Arengo

The Arengo was the name of the assembly that ruled San Marino from the fifth century C.E. to 1243. It was made up of the heads of San Marino's Great families and had no leader or fixed meeting place. This made San Marino almost unique in the period as a state that had no Head of State. However this form of rule was cumbersome and the Argeno was crippled by feuds between the Great Families. By the early 1200s the Argeno had become so dysfunctional that the citizens of San Marino decided to elect their own assembly, which they called the Grand and General Council. This assembly became very powerful, and by 1243 the Pope, who was the nominal ruler of San Mario, made the Grand and General Council the supreme body of San Marino.

Founding

After the death of the founders the community became for a small leaderless collection of monks based around the church of St. Agatha on the top of Monte Titano. However around a hundred years later when Rome looked close to collapse and the Goths were threatening Italy, eight neighbouring towns joined the 'land of San(saint) Marino(the founder)' seeking the saint's protection and blessing against the Goths. This laid the foundation for modern San Marino with its nine municipalities. With such a large expansion of population it became clear that San Marino could not remain without a central structure so the Argeno was formed; based on the original Roman Senate, it was made of the head of each of the Great Families.

Sources

*Oxford Great Lives, various, 2003, Oxford University Press
*Encyclopedia Britannica online edition, various,2008
*Oxford History of Italy, John Briscome, 1998, Oxford University Press
*The Catholic Encyclopedia, 2007, various, Jesuit Publishing
*The Oxford book of the Christian Church, Michael Thirstone, 1996, Oxford University Press