In 1027, Emperor Conrad II the Salic officially allowed the head of the church in Trento, who from this point on is known as the Bishop Prince, to issue laws, administrate justice and govern the territory in the same way that any secular leader would, as long as he was loyal to the emperor. In this way, Trento’s Bishop Prince became the secular leader of the whole region Trentino until the arrangement’s formal end in 1803. For religious matters such as the appointment of priests and the handling of the taxes received by the bishop, Levico and Selva were considered part of the eccestisiatical district of Feltre near Belluno.
The control of Levico and Selva with its castle, during that period, was probably taken away from the population and given to an ecclesiastical assistant who would have had the duty of managing minor law infringements, enforcing taxes and above all controlling the Valsugana valley’s military.
This was the structure of government that Castle Selva and all its community had for almost 800 years until the end of the princedom.
