Legnano


Legnano

(lānyä`nō), city (1991 pop. 50,018), Lombardy, NW Italy, near Milan. Manufactures of this important industrial center include plastics, steel, machinery, and textiles. Near Legnano the Lombard LeagueLombard League,
an alliance formed in 1167 among the communes of Lombardy to resist Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I when he attempted to assert his imperial authority in Lombardy. Previously the communes had been divided, some favoring the emperor and others favoring the pope.
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 defeated (1176) Emperor Frederick I.

Legnano

 

a city in Italy approximately 30 km northwest of Milan.

On May 29,1176, near the city of Legnano a battle was fought between 12,000 militia troops of the union of northern Italian cities, strengthened by detachments of Italian knights (the Lombardy League), and 4,000 knights of the army of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, who was trying to capture northern Italy. The German knights, attempting to ride over the lines of the Italian infantry, were counterattacked by the infantry and the Italian knights. The German army was routed, and even the emperor himself was nearly captured, losing his banner and shield. The cities of Lombardy kept their independence under the Konstanz Treaty of 1183.