From the 21st century, the centuries-old war between Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy looks no more reasonable than the enmity between blunt-pointed and pointed-pointed ones in Gulliver's Travels. The degree of absurdity is well illustrated by the bloody and fruitless battle of Zappolino.
In 1215, the Florentine major Buondelmonte de Buondelmonti, in a fight at a banquet, stabbed a representative of the Arriga family with a knife. To make amends and avoid revenge, he promised to marry the victim's niece, but broke his oath and became engaged to another. On the wedding day, when Buondelmonti, dressed in white, rode a white horse to his bride, he was stabbed to death by the attackers on the street of Arrigi with their allies.
According to the chronicler Dino Compagni, the inhabitants of Florence, and then the whole of Italy, who sympathize with different sides of the criminal history, were divided into two parties - the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. The confrontation between the groups lasted four centuries and largely determined the history of the country.
Of course, in reality, the reasons for the conflict did not resemble the plot of a melodrama.
In the 16th century, when the Florentine calcio arose, teams from the Guelph and Ghibelline districts of the city played with each other. Photo: Lorenzo Noccioli / Wikipedia.
WHO IS THE MAIN AFTER GOD?
The Holy Roman Empire came into being 500 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Unlike the centralized state created by Julius Caesar, it was a flexible union of hundreds of feudal lands centered in Germany. It was joined by the Czech Republic, Burgundy, and some regions of France and Italy.
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The emperors dreamed of power over the entire Christian world. Popes too. The collision was inevitable. In 1155, the imperial crown was put on by Frederick I Barbarossa. Along with the crusades, among the main projects of the German monarch was the complete submission of Italy: bringing the vassals to order, conquering independent cities, pacifying the Holy See.
The anti-imperial opposition in Rome was led by the chancellor of the papal court, Orlando Bandinelli. In 1159, by a vote of 25 out of 29 cardinals gathered, he was elected the new pope under the name of Alexander III. According to the protocol, Bandinelli was to put on the papal mantle. At that moment, Cardinal Ottaviano di Monticelli, a supporter of the emperor, snatched out the mantle and tried to put it on. After a fight, Alexander and the support group left the meeting, and the three remaining cardinals elected Monticelli as Pope Victor IV.
In the struggle between the empire, popes and antipopes, city-states, trade and craft guilds, family clans chose their side forever or until a convenient opportunity to cross. The Guelphs supported the Holy See, the Ghibellines - the emperor. Independent cities like Venice fueled war to weaken competitors. The German and Spanish crusaders who returned from Palestine sold their services to everyone.
The last bridges between the pope and the emperor, and therefore between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, were burned in 1227. Emperor Frederick II prematurely and unauthorizedly returned from the Crusade, into which he was pushed out with great difficulty to free Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher. Pope Gregory IX was furious, accused Frederick of breaking a sacred vow, excommunicated him and called him the Antichrist.
PRELUDE TO THE BUCKET
The enmity of the Italian city-states was aggravated by the small distances between them. Imperial Modena and papal Bologna, for example, were separated by less than fifty kilometers. Therefore, territorial disputes did not end, and hostilities could be waged without regard to logistics.
In 1296 the Bolognese attacked the lands of Modena, captured two castles and moved the border pillars. The acquisitions of the Guelphs were immediately consecrated by the Pope. The war turned cold until the rule over Modena for 20 thousand florins from the emperor was bought by Rinaldo Bonacolsi from the family of the rulers of Mantua. The talented military commander was physically miniature and therefore bore the nickname Sparrow.
Border skirmishes from this time intensified, and in 1323 the pope declared Bonacolsi an enemy of the Catholic Church. Any Christian who could kill the lord of Modena or damage his property was promised absolution. That is, the war with the Sparrow was equated with the Crusade.
In June 1325, Bologna militias looted several farms in the vicinity of Modena, burned fields and mocked, shelling the city with crossbows. In retaliation, the Modena, having bribed the commandant, captured the important Bologna fort of Monteveio. Business as usual in medieval Italy, it wasn't even considered a war yet.
According to legend, the war began over an oak bucket.
One night, the Ghibellines, to show their courage, entered Bologna and plundered a little. The booty was piled into a bucket, with which they took water from the city well, and taken to Modena. Everything stolen was private property, except for the government bucket. Bologna demanded to return it, Modena refused.
Such a trifle led to one of the largest battles of the Middle Ages and the death of 2 thousand people.
A depiction of the battle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, chronicle by Giovanni Sercambi, 14th century. Source: Le Croniche di Giovanni Sercambi lucchese / Wikipedia.
GOOD DAY TO DIE
The Guelph and Ghibelline bucket dispute was perceived as a long-awaited occasion for a big battle. Both sides hoped for a decisive victory to turn the tide of the tedious conflict.
Detachments from Florence and Romagna arrived to help Bologna. The ruler of Verona, Malatestino Malatesta, took command of the forces of the papists. Under his command were 2 thousand horse and 30 thousand foot soldiers, most of whom were poorly armed militias.
Modena was supported by Mantua and Ferrara. A detachment of German mercenaries was given by the ruler of Milan, Azzone Visconti. The soldier and ruler of Verona, Can Grande della Scala, nicknamed Big Dog, the leader of the imperial faction in Northern Italy, was brought in. The ghibellines had only 5 thousand infantrymen, but they were all strong professionals. Part of the 2 thousand horsemen under the command of Sparrow were German knights - the military elite of that time.
On the afternoon of November 15, 1325, the Ghibellines began the battle at the Zappolino castle, the last fortification on the road to Bologna. Historians consider the chroniclers' data on the number of participants in most of the battles of that time to be exaggerated. But in this case, there is no doubt that one of the largest European battles of the Middle Ages took place under Zappolino.
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By order of Sparrow, the foot mercenaries struck the center of the Guelphs, and the defector from Bologna, Gangalando Bertucci, led the cavalry into a flank attack. Two hours later, the ranks of the Bologna soldiers wavered. Retreating interfered with the shooting of the crossbowmen, panic engulfed suitable fresh troops.
By nightfall, the retreat of the papists turned into a general flight all the way to Bologna. On the battlefield there were 2 thousand killed. The pursuers captured 6 small castles along the way and captured three dozen noble Guelphs. The only thing that prevented Bertucci's riders from breaking into the city was a delay in plundering the outskirts. The Modenians did not organize an assault, but mockingly held a knightly tournament under the walls "in honor of the participants in the operation and the eternal shame of Bologna."
The oak bucket, like a valuable trophy, was exhibited by the Modena on the main bell tower of the city. Now a copy is kept there, and the original was transferred to the city hall.
Replica of a bucket in the bell tower of Modena Cathedral.
WHAT WAS NEXT:
- In January 1326, an armistice was signed. The Bolognese bribed Sparrow Bonacolsi and received back all the castles and lands captured by the Modena. The results of the battle with 2 thousand killed were zero. In fact, that oak bucket was the only acquisition of the Ghibellines.
- In 1328, the Gonzaga clan, with the help of the ruler of Verona, Can Grande della Scala, organized a coup in Mantua. The sparrow was killed. Gonzaga kept his mummified body as a souvenir for another three hundred years in his palace.
- The war between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines went on with varying success until 1529. When Charles I, King of Spain and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire invaded Italy, the patriotic Ghibellines did not support the emperor, but united with the Pope and the Guelphs.
Kirill Danilchenko