Ezzelino III da Romano (25 April 1194, Tombolo – 7 October 1259) was an Italian feudal lord, a member of the Ezzelini family, in the March of Treviso (in modern Veneto ). He was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II ( r. 1220–1250), and ruled Verona , Vicenza and Padua for almost two decades. He became infamous as a cruel tyrant, and was, in fact, the most "notorious" of the "early tyrants".
31-617: Ezzelino was a son of Ezzelino II da Romano , ruler of Bassano del Grappa and other fiefs in the Veneto, and Adelaide degli Alberti di Mangona, who came from a family of counts in Tuscany . At the age of four years, he was sent as a hostage to Verona, but nothing else is known about his childhood or education. In 1213, he took part in the siege of the castle of Este , which belonged to his father's archenemy, marquess Azzo VI of Este , who died in 1212 and later to his son Aldobrandino. According to
62-528: A member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem . He inherited the title of King of Jerusalem (as Conrad II ) upon the death of his mother in childbed. Appointed Duke of Swabia in 1235, his father had him elected King of Germany ( King of the Romans ) and crowned King of Italy (as Conrad IV ) in 1237. After
93-557: A rival king of Germany on 22 May 1246. Henry Raspe defeated Conrad in the battle of Nidda in August 1246, but died several months later. He was succeeded as a rival king by William of Holland . This exertion of power by the pope has since been regarded as a transition of power in the Holy Roman Empire. Notably, many princes took this opportunity to gain more influence with their vast wealth and relative stability as opposed to
124-561: The Venetians . In 1221 Ezzelino retreated into a monastery at Oliero in Valstagna and then at Campese, hence his surname of Monaco ("monk"), leaving the administration of the fiefs to his sons Ezzelino and Alberico da Romano . His daughter Cunizza da Romano was married to Riccardo di San Bonifacio, lord of Verona. He died in the monastery of Campese in 1235. Conrad IV of Germany Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254),
155-479: The hoftag in Foggia , which were based on the well-known examples from Norman and early Staufer times. In addition, as new historical sources have shown, Conrad tried to reconcile with the pope, but no agreement was reached. After the death of Frederick II, riots began in parts of the kingdom of Sicily, and several cities attempted to escape the royal control, forcing Conrad to take military action in order to suppress
186-480: The patriarch of Grado . In 1191-1193 Ezzelino was podestà of Treviso , and later of Verona (1200). Ezzelino raised an army to expel Azzo VI of Este after the latter became podestà of Verona in 1207. In 1199 his castle at Onara was destroyed by the Paduans after Ezzelino had signed a separate peace with Vicenza; he therefore moved the family residence to Romano, by which name his family would be known in
217-808: The Emperor. However, he and his brother Alberico later changed sides, when it became apparent that the League favoured their enemies in the March, particularly the Este and the San Bonifacio (Sambonifacio). In 1232 the brothers struck an alliance with Frederick and received an imperial privilege of protection. However, four years passed before the emperor could personally intervene in the March of Treviso. The years 1232–1236 were therefore very difficult for Ezzelino and Alberico, who were assailed by many enemies, primarily
248-589: The Monk"; died 1235) was an Italian nobleman of the Ezzelini family, who was lord of Onara (until 1199), Romano , Bassano and Godego . The son of Ezzelino I , in 1182 he fought for lands belonging to the monks of a monastery in Sesto al Reghena . On 24 April 1198 Pope Innocent III asked Pellegrinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia , to resolve the matter and to raise the excommunication which Ezzelino had received from
279-564: The San Bonifacio, the Este and the city of Padua. In 1236, Frederick II finally arrived in the March of Treviso. Because Ezzelino and his Veronese allies, the Monticuli and Quattuorviginti, had gained control of Verona in early 1236, the emperor could bring reinforcements across the Alps , including 3000 German men-at-arms . In a campaign that began in November 1236 Frederick and Ezzelino, who
310-682: The Seventh Circle, First Ring: the Violent against their Neighbors ( Inferno , XII, 109). His younger sister Cunizza is also cited by Dante, in Paradise , IX, 31-33. Before Ezzelino, the seizing of political power in city-states throughout the Middle Ages, had been based on real or pretended inheritance claims or else were directed against infidels and the excommunicated; but with him, as the historian Jacob Burkhardt relates, "Here for
341-455: The age of just 21 years, he married Beatrice di Buontraverso . After Frederick's death in 1250, Ezzelino supported his son, Conrad IV . There was growing disgust at Ezzelino's cruel behavior, and in 1254 he was excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV , who also launched a crusade against him. He had reconciled with his brother and allied himself with other seigneurs of the Veneto and Lombardy , attacking Padua, which resisted, and Brescia, which
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#1732786935768372-515: The bishops of Bamberg , of Ratisbon [Regensburg], of Frisingen [Freising], and of Padua , the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Bavaria , the king of Bohemia , the landgrave of Thuringia , and the duke of Carinthia ". This title, though not acknowledged by Pope Gregory IX , presumed his future as a Holy Roman emperor . Prince-Archbishop Siegfried III of Mainz , in his capacity as German archchancellor , acted as regent for
403-654: The castle of Soncino , near the city of Cremona in Lombardy. In the following year his brother Alberico was put to death, and the Romano family became extinct. It was only after his death that the alliance between Sambonifacio and Este fell apart. Much of what we know about Ezzelino comes from a literary tradition that was embroidered over the course of centuries; despite the brevity of his reign, Ezzelino's reputed cruelty became symbolic of tyranny, poets and chroniclers living in recent memory of his tactics used his name to evoke
434-414: The chronicler Rolandino of Padua , the young Ezzelino already showed a keen interest in siegecraft and acquired a hatred of the Este which would last his entire life. When Ezzelino II retired to a monastery in 1223, his possessions went to his sons Alberico , who received the castles and villages in the countryside of Vicenza (including the important centre of Bassano del Grappa) and Ezzelino, who received
465-453: The emperor departed Ezzelino attacked the Este, submitting Treviso - even though it was his brother's fief - Belluno and Feltre . He was now lord of all lands between the city of Trento and the Oglio river and had acquired a reputation for cruelty and the regular use of torture against all enemies and alleged plotters, in the cities he ruled. In 1249, five years after Selvaggia's death at
496-623: The emperor was deposed and died in 1250, he ruled as King of Sicily ( Conrad I ) until his death. He was the second child, but only surviving son of Emperor Frederick II and Isabella II (Yolanda) , the queen regnant of Jerusalem . Born in Andria , in the South Italian Kingdom of Sicily , his mother died shortly after giving birth to him and he succeeded her as monarch of the Crusader state of Jerusalem. By his father, Conrad
527-438: The first time the attempt was openly made to found a throne by wholesale murder and endless barbarities, by the adoption in short, of any means with a view to nothing but the end pursued." The example set by the success of this kind of ruthlessness, was not lost on the future tyrants of late Middle Age and early Renaissance Italy. Ezzelino II da Romano Ezzelino II da Romano , also known as Ezzelino il Monaco ("Ezzelino
558-536: The following decades. In 1209-1210 he was among the followers of emperor Otto IV , who gave him possession of Bassano (1211). Ezzelino II became podestà of Vicenza in 1211. In 1212 Ezzelino II clashed near Verona with the troops of the Lombard League ; the latter was defeated and its commander, Azzo VI d'Este , perished. In 1213 he fought with Padua against the Estensi and, the following year, against
589-572: The fortunes of Padua under the tyrant's iron grip up to the commune 's liberation by the Guelph League. Albertino Mussato 's Ecerinis ( c. 1315 ) portrays Ezzelino as the son of the Devil ; the Latin verse play introduces Ezzelino's mother, who provides testimony of the tyrant's infernal sire. In Dante Aligheri 's Divine Comedy , his soul is consigned to Hell , where Dante encounters him in
620-513: The fractured monarchy which had proven to be somewhat unreliable. Similarly, many nobles were given greater autonomy without the guidance of a king. Also in 1246, Conrad married Elisabeth , a daughter of Otto II of Bavaria. They had a son Conradin , in 1252. In 1250 Conrad temporarily settled the situation in Germany by defeating William of Holland and his Rhenish allies. When Frederick II died in 1250, he passed Sicily and Germany, as well as
651-468: The minor until 1242, when Frederick chose Landgrave Henry Raspe of Thuringia , and King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia to assume this function. Conrad intervened directly in German politics from around 1240. He led the short-lived anti-Mongol crusade of 1241 . However, when Pope Innocent IV excommunicated Frederick in 1245 and declared Conrad deposed, Henry Raspe supported the pope and was in turn elected as
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#1732786935768682-610: The monk Giordano Forzatè arrested and exiled. Ezzelino was one of the protagonists in the Ghibelline-Imperial victory of Cortenuova (1237) and in 1239 was named Imperial viceroy for the March of Treviso . His long-lasting struggle against Azzo VII of Este , the new duke of the Este ended with the total defeat of the latter and the annexion of many territories. After a failed pacification attempt by Frederick, as soon as
713-640: The possessions in the countryside of Treviso. In 1226 Ezzelino intervened in a factional struggle in Verona, aiding the Monticuli and Quattuorviginti against their enemies, the so-called pars comitis ("party of the count"), which was headed by the Veronese count Richard of San Bonifacio . From this time onwards Ezzelino became an important factor in Veronese politics and in 1226-1227 he had become podestà or Lord Mayor of that city. He briefly lost Verona, but regained it in 1230. At this time control over Verona
744-691: The revolts. In October 1253 his troops conquered Naples . However, Conrad was unable to subdue the pope's supporters, and the pope in turn offered Sicily to Edmund Crouchback , son of Henry III of England , in 1253. Conrad was excommunicated in 1254 and died of malaria in the same year at Lavello in Basilicata . Manfred continued the struggle with the Papacy, as did Conrad's son Conradin, although both were unsuccessful. Conrad's widow Elisabeth remarried to Meinhard II, Count of Tirol , who in 1286 became Duke of Carinthia . Conrad's death in 1254 began
775-495: The sense of arbitrary power and the moral transgressions it enabled; fourteenth century authors raised the level of accusation, insisting that Ezzelino's parentage was demonic. Rolandino of Padua 's Chronicle of the Trevisan March (c. 1262) charts the rise and the fall of the 'da Romano' family, introducing Ezzelino as a young man throwing stones at the home of the family rival; the extremely partisan political work follows
806-516: The title of King of Jerusalem , to Conrad, but the struggle with the pope continued. Having been defeated by William in 1251, Conrad decided to invade Italy , hoping to regain the rich dominions of his father, and where his half-brother Manfred was acting as regent. In January 1252 he invaded Apulia with a Venetian fleet, successfully managing to restrain Manfred and exercise control of the country. That same year Conrad issued constitutions during
837-490: Was becoming an increasingly important ally of the emperor, subjugated all the important cities of the March of Treviso: Vicenza was conquered in November 1236, Padua and Treviso surrendered in February/March 1237. In 1236 Ezzelino married Selvaggia, Frederick's natural daughter who was thirteen years old at the time; conquered Verona and by treason Padua, seizing the position of podestà of that city. In Padua he had
868-562: Was betrothed to a daughter of Duke Otto II of Bavaria . She died before the marriage could take place, but Conrad later married her sister. When Emperor Frederick II deposed his eldest son, Conrad's rebellious half-brother King Henry (VII) , Conrad succeeded him as duke of Swabia in 1235. However, the emperor was not able to have him elected King of the Romans until the 1237 Imperial Diet in Vienna . The electors were "the archbishops of Mentz [Mainz], of Treves [Trier], and of Cologne ,
899-731: Was important because Frederick II was in conflict with the Second Lombard League , an alliance of cities in Northern Italy . Whoever controlled Verona could block the Brenner Pass through the Alps , and thereby prevent the arrival of reinforcements for Frederick from Germany. Initially, Ezzelino favoured the Lombard League which could block the Brenner and emerge victorious from its first confrontation with
930-509: Was instead sacked after an easy victory of his German knights over the crusaders' army. In 1258 he launched a broad Ghibelline offensive in Lombardy and Veneto along with Oberto Pallavicino of Cremona . After a failed attempt to assault Milan itself, he was wounded by an arrow in the course of the Battle of Cassano d'Adda and had to retreat but was captured near Bergamo . He killed himself by intentional self-neglect during his imprisonment in
961-590: Was the grandson of the Hohenstaufen emperor Henry VI and great-grandson of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa . He lived in Southern Italy until 1235, when he first visited the Kingdom of Germany . During this period his kingdom of Jerusalem, ruled by his father as regent through proxies, was racked by civil war until Conrad declared his majority and his father's regency lost its validity. In 1235, Conrad