Podestàs were first appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa about 1158 when he began to assert the rights that his Imperial position gave him over the cities of northern Italy. The business of the podestà was to enforce these rights. From the start, this was very unpopular, and their often arbitrary behaviour was a factor in bringing about the formation of the Lombard League and the uprising against Frederick in 1167.
Although the emperor's experiment was short-lived, the podestàs soon became important and common i ...
The concept of a local man empowered to represent the Emperor was also a feature of medieval Frisia. From apocryphal beginnings, important rights were granted or confirmed under the code of law known as the Lex Frisionum. According to later tradition, it was Charlemagne who granted the Frisians the title of freemen and permitted them to choose their own podestat or imperial governor from among the chieftains, to organize and lead the defense of two of the three districts of Frisia, in Middle Frisia, from the Flie to the Lauwers and in East Frisia from the Lauwers ...
