Abstract
The events that led the two Lombard bishops to boycott the provincial council of Aquileia
(18-19 dicembre 1282) were intertwined with the auctoritas of the patriarch and with the
political events that shook northern Italy: the taxation and the requisition of the estates of
the Church by the municipalities, and the birth of the signoriae. Patriarchal auctoritas towards
his suffragans was in theory intrinsic to his office but in practice depended on a number
of contingent variables, including the origin of the prelate and the politico-institutional,
diplomatic, social, and economic conjunctures. Taking into consideration all these variables,
it is possible to understand the auctoritas of Patriarch Raimondo della Torre and the
absence of the minority of the Lombard bishops at the provincial council of Aquileia
(1282).