Constitutio de feudis

The Constitutio de Feudis (or: Edictum de beneficiis regni Italici ) is a book authored by Emperor Conrad II in Cremona on May 28, 1037 document by which he decreed the heritability of the lower feudal kingdom in Italy.

Background was the second Italian campaign of the emperor. In Lombardy in particular were the Archbishop of Milan, Aribert, as well as a number of other high nobles, called Capitani, against Conrad. Here, Aribert made ​​especially resentment against Conrad's personnel policy advantage, which often began as German bishops in Lombardy. Counter Aribert and the Capitani again focused the vavasours, so the lower nobility, the allied himself to protect his interests with Konrad. They succeeded in the Campo mallo at Milan a win against Aribert. In this situation, Konrad appeared in Italy and held in Pavia a court day on which he could take Aribert in custody. But when this managed to escape, he was hailed as a national hero and Konrad looked for other means to combat his adversaries. To win the vavasours for himself, he proclaimed, therefore, the Constitutio de Feudis.

Then you should " not lose his vassal Lehn, except after a proper verdict of his peers. " Each fief, whether the high or low of a nobleman, was henceforth to be hereditary. This was so far conceded only the higher nobility in Kapitular of Quierzy, which had been adopted in 877 by the Emperor Charles the Bald.

Actually succeeded in this way to end the strife in Northern Italy first, so Conrad could move on to southern Italy. The long term, thus the conflict was not resolved to the imperial rule in Italy, which should be a persistent problem until well into modern times.