The Florentine banking family of the Cerchi , minor nobles of the Valdarno , with a seat especially at Acone near Pontassieve , settled in Florence in the early thirteenth century and increased their fortunes. The family became the heads of a consortium of the prominent Guelfs that securely controlled Florence after the battle of Benevento in 1266. In Florence, the Cerchi purchased some of the ancient structures in the closely packed inner city formerly belonging to the counts Guidi, cheek-by-jowl with the proud Florentine family of the Donati , with whom their growing mutual antagonism was expressed in violent episodes that polarized Florence within a couple of decades in a virtual civil war that aligned behind two captains, Corso Donati of the Neri Guelf faction— the "Black" Guelfs of the old noble oligarchy— and Vieri de' Cerchi of the Bianchi , the moderate party that represented itself as champions of working people (the magri ). The resulting violence lasted, with irruptions of tranquility, into the fourteenth century.
40-654: In 1289 a plot had been intercepted at Arezzo, by which the city's bishop agreed to give over to the Florentines Bibbiena Civitella, and all the villages of his see, in return for a life annuity of 5,000 golden florins a year, guaranteed by the bank of the Cerchi. These rumors led to the confrontation of Guelfs and Ghibellines at the Battle of Campaldino , 11 June 1289, in which the young Dante Alighieri took part and Vieri dei Cerchi lost his life. In
80-450: A capo d'Angiò or "chief of Anjou", containing yellow fleurs-de-lys on a blue field, with a red heraldic "label" , while Ghibellines had a capo dell'impero or "chief of the empire", with a form of the black German imperial eagle on a golden background . Families also distinguished their factional allegiance by the architecture of their palaces, towers, and fortresses. Ghibelline structures had "swallow-tailed" crenellations, while those of
120-729: A brief resurgence during the Italian campaigns of Emperors Henry VII (1310) and Louis IV (1327). Since the Pope granted Sicily (Southern Italy) to the French prince Charles I of Anjou , the Guelphs took a pro-French stance. As late as the 16th century, Ghibellines like the Colonna or Gonzaga still fought for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , while Guelphs like the Orsini and Este still fought for
160-622: A means of preserving its independence, rather than out of loyalty to the temporal power, as Forlì was nominally in the Papal States. Over the centuries, the papacy tried several times to regain control of Forlì, sometimes by violence or by allurements. The division between Guelphs and Ghibellines was especially important in Florence . The two factions frequently fought each other over power in many other northern Italian cities. The two sides were now fighting either against German influence (in
200-620: A peace, but failed. Frederick defeated the League at Cortenuova and refused all peace offers from them. He besieged Brescia but was repulsed. In 1239, Frederick was again excommunicated by Pope Gregory. In response, he expelled Franciscan and the Dominican friars from Lombardy and made his son Enzo Imperial vicar in Italy. He also annexed Romagna , Marche , the Duchy of Spoleto , and part of
240-525: The Battle of Legnano in 1176. Frederick recognized the full autonomy of the cities of the Lombard league under his nominal suzerainty . The conflict between the two factions dominated the politics of medieval Italy, and persisted long after the confrontation between emperor and pope had ceased. Smaller cities tended to be Ghibelline if the larger city nearby was Guelph. For example, Guelph Republic of Florence and Ghibelline Republic of Siena faced off at
280-492: The Battle of Montaperti , 1260. Pisa maintained a staunch Ghibelline stance against her fiercest rivals, the Guelph Republic of Genoa and Florence. Local or regional political reasons motivated political alignments. Within cities, party allegiances differed from guild to guild, rione to rione , and a city could easily change party after internal upheavals. The conflicts between Guelphs and Ghibellines ended in
320-609: The Concordat of Worms in 1122. Timeline The conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines arose from the political divisions caused by the Investiture Controversy , about whether secular rulers or the pope had the authority to appoint bishops and abbots. Upon the death of Emperor Henry V , of the Salian dynasty , the dukes elected an opponent of his dynasty, Lothair III , as the new emperor. This displeased
360-571: The King of France to restore peace between Bianchi and Neri . He favoured the Neri : Dante, who had married Gemma Donati, was among those Bianchi dispossessed and banished in 1302, and marked Boniface as destined for the eighth circle of Hell in his Inferno . In Florence, the house of the Alighieri was a few hundred paces from the cluster of tower houses of the Cerchi, which were restructured in
400-802: The Papal States , and marched through Tuscany hoping to capture Rome . He was forced to retreat, sacking the city of Benevento . Soon the Ghibelline city of Ferrara fell and Frederick once more advanced, capturing Ravenna and Faenza . The Pope convened a council, but an Imperial-Pisan fleet defeated a Papal fleet carrying cardinals and prelates from Genoa in the Battle of Giglio . Frederick approached Rome. Meanwhile, Pope Gregory died. Frederick withdrew his forces and freed two cardinals he had jailed in Capua. However, Frederick marched again against Rome throughout 1242 and 1243. A new pope – Innocent IV –
440-752: The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy during the Middle Ages . During the 12th and 13th centuries, rivalry between these two parties dominated political life across medieval Italy . The struggle for power between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire arose with the Investiture Controversy , which began in 1075 and ended with
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#1732772775381480-601: The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229) while excommunicated. While Frederick was in the Crusader states , this division developed there, and his regent in Italy fought a war with the Pope. That war was ended and the excommunication was lifted in 1230, but the hostility continued. In 1237, Frederick entered Italy with a large army, intending to subdue the defiant cities of the Lombard League . Pope Gregory tried to broker
520-423: The 13th century, in 1270, Ghibellines Oberto Spinola and Oberto Doria revolted against the Guelphs and established a separate government which lasted a couple of decades. Guelph families fled to their strongholds east (Fieschi) and west (Grimaldi). They were forced to cease their resistance after several military campaigns: they were again accepted in the city's political life, after paying war expenses. After
560-516: The 14th century with the creation of a new situation, where the State and the laity began to withdraw from any ecclesiastical interference. At the beginning of the 13th century, Philip of Swabia , a Hohenstaufen, and Otto of Brunswick , a Welf, were rivals for the imperial throne . Philip was supported by the Ghibellines as a son of Frederick I, while Otto was supported by the Guelphs. Although
600-562: The 15th century, the Guelphs supported Charles VIII of France during his invasion of Italy at the start of the Italian Wars , while the Ghibellines were supporters of the emperor Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor . Cities and families used the names until Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , consolidated the imperial power over Italy in 1529. In the course of the Italian Wars of 1494 to 1559, the political landscape changed radically and
640-518: The Captain-General Andrea Claudio Galluzzo under the custody of Consul Luciano Artusi. The Mayor of Florence established the headquarters of the reborn Guelph Party in the historic Palazzo di Parte Guelfa in the city. Some individuals and families indicated their faction affiliation in their coats of arms by including an appropriate heraldic "chief" (a horizontal band at the top of the shield). Guelphs had
680-669: The Florentine Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti (1260). After the Hohenstaufen dynasty lost the Empire when Charles I executed Conradin in 1268, the terms Guelph and Ghibelline became associated with individual families and cities, rather than with the conflict between empire and papacy. The stronghold of Italian Ghibellines was the city of Forlì , in Romagna . That city remained with the Ghibelline factions, partly as
720-572: The French. During the French-dominated Avignon Papacy , Pope John XXII , who supported the French-allied King John of Bohemia , excommunicated John's rival Emperor Louis IV in 1324 and threatened heresy charges against the Ghibellines. The Ghibellines then supported Louis' invasion of Italy and coronation as King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor. In Milan , the Guelphs and Ghibellines cooperated in
760-516: The Guelphs initially succeeded in getting Otto crowned as Emperor, Otto turned against the Papacy, was excommunicated, and was replaced with Philip's heir Emperor Frederick II . Frederick II was an enemy of both Otto and the papacy, and during Frederick's reign, the Guelphs became more strictly associated with the papacy while the Ghibellines became supporters of the Empire and Frederick in particular. Pope Gregory IX excommunicated Frederick II in 1227 for failing to go on Crusade, then again for going on
800-468: The Guelphs were square. During the 12th and 13th centuries, armies of the Ghibelline communes usually adopted the war banner of the Holy Roman Empire – white cross on a red field – as their own. Guelph armies usually reversed the colors – red cross on white. These two schemes are prevalent in the civic heraldry of northern Italian towns and remain
840-703: The Hohenstaufen Conrad III was elected, while Lothair's heir, Henry the Proud , of the House of Welf , continued fighting. Guelph (often spelled Guelf ; in Italian Guelfo , plural Guelfi ) is an Italian form of the name of the House of Welf , the family of the dukes of Bavaria (including the namesake Duke Welf II of Bavaria , as well as Henry the Lion ). The Welfs were said to have used
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#1732772775381880-569: The Tuscan Guelphs finally defeated the Ghibellines in 1289 at the Battle of Campaldino and at Vicopisano , the Guelphs began infighting. By 1300, the Florentine Guelphs had divided into the Black and White Guelphs. The Blacks continued to support the Papacy, while the Whites were opposed to Papal influence, specifically the influence of Pope Boniface VIII . Dante was among the supporters of
920-475: The Tyrant of Verona, laid siege to the city. The imperial camp was ambushed by the Guelphs and in the ensuing Battle of Parma the imperial party was routed, losing much of their treasury. Frederick retreated and gathered another army, but the resistance of Parma encouraged other cities to rebel, and Frederick was powerless to do anything. The Ghibellines were eventually defeated in the Battle of Fossalta against
960-540: The White Guelphs. In 1302 he was exiled when the Black Guelphs took control of Florence. Those who were not connected to either side or who had no connections to either Guelphs or Ghibellines considered both factions unworthy of support but were still affected by changes of power in their respective cities. Emperor Henry VII was disgusted by supporters of both sides when he visited Italy in 1310. In 1325,
1000-532: The army of Bologna. Enzo was captured and imprisoned until his death. Although the Ghibellines started recovering, defeating the Guelphs in the Battle of Cingoli , Frederick by then was ill. By the time he died, his son Conrad IV had reconquered much of his possessions. This brought peace to Italy for a few years. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, the Ghibellines were supported by Conrad IV and later King Manfred of Sicily . The Guelphs were supported by Charles I of Naples . The Ghibellines of Siena defeated
1040-576: The case of the Guelphs) or against the temporal power of the Pope (in the case of the Ghibellines). In Florence and elsewhere, the Guelphs usually included merchants and burghers, while the Ghibellines tended to be noblemen. To identify themselves, people adopted distinctive customs such as wearing a feather on a particular side of their hats, or cutting fruit a particular way, according to their affiliation. The conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines
1080-459: The church of Dante's Beatrice Portinari . The Palazzo, now renovated, has been the home of the study abroad program for Kent State University since 2003. Another palazzo dei Cerchi, facing into Piazza di Santa Croce, was entirely rebuilt in the seventeenth century as the Palazzo dell'Antella. The public charity and personal piety of Blessed Umiliana de' Cerchi (c. 1219-19 May 1246) became
1120-638: The city-states of Guelph Bologna and Ghibelline Modena clashed in the War of the Bucket , resulting in Modena's victory at the Battle of Zappolino , which led to a resurgence of Ghibelline fortunes. In 1334, Pope Benedict XII threatened people who used either the Guelph or Ghibelline name with excommunication . The term Ghibelline continued to indicate allegiance to the declining Imperial authority in Italy, and saw
1160-671: The creation of the Golden Ambrosian Republic in 1447. However, over the next few years they engaged in intense disputes. After the initial leadership of the Ghibellines, the Guelphs seized power at the election of the Captains and Defenders of the Liberty of Milan. The Guelph government became increasingly autocratic, leading to a Ghibelline conspiracy led by Giorgio Lampugnino and Teodoro Bossi. It failed, and many Ghibellines were massacred in 1449. Others fled, including
1200-603: The division between Guelphs and Ghibellines became irrelevant. This became evident with the election of Pope Paul V (1605), the first to bear the "Ghibelline" Reichsadler in chief on his Papal coat of arms . On 25 March 2015, the Parte Guelfa was reconstituted as a Christian order and archconfraternity to serve the Catholic Church and the Catholic Archdiocese of Florence, guided by
1240-454: The fourteenth century to form a rambling Palazzo dei Cerchi in the isolated block ( insula ) fronting via dei Cimatori and via della Condotta behind Piazza della Signoria . This was the power center of the Cerchi: their church was the little Santa Margherita dei Cerchi of which the arms of the patrons, Cerchi, Adimari and Donati, may still be seen on its thirteenth-century doorway. This was
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1280-545: The garrison massacred. The Pope made another treaty but he immediately broke it and continued to back the Guelphs. The Pope supported Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia as King of the Romans and soon plotted to have Frederick killed. After an attempted assassination failed, the pope fled to Liguria . Soon the tide turned against the imperial party. The Lombard city of Parma rebelled. Enzo – who had not been present – asked his father for help. Frederick and Ezzelino III da Romano ,
1320-468: The house of Hohenstaufen , who were allied with and related to the old dynasty. Out of fear of the Hohenstaufen, Lothair III placed himself under the pope's protection. To this end, he ceded all Imperial rights to the pope under Henry V's Concordat of Worms . War then broke out in Germany between those who supported the Hohenstaufen, and those who were aligned to Lothair and the pope. Upon Lothair's death,
1360-467: The imperial party, while the Guelphs supported the pope. Cities more directly threatened by the enlargement of the Papal States tended to align with the Ghibelline faction, while the cities that wanted more autonomy from the Empire tended to belong to the Guelph faction. The clash between the municipalities of Northern Italy and imperial power originated in the struggle for investitures . The Guelph Lombard League defeated Emperor Frederick Barbarossa at
1400-564: The name as a rallying cry during the Siege of Weinsberg in 1140, in which the rival Hohenstaufens (led by Conrad III) used "Wibellingen" (the name of a castle today known as Waiblingen , as their cry; "Wibellingen" subsequently became Ghibellino in Italian). Thus, the Hohenstaufen faction became known as the Ghibellines and the Welfs eventually became known as the Guelphs. The Ghibellines were
1440-540: The object of a popular cult in Florence immediately after her death; it resulted in her beatification in 1634. Guelf The Guelphs and Ghibellines ( / ˈ ɡ w ɛ l f s ... ˈ ɡ ɪ b ɪ l aɪ n z / GWELFS ... GHIB -il-ynze , US also /- l iː n z , - l ɪ n z / -eenz, -inz ; Italian : guelfi e ghibellini [ˈɡwɛlfi e ɡibelˈliːni, -fj e -] ) were factions supporting respectively
1480-481: The popular uprising of 2 May 1299, the podestà Corso Donati was expelled, and with him the Donati faction. The Cerchi faction prevailed. In May the following year a brawl between Donati and Cerchi erupted, in which one of the Cerchi had his nose slit, but plots to restore Donati, who had become podestà of Orvieto, were unsuccessful. Matters were complicated when Pope Boniface VIII sent Charles de Valois , brother of
1520-537: The prominent Ghibelline Vitaliano I Borromeo , who was sheltered in his County of Arona . Public opinion turned against the Guelphs. In the next elections the Ghibellines were briefly victorious, but were deposed after imprisoning Guelph leaders Giovanni Appiani and Giovanni Ossona. After Francesco I Sforza was made Duke by Milan's senate in 1450, many Ghibellines who had fled such as Filippo Borromeo and Luisino Bossi were restored to positions of prominence in Milan. In
1560-613: Was elected. At first, Frederick was pleased with the election since Innocent had relatives in the Imperial camp. However, the new Pope immediately turned against Frederick. When the City of Viterbo rebelled, the Pope backed the Guelphs. and Frederick immediately marched to Italy and besieged Viterbo . The pope signed a peace treaty with the emperor, relieving the city. After the Emperor left, Cardinal Raniero Capocci , leader of Viterbo, had
1600-570: Was important in the Republic of Genoa , where the former were called rampini ("grappling hooks") and the latter mascherati ("masked"), although the origin of these terms is not clear. Local families like Fieschi and Grimaldi usually sided with the Guelph party, in conflict with the Doria and some branches of the Spinola families. While Genoa was often under Guelph rule in the early years of
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