The War of the Bucket - OverSimplified

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[Fairy-tale sound effect]

[Cricket noises]

-[People cheering]
-[Celebratory music]

-[Canon shot]

To understand The War of the Bucket,
we first need to talk about this guy.

He's the man with the plan,
the host with the most.

He's holy, lowly, he eats ravioli.

With the white cassock,
matching pellegrina,

and the most tasteful
of fringed fascias.

Come on! Y'all know
who I'm talking about!

It's the pope,

the head of the largest religious
organization in the world.

But, what if I told you he wasn't
always the big bad boy powerhouse

he's often thought as today?

Throughout history, the papacy
often found itself forced

to wrestle against adversity and
opposition to retain its authority.

The earliest popes, for example,
suffered under the brutal persecution

of the Roman Empire.

And many ended up martyred,
such as Pope Clement I,

who was ostensibly thrown into the sea
with an anchor around his neck.

On the bright side, however,
he's now the patron saint

of fishing.

After persecution finally ended,

the pope still found himself
being heavily controlled

by secular kings and nobility.

For over two centuries,

the Byzantine emperors basically
decided who could become pope.

Then came a real low point

during what has been
called the Dark Age.

A period where noblewomen
controlled the pope through --

How should I put this? --

feminine charm.
[Whistling]

It was around here that one
infamous pope, John XII, took office.

This bad boy would hold --
How should I put this? --

naughty, no-clothes parties
in the Lateran Palace.

And apparently this would even happen.

[Dices clattering]
[Gasps]

[Gasps and whimpers]

[Gasps]

Pope John XII eventually
died exactly how he lived,

caught in the act by an irate husband
who picked the pope up,

and chucked him out the window.
[Explosion]

The point I'm trying
to make here is that, often,

the pope was a very weak
and corruptible figure,

and was regularly used and
controlled by secular leaders

as a tool to increase their
own power and influence.

And there was certainly
an element of that in the year 800

when the pope and the Kingdom
of the Franks were good BFFs

and the king of the Franks,
Charlemagne, was like:

Charlemagne's crowning as emperor
was certainly an historic moment,

but it also created a bit
of an interesting problem.

It set the precedent
that from here on out,

only the pope could crown an emperor,

but the pope was also very much under
the influence and control of Charlemagne.

So, who really held the power here?
The pope or the emperor?

I'm sure that this conflict
won't cause anyone --

to die!
[Epic brass sound]

[Italian folk music]

[Angry shouts]
[Food splatters]

Over time, Charlemagne's position
as emperor and the Kingdom of the Franks

gradually evolved into
the Holy Roman Empire.

And, by now, the pope and the emperor
weren't such good friends anymore,

since neither could agree on
who was the boss of who.

To make matters worse,

the emperor had taken to Investing
his own bishops and abbots.

What does that mean?
Well, allow me to explain.

The problem for the Holy Roman Emperor
was, his empire wasn't really an empire

so much as a nightmarish federation
made up of hundreds of counties,

duchies, bishoprics, and more.

The princes in charge
of these local regions

often didn't give
the emperor their loyalty.

The German nobility spent a lot of
their time rebelling against the emperor

and the emperor spent a lot of his time
trying to put down those rebellions.

And so it was.

The emperor invested
his own family and loyal followers

into powerful church positions,

And thereby was able to increase
his own power and authority.

Not only that, but the emperor and
other nobility were also engaging

in something called simony.

That's when someone
would come along and say:

[Thud]

That's right.

Church positions were actually
being sold to the highest bidder.

And let me tell you,
they probably didn't come cheap.

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Now, where were we?

Oh, yeah

Investing bishops and abbots,
selling church positions,

authority and power.

[Crowd cheerings]

-[People cheering]
-[Hymn]

Around the year 1050,

a series of reformist popes came along
and they said enough was enough.

They wanted to stop the emperor
from abusing the church

and investing his own church officials.

[Thud]

And just like that, the emperor was dead.

His six-year-old son, Henry IV, took over.

And, as we all know,
child emperors equal opportunity.

The church had an opening
to take back control of the papacy.

Then, with the position of
the pope a little more secure,

he held a big meeting where
he drew up a big list of

all the reforms and new powers
he was giving himself.

And it included some pretty gnarly stuff.

These were all some pretty radical
powers the pope was giving himself.

And with these reforms, the pope was
basically telling the emperor:

When the emperor, now
a full-grown man, heard the news,

he was furious.

The whole conflict escalated when
Henry IV went to the pope and said:

Eventually, the German princes
took advantage of the situation

and they all turned against Henry.

Henry was forced to apologize to the pope
and the whole thing ended there.

Except it Didn't.

The whole conflict, known today
as the investiture controversy,

would continue on for centuries

as popes and emperors
engaged in a power struggle

over the emperor choosing
his own church officials.

The overall result of this conflict is
very intricate and full of complexities.

But, in general, the Pope was able
to increase his authority

[Idolatrous ritual]
Oonca Oonca. Oonca Oonca.

As for the emperor, he found his realm
thrown into further chaos in civil war

as the local princes continued to increase
their own power and independence.

This was most notably
the case in Northern Italy.

Separated from the rest of
the Holy Roman Empire by the Alps,

the emperor's influence and control
over Italy had often been questionable.

In the current chaos,

these Italian city-states began operating
almost entirely independently.

Their practical independence
was further solidified

when emperor Frederick Barbarossa
came down in 1176

to try to reassert his control.

The cities formed an alliance
and with the pope's support

they kicked the emperor
right back to Germany.

'Hooray' said the Italian city-states.

And then they immediately
began attacking each other.

Why?

Well, this whole pope versus
emperor thing, in Italy at least,

had infiltrated society to it's very core.

Across Italy, families and cities were
torn between two opposing sides.

On one side, the Guelphs,
who supported the pope's cause.

On the other, the Ghibellines,
who supported the emperor.

These two sides struggled for control

as Guelph cities battled
against Ghibelline ones.

As usual, personal interest
played a pretty big role

as pro-pope Guelph cities tended
to be rich mercantile ones

who didn't like the emperor's taxes.

Emperor's supporting Ghibellines,
on the other hand, were often agricultural

where the expanding papal states
were a larger threat.

These cities would sometimes
even switch sides

depending who's in charge and
their ever-changing personal interests.

In some cities, brutal fighting
broke out in the streets

as opposing families fought for control.

At times, the conflict became so tribal

that the differences between
the two sides were just downright silly.

Two city-states in particular that
got caught in a long-standing rivalry

was the emperor supporting Modena

and the pope supporting,
bucket-loving Bologna.

These two cities had
bad blood between them

as they had already fought against
each other on a number of occasions.

In 1249, the two sides took part
in the battle of Fossalta

after which the victorious Bolognese
launched a live donkey into Modena

to humiliate them.

For decades after that, the two sides
would occasionally take little day trips

into each other's territory
and mess things about a bit.

In the fateful year of 1325,
the Bolognese went on one such trip

and laid waste to some farmlands.

The ruler of Modena,
Passerino dei Bonacolsi,

was having none of it.

The Bolognese had two major forts
protecting their city in the southwest.

So, Passerino, in retaliation,
decided to take an army down

and lay siege to one of them.

The Bolognese were pretty unhappy
to lose one of their main defensive forts,

but to make matters worse,
then this happened.

[Mob shouting]

The famous story you may know
about the War of the bucket,

that the war started because
Modena stole Bologna's bucket,

doesn't actually seem to be quite right.

I was surprised to find that the bucket
was likely not actually stolen

at the start of the war.

And at this point, I want to thank
and give a big shout out

to fellow History youtuber: M Laser.

He's the one guy I found who actually
translated a fantastic original Italian source

and then kindly allowed me
to use his work in my own research.

He does really well researched
and in-depth videos

and definitely deserves way more subscribers.
So, please head on over and check him out.

The real reason Bologna seems
to have declared war on Modena

is simply that they both hated each other,
supported opposing factions,

the pope had called on
Guelph cities to attack Passerino,

and Bologna wanted its fort back.

And they were gonna get it back.

Bologna had a large force, much larger
than what Modena could muster up.

So, they felt pretty confident.

They sent half their force
to lay siege and take back the fort

and the other half took
defensive positions

to prevent the Modenese
from crossing the river.

The smaller Modenese force were
struggling to find a place to cross.

So, one night they were like:

And just like that

the Modenese were across the river.

The Bolognese were probably expecting
the Modenese to come and break their siege,

but instead the Modenese went for
the second fort at Zappolino.

Bologna couldn't afford to lose
both of its defensive forts.

So, the entire Bolognese force moved
to take defensive positions at Zappolino.

When the Modenese arrived,
it was already late in the day

and there were about
two hours of sunlight left.

In most medieval battles, at this point,
both sides would set up a camp,

rest for the night, and prepare
for battle the next day

But the outnumbered Modenese
decided the only way to win

was to deal a quick decisive blow

while the Bolognese were still
unorganized and unprepared.

And that's exactly what they did.

They charged at the Bolognese line and
the two sides engaged in fierce combat.

Then, the sneaky Modenese pulled
what must be the most predictable,

yet, somehow, consistently surprising
move in medieval warfare.

They sent the cavalry around
the side and hit him from behind.

Bing! Bang! Bong!
The Bolognese went on the run.

With casualties in the thousands,
Modena had won

and the Modenese cavalry
chased the Bolognese cavalry

all the way back to the city.

After Modena's victory,

they went on a tour of
the Bolognese countryside

burning some stuff down
along the way.

When they reached the city itself,
instead of laying siege,

they set up a camp and basically
held a massive party for three days.

The defeated Bolognese could
only sit back and watch.

As the Modenese force began
packing up and getting ready to leave,

they noticed something.

So, Modena stole Bologna's bucket and
put it up on display in their cathedral,

eventually moving it to the city hall
where it remains on display to this day.

The two cities came to a peace
settlement a few months later.

Bologna would have to pay
heavy war reparations

and, in exchange, Modena would
return all conquered territories.

Modena kept the bucket.

Despite being one of the bloodiest
battles in medieval Italian history,

It didn't really change anything,

except now Modena had Bologna bucket.

As for the larger power struggle between
the pope and the Holy Roman emperor,

that would continue on for some time

and played a part in many major
events of medieval history

such as the Crusades,
the Protestant Reformation,

eventually leading to the general
separation of church and state

we see in Europe today.

So there you have it

We learnt about the pope and
the Holy Roman emperor,

the investiture controversy, --

♪[Outro Music]♪