-nine, according to local tradition; see [[Amiternum]]), as a bulwark against the power of the papacy. The name of Aquila means "Eagle" in Italian. Construction was completed in 1254 under Frederick's son, [[Conrad IV of Germany]]. The name was switched to Aquila degli Abruzzi in 1861, and L'Aquila in 1939. After the death of Conrad, the city was destroyed by his brother [[Manfred of Sicily|Manfred]] in 1259, but soon rebuilt by [[Charles I of Naples|Charles I of Anjou]], his successor as king of Sicily. The walls were completed in 1316.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Aquila (city)|display=Aquila|volume=2|page=249}}</ref>

It quickly became the second city of the [[Kingdom of Naples]]. It was an autonomous city, ruled by a [[diarchy]] composed of the City Council (which had varying names and composition over the centuries) and the King's Captain. It fell initially under the lordship of Niccolò dell'Isola, appointed by the people as the People's Knight, but he was then killed when he became a tyrant. Later, it fell under Pietro "Lalle" Camponeschi, Count of Montorio, who became the third side of a new triarchy, with the Council and the King's Captain. Camponeschi, who was also Great Chancellor of the kingdom of Naples, became too powerful, and was killed by order of Prince [[Louis, Prince of Taranto|Louis]] of [[Principality of Taranto|Taranto]]. His descendants fought with the Pretatti family for power for several generations, but never again attained the power of their ancestor. The last, and the one true "lord" of L'Aquila, was Ludovico Franchi, who challenged the power of the pope by giving refuge to [[Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara|Alfonso I d'Este]], former duke of [[Duchy of Ferrara|Ferrara]], and the children of [[Gian Paolo Baglioni|Giampaolo Baglioni]], deposed lord of [[Perugia]]. In the end, however, the Aquilans had him deposed and imprisoned by the [[List of monarchs of Naples|king of Naples]].

[[File:L'Aquila 2007 -Fontana della 99 Cannelle- by-RaBoe-065.jpg|thumb|left|Fountain of the 99 Spouts.]]

The power of L'Aquila was based on the close connection between the city and its mother-villages, which had established the city as a federation, each of them building a borough and considering it as a part of the mother-village. The Fountain of the 99 Spouts (''Fontana delle 99 Cannelle''), was given its name to celebrate the ancient origin of the town. The City Council was originally composed of the Mayors of the villages, and the city had no legal existence until King [[Charles II of Naples]] appointed a "Camerlengo", responsible for city tributes (previously paid separately by each of its mother-villages). Later, the Camerlengo also took political power, as President of the City Council.

From its beginnings the city constituted an important market for the surrounding countryside, which provided it with a regular supply of food: from the fertile valleys came the precious saffron; the surrounding mountain pastures provided summer grazing for numerous [[Transhumance|transhumant]] flocks of sheep, which in turn supplied abundant raw materials for export and, to a lesser extent, small local industries, which in time brought craftsmen and merchants from outside the area.

Within a few decades L'Aquila became a crossroads in communications between cities within and beyond the Kingdom, thanks to the so-called "via degli Abruzzi", which ran from [[Florence]] to Naples by way of [[Perugia]], Rieti, L'Aquila, Sulmona, Isernia, Venafro, Teano and [[Capua]].

[[File:SMariaCollemaggio.jpg|thumb|right|Church of [[Santa Maria di Collemaggio]].]]

Negotiations for the succession of Edmund, son of [[Henry III of England]], to the throne of the [[Kingdom of Sicily]] involved L'Aquila in the web of interests linking the [[Roman Curia]] to the [[Courts of England and Wales|English court]]. On 23 December 1256 [[Pope Alexander IV]] elevated the churches of Saints Massimo and Giorgio to the status of cathedrals as a reward to the citizens of L'Aquila for their opposition to King Manfred who, in July 1259, had the city razed to the ground in an attempt to destroy the negotiations. On 29 August 1294 the [[hermit]] Pietro del Morrone was consecrated as [[pope Celestine V]] in the church of [[Santa Maria di Collemaggio]], in commemoration of which the new pope decreed the annual religious rite of the Pardon (nowadays known as [[Celestinian Forgiveness]], ''Perdonanza Celestiniana''), still observed today in the city on 28 and 29 August: it is the immediate ancestor of the [[Jubilee (Christian)|Jubilee Year]].

The pontificate of Celestine V gave a new impulse to building development, as can be seen from the city statutes. In 1311, moreover, King [[Robert of Naples|Robert of Anjou]] granted privileges which had a decisive influence on the development of trade. These privileges protected all activities related to sheep-farming, exempting them from customs duties on imports and exports. This was the period in which merchants from [[Tuscany]] (Scale, Bonaccorsi) and Rieti purchased houses in the city. Hence the conditions for radical political renewal: in 1355 the trade guilds of leather-workers, metal-workers, merchants and learned men were brought into the government of the city, and these together with the Camerario and the Cinque constituted the new Camera Aquilana. Eleven years earlier, in 1344, the King had granted the city its own mint.

In the middle of the 14th century the city was struck by plague epidemics (1348, 1363) and earthquakes (1349). Reconstruction began soon, however. In the 14th–15th century Jewish families came to live in the city, while the generals of the [[Franciscan]] Order chose the city as the seat of the Order's general chapters (1376, 1408, 1411, 1450, 1452, 1495). [[Bernardino of Siena]], of the [[Franciscan]] order of the Observance, visited L'Aquila twice, the first time to preach in the presence of King [[René of Anjou|René of Naples]], and in 1444, on his second visit, he died in the city. In 1481 [[Adam of Rottweil]], a pupil and collaborator of [[Johannes Gutenberg|Johann Gutenberg]], obtained permission to establish a [[printing press]] in L'Aquila.

The Osservanti branch of the Franciscan order had a decisive influence on L'Aquila. As a result of initiatives by Friar [[John of Capistrano|Giovanni da Capistrano]] and Friar Giacomo della Marca, Lombard masters undertook, in the relatively underdeveloped north-east of the city, an imposing series of buildings centring on the hospital of Saint Salvatore (1446) and the convent and the [[Basilica of San Bernardino]]. The [[Construction|construction work]] was long and difficult, mainly because of the earthquake of 1461, which caused the buildings to collapse, and the translation of the body of San Bernardino did not take place until 14 May 1472. The whole city suffered serious damage on the occasion of the earthquake, and two years went by before repairs on the churches and convents began.

In a strategy finalised to increasing their political and economic autonomy, the Aquilani took a series of political gambles, siding sometimes with the Roman [[Pope|Papacy]], sometimes with the Kingdom of Naples. When the Pope excommunicated [[Joanna II of Naples|Joanna II]], Queen of Naples, appointing [[Louis III of Naples|Louis III of Anjou]] as heir to the crown in her stead, L'Aquila sided with the Angevines. Joanna hired the [[condottiero]] [[Braccio da Montone]]. In exchange for his services, Braccio obtained the lordship of Teramo, as well as the [[fief]]doms of Capua and Foggia: he started a [[War of L'Aquila|13-month-long siege]] of L'Aquila, that resisted bravely. Facing Braccio, at the head of the Angevin army was [[Muzio Attendolo Sforza]] and his son [[Francesco I Sforza|Francesco]]. The final clash between the two contenders was just below the walls of Aquila, near the hamlet today called Bazzano. In the battle fought on 2 June 1424, Braccio, mortally wounded in the neck, was made prisoner and transported to Aquila, where he died three days later, on 5 June 1424. The Pope had him buried in deconsecrated earth. The citizens of L'Aquila honoured the bravery of their enemy Braccio by dedicating one of the main streets of the city to his name.

[[File:LAquila1703.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|L'Aquila in 1703.]]