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DELLA GHERARDESCA, UGOLINO (c. 1220-1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 966 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DELLA GHERARDESCA, UGOLINO (c. 1220-1289) , See also:

count of Donoratico, was the See also:head of the powerful See also:family of Gherardesca, the See also:chief Ghibelline See also:house of See also:Pisa. His See also:alliance with the See also:Visconti, the leaders of the See also:Guelph See also:faction, through the See also:marriage of his See also:sister with Giovanni Visconti, See also:judge of Gallura, aroused the suspicions of his party, and the Ghibellines being then predominant in Pisa, the disorders in the See also:city caused by Ugolino and Visconti in 1271–1274 led to the See also:arrest of the former and the banishment of the latter. Visconti died soon afterwards, and Ugolino, no longer regarded as dangerous, was liberated and banished. But he immediately began to intrigue with the Guelph towns opposed to Pisa, and with the help of See also:Charles I. of See also:Anjou (q.v.) attacked his native city and forced it to make See also:peace on humiliating terms, pardoning him and all the other Guelph exiles. He lived quietly in Pisa for some years, although working all the See also:time to extend his See also:influence. See also:War having broken out between Pisa and See also:Genoa in 1284, Count Ugolino was given the command of a See also:division of the See also:Pisan See also:fleet. It was by his See also:flight —usually attributed to treachery—that the fortunes of the See also:day were decided and the Pisans totally defeated at La See also:Meloria (See also:October 1284). But the See also:political ability which he afterwards displayed led to his being appointed podestd for a See also:year and capitano del popolo for ten years. See also:Florence and See also:Lucca took See also:advantage of the Pisan defeat to attack the See also:republic, but Ugolino succeeded in pacifying them by ceding certain castles. He was however less anxious to make peace with Genoa, for the return of the Pisan prisoners, including most of the leading Ghibellines, would have diminished his See also:power. He was now the most influential See also:man in Pisa, and was preparing to establish his See also:absolute See also:sovereignty, when for some See also:reason not clearly understood he was forced to See also:share his power with his See also:nephew Nino Visconti, son of Giovanni.

The duumvirate did not last, and the count and Nino soon quarrelled. Then Ugolino tried to consolidate his position by entering into negotiations with the See also:

archbishop, Ruggieri degli Ubaldini, the See also:leader of the Ghibellines. But that party having revived once more, the archbishop obliged both Nino and Ugolino to leave the city, and had himself elected podestd and capitano del popolo. However, he allowed Ugolino to return soon afterwards, and was even ready to See also:divide the See also:government of the city with him, although he refused to admit his armed followers. The count, determined to be See also:sole See also:master, attempted to get his followers into the city by way of the See also:Arno, and Ruggieri, realizing the danger, aroused the citizens, accusing Ugolino of treachery for having ceded the castles, and after a day's See also:street fighting (See also:July 1, 1288), Gherardesca was captured and immured together with his sons Gaddo and Uguccione, and his grandsons Nino (surnamed it Brigata) and Anselmuccio, in the Muda, a See also:tower belonging to the Gualandi family; here they were detained for nine months, and then starved to See also:death. The historic details of the See also:episode are still involved in some obscurity, and although mentioned by See also:Villani and other writers, it owes its fame entirely to See also:Dante, who placed Ugolino and Ruggieri in the second See also:ring (Antenora) of the lowest circle of the Inferno (See also:canto xxxii. 124-140 and xxxiii. 1-90). This terrible but magnificent passage, which includes " See also:thirty lines unequalled by any other thirty lines in the whole dominion of See also:poetry " (See also:Landor), has been paraphrased by See also:Chaucer in the " See also:Monk's See also:Tale " and more recently by See also:Shelley. But the reason why Dante placed Ugolino among the traitors is not by any means clear, as the flight from La Meloria was not regarded as treachery by any writer earlier than the 16th See also:century, although G. del Noce, in Il See also:Conte U. della Gherardesca (Citta di See also:Castello, 1894), states that that was the only See also:motive; See also:Bartoli, in vol. vi. of his Storia della Letteratura italidna, suggests Ugolino's alliance with the Ghibellines as the motive. The cession of the castles was not treachery Io but an See also:act of See also:necessity, owing to the desperate conditions of Pisa.

End of Article: DELLA GHERARDESCA, UGOLINO (c. 1220-1289)

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