The
Battle of Campaldino was a battle between the
Guelphs and GhibellinesThe Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting, respectively, the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in central and northern Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries...
on 11 June 1289. Mixed bands of pro-papal Guelf forces of
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
and allies,
PistoiaPistoia is a city in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence.- History :...
,
LuccaLucca is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
,
SienaSiena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.- History :...
and
PratoPrato is a city in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato.Historically, Prato's economy has been based on the textile industry. The renowned are a significant collection of late medieval documents produced between 1363 and 1410...
, all loosely commanded by the paid
condottiero Amerigo di
NarbonaNarbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon région. It lies from Paris in the Aude département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
with his own professional following, met a Ghibelline force from
ArezzoArezzo or Arretium is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about south-east of Florence, at an elevation of 296 meters above sea level. In 2009 the population was about 99,000 people....
including the perhaps reluctant bishop, Guglielmino degli Ubertini, in the plain of Campaldino, which leads from
Pratovecchio-History:Dono di Paolo, father of the Florentine artist Paolo Uccello, was a barber-surgeon from Pratovecchio. Dono moved to Florence and became a citizen there in 1373.-Main sights:...
to
PoppiPoppi is a comune in the Province of Arezzo in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 40 km east of Florence and about 30 km northwest of Arezzo...
, part of the Tuscan countryside along the upper
ArnoThe Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy.Arno may also refer to:- Given name :* Arno Breker, German sculptor* Arno Hintjens, Belgian singer* Arno Pijpers , Dutch football coach* Arno Saarinen , Finnish gymnast...
called the
CasentinoThe Casentino is the valley in which the first tract of the river Arno flows to Subbiano, Italy.It is one of the four valleys in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from which the Arno starts, represents the northern boundary between the Casentino and Romagna...
.
The
Battle of Campaldino was a battle between the
Guelphs and GhibellinesThe Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting, respectively, the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in central and northern Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries...
on 11 June 1289. Mixed bands of pro-papal Guelf forces of
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
and allies,
PistoiaPistoia is a city in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence.- History :...
,
LuccaLucca is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
,
SienaSiena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.- History :...
and
PratoPrato is a city in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato.Historically, Prato's economy has been based on the textile industry. The renowned are a significant collection of late medieval documents produced between 1363 and 1410...
, all loosely commanded by the paid
condottiero Amerigo di
NarbonaNarbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon région. It lies from Paris in the Aude département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
with his own professional following, met a Ghibelline force from
ArezzoArezzo or Arretium is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about south-east of Florence, at an elevation of 296 meters above sea level. In 2009 the population was about 99,000 people....
including the perhaps reluctant bishop, Guglielmino degli Ubertini, in the plain of Campaldino, which leads from
Pratovecchio-History:Dono di Paolo, father of the Florentine artist Paolo Uccello, was a barber-surgeon from Pratovecchio. Dono moved to Florence and became a citizen there in 1373.-Main sights:...
to
PoppiPoppi is a comune in the Province of Arezzo in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 40 km east of Florence and about 30 km northwest of Arezzo...
, part of the Tuscan countryside along the upper
ArnoThe Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy.Arno may also refer to:- Given name :* Arno Breker, German sculptor* Arno Hintjens, Belgian singer* Arno Pijpers , Dutch football coach* Arno Saarinen , Finnish gymnast...
called the
CasentinoThe Casentino is the valley in which the first tract of the river Arno flows to Subbiano, Italy.It is one of the four valleys in which the Province of Arezzo is divided. Mount Falterona, from which the Arno starts, represents the northern boundary between the Casentino and Romagna...
. One of the combatants on the Guelph side was
Dante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
, twenty-four years old at the time.
Later, in the mid-14th century,
Giovanni VillaniGiovanni Villani was an Italian banker, official, diplomat, and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of Florence but later gained an unsavory reputation and served time in prison due to the bankruptcy of a trading and banking...
recorded the long-remembered details— as Florentines remembered them— in his chronicle, though the
casus belli he offers are merely conventional "outrages" on the part of Arezzo; the elaborately staged raid and fight led by aristocrats on both sides sounds like stylized gang warfare, though carried out, according to Villani, under the battle standard of the absent
Charles, the Angevine King of NaplesCharles II, known as "the Lame" , was King of Naples and Sicily, titular King of Jerusalem, and Prince of Salerno.-Biography:...
. The Florentines and their allies had 10,000 undisciplined armed rabble on foot, including light-armed infantry, and crossbowmen, and unmounted lancers, but 1,600 knights and 600 mounted burghrers of Florence,
the best armed and mounted which ever sallied out forth from Florence; and 400 mercenaries, together with the following of the Captain M[esser] Amerigo, in the pay of the Florentines; and of LuccaLucca is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
there were 500 horsemenHorsemen may refer to:*Cavalry*Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse*Four Horsemen *Royal Canadian Mounted Police*Horsemen , starring Dennis Quaid*The Horsemen , starring Omar Sharif...
; and of PratoPrato is a city in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato.Historically, Prato's economy has been based on the textile industry. The renowned are a significant collection of late medieval documents produced between 1363 and 1410...
40 horsemen and foot soldiersInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of the Combat Arms they are the backbone of armies...
; and of PistoiaPistoia is a city in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence.- History :...
, 60 horse and foot; and of SienaSiena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site.- History :...
, 120 horse; and of VolterraVolterra is a town in the Tuscany region of Italy.-History:The town was a Neolithic settlement and an important Etruscan center with an original civilization; it became a municipium in the Roman Age. The city was a bishop's residence in the fifth century and its episcopal power was affirmed during...
, 40 horse; and of BolognaBologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of northern Italy...
, their ambassadors with their company; and of SamminiatoSan Miniato is a town and commune in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy.San Miniato sits at an historically strategic location atop three small hills where it dominates the lower Arno valley between the valleys of Egola and Elsa...
, and of SangimignanoSan Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometers outside the town....
, and of Colle, men mounted and on foot from each place; and Maghinardo of Susinana, a good and wise captain in war, with his RomagnoliRomagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
.http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/SOURCES/villani2.htm
The forces were equal as far as the large groups of foot-soldiers were concerned; the mounted knights of the Aretine forces only came to 800, but those were "the flower of the Ghibellines of Tuscany, of the March, and of the
DuchyUrbino is a walled city in the Marche region in Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
, and of
RomagnaRomagna is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west...
; and all were men experienced in arms and in war" (Villani), This Arentine force was quickly assembled and came out as word spread that the Guelfs were ravaging the places of Conte Guido Novello, who was
podestàPodestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...
of Arezzo and, worse, threatening the fortified place called
Bibbiena CivitellaBibbiena is a town and commune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany , the largest town in the valley of Casentino. It is located 60 kilometers from Florence, 30 kilometers from Arezzo, 60 kilometers from Siena and 20 kilometers from the Sanctuary of La Verna.The town is on top of a hill at an...
.
The scuttlebutt reported by Villani was that a plot had been intercepted at Arezzo, by which the 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
CerchiThe 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...
. The plot was uncovered by his nephew
Guglielmo de' PazziThe Pazzi family were Tuscan nobles who were bankers in Florence in the 15th century. They are now best known for the "Pazzi conspiracy" to murder Lorenzo de' Medici and Giuliano de' Medici on April 26, 1478. Andrea de' Pazzi was also the patron for Filippo Brunelleschi's chapter house for the...
, and they hustled the bishop onto his horse and brought him to the battlefield, where they left him dead among the slain of the battle and its aftermath: Guglielmino de' Pazzi in
ValdarnoThe Valdarno is the valley of the river Arno, although it does not apply to the entire basin of the river. The usage of the term generally excludes Casentino and the valleys formed by the major tributaries, such as the Val di Chiana, the Val d'Ambra , The valley of the Sieve, namely Mugello, the...
and Buonconte, the son of Guido I da Montefeltro. Ploughing the Campaldino plain used to turn up human remains and bones as recently as eighty years ago
http://www.parchiletterari.com/en_dante.php.
According to Villani,
Corso DonatiCorso Donati was a leader of the Black Guelph faction in 13th- and early 14th- century Florence. He is discussed prominently in several contemporary histories: Niccolò Machiavelli's History of Florence, the Nuova Cronica of Giovanni Villani, and the Cronica delle cose occorrenti ne' tempi suoi of...
, podestà of Pistoia. though under orders to stand ready in reserve by his personal heroics, shouting “If we lose, I will die in the battle with my fellow citizens; and if we conquer, let him that will, come to us at Pistoia to exact the penalty” charged the Aretine flank and helped break up the lines and win the day for the Guelfs.
The Battle of Campaldino secured the Guelfs in Florence, though internecine fighting among the Whites and the Blacks among the Florentine Guelfs resulted in upsets for city order, and the exile of many, including Dante, a member of the Whites, the faction more opposed to papal power.
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