The House of Balbo Bertone is a Piedmontese family that held a preeminent position in the politics of medieval and early Renaissance Chieri, a Piedmontese city republic within the Holy Roman Empire, which starting from the late eleventh century struggled for independence from its Imperial liege overlords: at various times the Bishops of Turin, the Counts of Biandrate, and the Marquis of Montferrat. As the city grew in power and prosperity, it became with its sister Republic of Asti an important centre of commerce on the trade route from Genova and Italy to France, up until the 15th century. It was then incorporated completely into the County of Savoy and lost its independence.
From that time on, some Balbo Bertone members participated in the political and military life of Piedmont as part of the County of Savoy, which would evolve into a Duchy, a small Kingdom and eventually the Kingdom of Italy.
Theories of origin It is speculated by the authors of the known histories of Chieri and of the family that the Balbo family, whose earliest documented member is known to have lived in the 11th century, were of Roman origin. There is no direct proof linking the medieval family to Roman times, however there are several known Romans who carried the same name and it can broadly be said that a gens Balbi existed, started with Lucius Cornelius Balbus in 72 B.C.
A close friend and advisor of Julius Caesar and of the first Emperor, Augustus, Balbus was a military officer, politician and financier born in Gabes, of Carthaginian origins and Phoenician name. He served as Consul with Crassus in 40 B.C. He was naturalized as a Roman citizen by Pompey in 72 B.C. by Pompey using the Lex Gellia Cornelia for his services to the Roman Republic. He was accused of forging his i and was notoriously defended by Cicero in his oration of 57 B.C.
Marguerite de Lussan, author of a biography of Ludovico Balbo Bertone di Crillon published in 1781, suggests in an appendix to the book title Historie de la Maison de Balbe de Quiers that at the fall of the Roman Empire many Roman families found refuge in the smaller cities of Cisalpine Gaul and other parts of Italy, and the a descendant of the gens Balbi, accordingly settled in Chieri at the end of the sixth century and gave the city its republican form of government.
Luigi Cibrario, author of the "Histories of Chieri", also suggests that they were of Roman origin, rather than of Gothic, Longobardic or Frankish origin, as was the case for many of the prominent Italian families of the Middle Ages. This, he argues, is suggested by their family name but corroborated by the fact that their power did not stem from the number of castles and armies commanded around the lands of Chieri, but by their centuries long civic service to its republic.
Although there is no actual evidence that a member of the gens Balbi relocated to Chieri, if this were the case, the oligarchic positions that we know the Balbi held in the Middle Ages might be the result of hereditary transmission of offices of local government which would have been of bureaucratic and elective nature during the Roman Empire. This would make them and the city of Chieri as well, an example of how Roman customs, administrations and law continued to be relevant and exercised at a local level from the end of the Roman Empire into the medieval period, a phenomenon that we know was most common in Roman Gaul and Hispania, and which is likely to have been the case for areas of Cisalpine Gaul as well, where Chieri is located.
Indeed, the city of Chieri, but also the neighbor cities of Asti and Testona and likely many others in northern Italy were governed in the Middle Ages as republics with at the head consuls, elected among its most prominent citizens. Like other urban areas of the time in the Italian peninsula which ruled as small city states, Chieri's self rule was possible because of the extremely loose and decentralized feudal administration of the Holy Roman Empire of northern Italy, increasingly prosperous and geographically isolated from the throne.
Medieval history
The two families formally split from the original House of the Balbus, with a treaty signed in 1220 by members of the family agreeing that the name would be passed by primogeniture, while the others would be distinguished by denominations of Bertoni, Porri, Simeoni and Signorini, first names that were to become family names for the different branches. This process, common at the time in this region, was to be very important in the development of the history of Chieri as it laid the basis for the formation of their Albergo, a sort of syndication of powerful families into formal factions, vying for control of power. Of the various branches, of which thirty are said to exist in 1271, that of Balbo was considered the first, the Bertone branch was second, and the Simeone branch was third.
Members of the family are known to have occupied consulship and other elective political positions in the life of the republic of Chieri. The command of the armed forces of the Republic of Chieri was shared among four ministers, one of which was traditionally a member of the Balbo family and the holder of the official seal of war.
In 1155 the Emperor Barbarossa, following the Diet of Roncaglia, laid waste to the city of Chieri to re-establish the claims of the marquis of Montferrat over the independent city. The city's fortifications were ruined, including the towers of the Balbi.
At the battle of Legnano, the Balbi fought on the Guelph side and distinguished themselves. They were received in Chieri as liberators.
In 1179, in submission to the wishes of the Bishop of Turin, a truce was signed between Chieri and Testona, a neighbouring city which stood on the Po river, near Turin. Testona was situated on the main road which connected Asti and Genova to Turin, and to the French lands beyond. Located by a bridge crossing the vast river, it effectively controlled a major merchant route of the day. The truce was signed on the 24 July 1174 by Ardizzone di Revigliasco, podesta' of Chieri, and Vercello Gandolfo, podesta' of Testona. In the document are mentioned - as defenders of the public interest and first among the citizens of the council in light of their civic service over the centuries - Berardo Balbo, Guido Bertone and Simeone Balbo, who promised to keep intact the arrangement between the two cities and to protect Chieri from the Marquess of Monteferrat and other enemies.
The 1179 act is cited by Marguerite de Lussan as one of the main evidences of their presence in Chieri in the past centuries and of the hereditary nature of their positions at the head of the city council. She quotes the latin script "" in regards to those rights, and argues that this locates them at the head of the Cherese Republic since at least the ninth century. This is close to the sixth century when it is said Balbus gave Chieri its republican form of government.
In 1184, the republic of Chieri sent Ulrico Tana, Pier di Gribaldo, Uberto di Donna Bencia, Bongiovanni Balbo and Ado Balbo to negotiate with Milone di Cardano, Bishop of Turin. The bishop was particularly offended by the growing disregard of the city towards his authority, the continued expansions of the city's fortifications and of its land acquisitions. The bishop admonished them to leave the lands near Santena, which were by right assigned to the Order of Saint Salvatore; to not elect their own podesta' (mayor); not to build any further fortifications in the city; and to provide military service twice a year for ten days in a ten miles radius around Turin.
In 1191, with the Bishop replaced by Arduino of Valperga, the city grew bolder and some of its citizen (of the Benso and Mercadilli families) purchased the castle and lands of Santena, while the city's consuls, Guglielmo and Signorino, paid the imperial tax (fodro) directly to the Imperial legate Tommaso di Nono, a powerful symbol of its growing independence from its ecclesiastical liege lord.
Heavily involved in the government of the city, as the other oligarchic families such as the Bensi, Gribaldi, Albuzzani, Mercadilli and Pillolj, the Balbi were at the head of an Albergo, an organization typical in Piedmont and Liguria which would have prominent families band together and maintain a common building and arms. They would pledge to defend and advance their political and business interests as well as avenge offences received.
In 1220, the Balbi, and the related families of the Bertoni, Porri, Simeoni and Signorini (descending from members of the Balbi with these first names), all belonging to the same Albergo, decided to build a house for their common defense with a fortified tower and formed what would become known as the Societa' de Militi. Their opposing party was the Societa' di San Giorgio, founded in 1228, which could be openly joined by members of different social levels, and which was formed to oppose the advance of aristocratic government in Chieri and, in particular, to avenge the actions of the Balbi, as frequently mentioned in their statuti. A decree of the Comune of Chieri from 1280 prohibited any members of the Balbo family from joining the society of San Giorgio.
Another Albergo which was hostile to the Balbi was that of the Gribaldi, to which the notable Broglio family belonged, from which the French House of Broglie descends.
Between 1270 and 1274, violent private disputes between the Balbi and the Englesii took place. In the official document of the truce between the two factions, dated 31 May 1271, and drawn up in Latin by the notary Arrigo Scutino, 79 members of the Albergo de Balbi are mentioned: 17 of the actual Balbo family, as well as 7 Simeoni and 12 Bertoni (whose Latin name is reported as Bretonus, possibly indicating a northern origin for this family).
In 1191, the successor Bishop Arduino di Valperga allowed the consuls of the republic of Chieri, Gugliemo Balbo and Signorino Balbo, to pay the imperial taxes (fodro) directly to the Emperor's emissary Tommasi di Nono, tacitly confirming the independence of the city from both the Bishop and the Counts of Biandrate.
In part as a measure to put an end to such struggles in the Republic, on 26 March 1311 Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor issued a decree to reform the Statuti of Chieri, the documents comprising the rights and laws of the city, which were redacted in 332 chapters. Among the authors of the newly compiled Statuti, Raimondo Balbo is mentioned, along with Ugolino di Vichio da Firenze (the vicar left in Chieri by the Emperor), Milone di Pasquerio, Filippo di Sibone, Corrado di Pullolio, Bertolotto Gribaudo, and Facino Merlone.
Despite such reforms, conflict between the two factions continued. In the statuti of the societa' di San Giorgio is mentioned the revenge for an attack of 1326 on Tommasino Tana from Pagano Balbo, the wounding of one Frexiis, by Melano Simeoni de Balbi in 1335, the wounding of a Bezomi in 1336 by Uberto de Balbi, and of Pietro Vandono in 1339 by the Lanfranchi and the Signorini de Balbi of Paverolo, and in 1340 of the death Nicolino di Tondonico.