Guelphs and Ghibellines – The Medici Podcast

A picture of the Mugello Valley in Tuscany. Source: Christian Lorenz

Sometime before the dawn of the fourteenth century, a family named the Medici moved from a small village in the Mugello Valley in the Apennines to the bustling city of Florence. Eventually, they became successful bankers and one member was elected to the republic’s top office. They also jumped right into the city’s latest violent class and factional civil war.

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Once upon a time, there was a courageous knight named Averardo. He fought well for Emperor Charlemagne, freeing Italy from the tyranny of the Lombards. While traveling through the Mugello Valley, he caught word of a giant who was terrorizing the people who lived there. Averardo challenged this Goliath to one-on-one combat. The giant tried to brain Averardo with his mace, but he lifted his golden shield at the pivotal moment, holding the shield so strongly that the mace shattered against it. However, it left the shield dented with the iron balls off the mace. Even with his shield damaged, however, Averardo was able to overpower and kill the cruel giant. Impressed by his feats, Charlemagne himself granted Averardo the right to use the dented shield, iron balls and all, as his family insignia. With that, Averardo graciously accepted the invitation of the people he liberated to settle in the valley. There, his descendants became known as the Medici family.

Episode 3: Gang War

Starting out as an ill-advised prank at a party, the feud between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines in Florence forever changed the city’s history. It would wrap Florence up in the struggle between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, eventually toppling the city’s aristocratic republic and creating something rather new in its place, the Primo Popolo.

A map of Italy around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Source: Muir’s Historical Atlas via Fordham University’s Medieval History Sourcebook.

The Florentine Guelf flag, which became the official flag of the City of Florence.

The Bargello, formerly the Palazzo del Popolo. Source: VisitFlorence.com.

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Transcript

let’s go back in time to a humble little village called Campi, which is today a municipality in the Florentine metro area but was in the twelfth century six miles outside Florence. There two of the most powerful noble families in Florence, the Uberti and the Buondelmonti, were present to celebrate the knighting of a young nobleman. The Buondelmonti and the Uberti were rivals with their own networks of allies among the various noble families, many of whom were present, so tensions were high. During the banquet, a jester, either on his own initiative or at someone’s malicious suggestion, grabbed a plate of food that Uberto dell’Infangati was just about to dig into. This caused a fight to break out, during which Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti, who wasn’t even involved in the original altercation, stabbed Oddo Arrighi.