Guelphs and Ghibellines

Content

1 Parties to the conflict
2 In culture
- 2.1 In the work of Dante
- 2.2 In the work of Niccolo Machiavelli
- 2.3 In the work of Shakespeare
- 2.4 In architecture
3 See also
4 notes
5 Links

Guelphs ( Italian: guelfi , German: Guelfen / Welfen ) is a political movement in Italy of the 12th - 16th centuries , whose representatives advocated limiting the power of the Holy Roman Emperor in Italy and strengthening the influence of the Pope . They got the name from the Welsh , Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony - rivals of the German Staufen dynasty. It is generally accepted that merchants, merchants and craftsmen belonged to the Guelphs for the most part, although there were many aristocrats among them (in fact, at that time it was the only estate capable of ensuring the effective functioning of the armed forces).

The Ghibellines ( Italian: ghibellini , German: Ghibellinen / Waiblinger ) - the political group of the 12th - 14th centuries , which were at war with the Guelphs, adherents of the emperor. The name "Ghibellines" comes from the Latinized name of one of the Staufen castles - Gaubing ( German: Waiblingen , Waiblingen). It is assumed that the name "Ghibellines" came from the battle cry of Nie Welf, Nie Waibling, during the battle of Weinsberg in 1140 between Conrad III and Welf VI (other explanations are less likely). It is generally believed that the feudal nobility for the most part belonged to the gibellins.

The struggle between the Ghibellines and Guelphs took place against the background of the struggle between the papacy and the empire for supremacy on the Apennine Peninsula .

Coat of arms of a gibellin Italian family
Coat of arms of the Guelph family of Roberti

The sign of the ghibellines was a white rose or red lily; but they wanted to differ from the opponents in the cut and color of the dress, and even in the manner of cutting bread and taking off their hats.

Under Frederick I and Henry VI y of Hohenstaufen there were no party opponents; the struggle against them took place only in the infancy of Frederick II , and then later supporters of the pope in Germany during the life of Frederick chose another emperor, the “priest king” Heinrich Raspe .

The main arena of the struggle of the Ghibellines with the Guelphs was Italy. Back in the XI century, during the struggle of Emperor Henry IV with Pope Gregory VII , the emperor had supporters here. In the XII century, under Frederick I, supporters of the emperor defended the old connection of Italy with the empire against the fighters for national independence, which was patronized by the pope; The struggle was partly of the same importance under Henry VI and Frederick II (there is news that in 1215 the name ghibellino first appeared in Florence ).

But very early death became only a banner that served in the struggle of a wide variety of interests. Under this banner, large cities fought with the less significant and with each other, the nobility - with citizens and among themselves, the rich citizens (popolo grasso) with the poor (popolo minuto), the community - with tyrants , tyrants - with each other and with dad. So, in northern Italy, Guelph Milan fought with the Gibellino Pavia ; in Tuscany, opponents of Guelph Florence - Pisa , Siena , Lucca and Arezzo - held to death. The feudal aristocracy usually belonged to the Ghibellines, although Guelph surnames were also in this milieu. Republics most often belonged to the Guelph party; therefore, tyrants in most cases were gibellins.

Guided by local and temporary interests, Italian cities sometimes passed from one party to another. The most zealous and constant opponent of death was Anjou house in Naples , which took possession of the Italian heritage of Hohenstaufen. On the contrary, Milan, which served as the center of the Guelph party under Hohenstaufen, with the strengthening of Visconti became the support of the Ghibellines; Florence, squeezed by Milan, firmly adhered to the Guelph party and in the 14th century started a real inquisition against the Ghibellines (ammonistro), in the interests of the internal order. Venice kept aloof from the struggle of parties and only at times took one side or the other. Rome , abandoned by the popes, sometimes went over to the side of the Ghibellines. The tyrannies of northern Italy and the Church Region — Carrara in Padua , Scaligers in Bépone , d'Este in Ferrara , Montefeltro in Urbino — were distinguished by the greatest commitment to doom because they received sanction from the emperors.

But in general, the connection of the Ghibellines with emperors was very weak and at times completely terminated. So, the struggle went into the infancy of Frederick II, when the pope was on the side of the emperor; it continued after the fall of Hohenstaufen, when Italy had not seen the emperor for 50 years. In 1273, Pope Gregory X said that no one else understands the meaning of the name "gibelle".

With the campaigns of Henry VII , Louis of Bavaria and Charles IV, death came to life, and Dante was his last theoretician; but in practice, the local forces tried to use the emperor for their own purposes, and with failure, the gibellins united against him with the Guelphs.

In 1334, Pope Benedict XII banned the names of both Ghibellines and Guelphs with a special bull; but this measure did not stop the struggle. Only by the 15th century, when tyranny was established in almost all Italian cities, did despotism put an end to the struggle of these parties.

Parties to the conflict

The main cities of the Ghibellines	The main cities of Guelph	Cities that supported both parties at different times
Arezzo Assisi Grosseto Como Mantova Modena Pavia Pisa Pistoia Spoleto Thorns Urbino Fabriano Foligno Forlì	Aquila Alessandria Ancona Bologna Brescia Creams Cremona Lecco Milan Orvieto Perugia Faenza Florence	Asti Bergamo Verona Vicenza Genoa Gubbio Lodi Lucca Padua Parma Piacenza Prato Sienna Treviso Ferrara

In Culture

In the work of Dante

The struggle of Guelphs and Ghibellines was reflected in the poem "The Divine Comedy " ( 1307 - 1321 ) of the famous Florentine Dante Alighieri , a contemporary and participant in the events.

By the time the masterpiece was created, the Guelphs managed to divide into white (advocated cooperation with the Ghibellines) and black (opposed any collaboration with the Ghibellines); Dante himself belonged to the white Guelphs.

After the publication of the bull “ Unam Sanctam ” (One, Holy), Pope Boniface VIII became the enemy of all white Guelphs. In it, Dante saw the hater of free Florence and the main culprit of his exile. The poet blasphemes him with the mouth of Chacco (A., VI, 69), Nicholas III (v. 55-57), Guido da Montefeltro (A., XXVII, 70-111), Bonaventure (R., XII, 90), Kachchagvida ( R., XVII, 49-51), the Apostle Peter (R., XXVII, 22-27) and Beatrice (R., XXX, 148). He places Boniface in the eighth circle of hell as a symonist .

In the work of Niccolo Machiavelli

In the XX chapter of his treatise, the Sovereign refers to the conflict Guelfe e Ghibelline , which the Venetians tried to foment in order to consolidate their power over the cities.

In Shakespeare's art

If we look at the literature of England, the conflict between the Guelphs and the Gibellins is most clearly reflected in the work " Romeo and Juliet ."

Prologue

Two equally respected families
In Verona, where events meet us,
Internecine fights
And they don’t want to stop the bloodshed.
Children of leaders love each other,
But fate destroys them intrigues,
And their death at the grave doors
It puts an end to irreconcilable hatred.
Their life, love and death and, moreover,
The world of their parents at their grave
Will be a creature for two hours
Played before you were.
Have mercy on the weaknesses of the pen -
The game will try to smooth them.

Between the noble Verona families of Montecchi and Capulet (in the English original - Montague and Capulet) there is a centuries-old enmity. After the squabble of the servants, a new battle broke out between the gentlemen. The Duke of Verona Escal, after a futile attempt to restore peace between warring families, announces that from now on the culprit of bloodshed will pay for it with his own life.

If you interpret the plot, we can conclude that Romeo Montecki belongs to the Gibellin party (this is indicated by his friendship with Mercutio), and Juliet Capuletti belongs to the Guelph party, moreover, to the White Guelphs, since the matchmaking for the duke is appointed.

In architecture

After the building of the Assumption Cathedral collapsed in an earthquake in 1471 (“the lime was non-sticky and the stone was not hard” ^[1] ), Ivan III, on the advice of Sophia Paleolog, invited architects from Italy . In 1480, Milanese architects faced an important political question: what form should the battlements of walls and towers make - straight or dovetail? The fact is that Italian guelphs had locks with rectangular teeth, and gibellins had dovetail. On reflection, the architects considered that the Grand Duke of Moscow was certainly not for the pope. Thus, the Moscow Kremlin repeats the shape of the battlements on the walls of castles of Italian gibellins.

Notes

↑ Ikonnikov, 1978 , p. 67.
↑ Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy / Translation by M. Lozinsky. - M .: True, 1982. See notes by M. Lozinsky: Hell - Song of the Twenty-Eighth - Circle of the Eighth - Ninth Moat - The instigators of contention, tertsiny 103-108.
↑ Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy / Translation by M. Lozinsky. - M .: True, 1982. See notes by M. Lozinsky: Paradise - Song of the sixteenth - Fifth sky - Mars (continued), tertsiny 136-141.

Links

Gibellins // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
Guelphs and gibellins // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
Ikonnikov A.V. Stone Chronicle of Moscow: A Guidebook. - M .: Moscow Worker, 1978. - S. 26. - 352 p.

[_bebd6f1d76c01bd5-1] Ikonnikov, 1978 , p. 67.

[2] Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy / Translation by M. Lozinsky. - M .: True, 1982. See notes by M. Lozinsky: Hell - Song of the Twenty-Eighth - Circle of the Eighth - Ninth Moat - The instigators of contention, tertsiny 103-108.

[3] Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy / Translation by M. Lozinsky. - M .: True, 1982. See notes by M. Lozinsky: Paradise - Song of the sixteenth - Fifth sky - Mars (continued), tertsiny 136-141.