state of that land (statum terre) for the better.^68 Both Conrad III and
Frederick I made gifts to churches ‘in the confidence that following the
examples of earlier kings and emperors would profit us and the state of
our realm’ and bring ‘firm stability to the kingdom and lasting salvation
to the souls of us and our kindred’.^69 In his diplomas for churches
Frederick Barbarossa talked of ‘the state and necessities of the common-
wealth (res publica)’ as well as of the safety of the country (salus patrie)
and the dignity of the Roman Empire: for instance, when he placed the
abbot of Borgo San Sepolcro under his protection, regulated the con-
struction of dams on the Rhine at the petition of the bishop of Utrecht
and the counts of Holland, Guelders, and Cleves, granted freedoms to
the church and city of Aachen in imitation of Charles the Great, and for
the benefit of his Italian subjects confirmed from a reading of the annals
of his predecessors that the bones of St. Bartholomew had been trans-
lated from Benevento to Rome by Otto II.^70
The diplomas were seen to preserve the status imperiiby protecting
the individuals and corporations within it in their legal status. The skill
of an emperor was so ‘to care for the commonwealth and look out for
the needs of his subjects that the interests of the kingdom remained
undamaged and the status of individuals [status singulorum] preserved
unharmed’, proclaimed Frederick in an edict of 1154 forbidding the
alienation of fiefs without the overlords’ permission.^71 The clergy and
vassals of the church of Cambrai were told that he was sending an
abbot, a dean, and a chaplain to them to oversee the election of a new
bishop, since the Roman emperors worked to preserve from harm their
people utriusque status—both clerical and lay.^72
It was in order to preserve ‘the most glorious state of the empire’ that
two of Frederick’s ministers were dispatched on a mission to Hungary,
which kingdom was ‘not in the state it should be’ after the usurpation
of its throne. Foremost in an emperor’s concern for the state of a
commonwealth were often the fortunes of the communities of towns-
men. Finding himself in conflict with a league of north Italian cities,
Frederick bought support with privileges. Imola and all its inhabitants
German Landfrieden 89(^68) Conradi III [etc.] Diplomata, 128. 35 , 213. 20 , 395. 8 , 408. 26 , 459.32.
(^69) Fichtenau, Arenga, 75, 117; Conradi III [etc.] Diplomata, 151.21, and cf. 50.1; 51.36;
- 14 ; 250. 26 , 348. 10 ; Friderici I Diplomata, 1158–1167, 263. 15 , 285. 10 ;Friderici I
Diplomata 1181–1190, ed. H. Appelt, MGH Diplomata RIG 10, part iv (1990), 129. 16 , - 6 , 199. 35 etc.
(^70) Friderici I Diplomata, 1158–1167, 35. 10 , 290. 20 (Borgo San Sepolcro), 401. 3 , 408,
- 32 (dams on the Rine), 432. 28 (Aachen), 479. 3 (St. Bartholomew’s bones), 487; Friderici
I Diplomata 1168–1180, ed. H. Appelt, MGH Diplomata RIG 10, part iii (Hanover, 1985),
(^71) Constitutiones 911–1197, 207; for diplomas: Conradi III [etc.] Diplomata, 55, 128, 216,
515; Friderici I Diplomata, 1152–1158, 151–3, 1158–1167, 35.
(^72) Friderici I Diplomata, 1158–1167, 487. 2.