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Ezzelino | |
|---|---|
| Podestà ofVerona | |
.jpg) Portrait of Ezzelino III da Romano byCristofano dell'Altissimo. | |
| Reign | 1226–30, 1232–59 |
| Successor | Mastino I della Scala |
| Other titles | Podestà ofPadua (1236–59) Podestà ofVicenza (1237–56) |
| Born | (1194-04-25)25 April 1194 Tombolo |
| Died | 7 October 1259(1259-10-07) (aged 65) Castle of Soncino |
| Family | Ezzelini |
| Spouse | |
| Father | Ezzelino II da Romano |
| Occupation | statesman, commander |
Ezzelino III da Romano (25 April 1194,Tombolo – 7 October 1259) was an Italian feudal lord, a member of theEzzelini family, in theMarch of Treviso (in modernVeneto). He was a close ally of the emperorFrederick II (r. 1220–1250), and ruledVerona,Vicenza andPadua for almost two decades.[1] He became infamous as a cruel tyrant, and was, in fact, the most "notorious" of the "early tyrants".[2]
Ezzelino was a son ofEzzelino II da Romano, ruler ofBassano del Grappa and other fiefs in the Veneto, and Adelaide D'egli Alberti di Mangona, who came from a family of counts inTuscany. At the age of four years, he was sent as a hostage to Verona, but nothing else is known about his childhood or education. In 1213, he took part in the siege of the castle ofEste, which belonged to his father's archenemy, marquessAzzo VI of Este, who died in 1212 and later to his son Aldobrandino. According to the chroniclerRolandino of Padua, the young Ezzelino already showed a keen interest in siegecraft and acquired a hatred of the Este which would last his entire life.
When Ezzelino II retired to a monastery in 1223, his possessions went to his sonsAlberico, who received the castles and villages in the countryside of Vicenza (including the important centre of Bassano del Grappa) and Ezzelino, who received the possessions in the countryside of Treviso. In 1226 Ezzelino intervened in a factional struggle in Verona, aiding the Monticuli and Quattuorviginti against their enemies, the so-calledpars comitis ("party of the count"), which was headed by the Veronese countRichard of San Bonifacio. From this time onwards Ezzelino became an important factor in Veronese politics and in 1226-1227 he had becomepodestà or Lord Mayor of that city. He briefly lost Verona, but regained it in 1230.[3]
At this time control over Verona was important because Frederick II was in conflict with the SecondLombard League, an alliance of cities inNorthern Italy. Whoever controlled Verona could block theBrenner Pass through theAlps, and thereby prevent the arrival of reinforcements for Frederick from Germany. Initially, Ezzelino favoured the Lombard League which could block the Brenner and emerge victorious from its first confrontation with the Emperor. However, he and his brother Alberico later changed sides, when it became apparent that the League favoured their enemies in the March, particularly the Este and the San Bonifacio (Sambonifacio).
In 1232 the brothers struck an alliance with Frederick and received an imperial privilege of protection. However, four years passed before the emperor could personally intervene in the March of Treviso. The years 1232–1236 were therefore very difficult for Ezzelino and Alberico, who were assailed by many enemies, primarily the San Bonifacio, the Este and the city of Padua.
In 1236, Frederick II finally arrived in the March of Treviso. Because Ezzelino and his Veronese allies, the Monticuli and Quattuorviginti, had gained control of Verona in early 1236, the emperor could bring reinforcements across theAlps, including 3000 Germanmen-at-arms. In a campaign that began in November 1236 Frederick and Ezzelino, who was becoming an increasingly important ally of the emperor, subjugated all the important cities of the March of Treviso: Vicenza was conquered in November 1236, Padua and Treviso surrendered in February/March 1237.
In 1236 Ezzelino married Selvaggia, Frederick's natural daughter who was thirteen years old at the time; conqueredVerona and by treason Padua, seizing the position ofpodestà of that city. In Padua he had the monkGiordano Forzatè arrested and exiled.
Ezzelino was one of the protagonists in the Ghibelline-Imperial victory ofCortenuova (1237) and in 1239 was named Imperial viceroy for theMarch of Treviso.[3] His long-lasting struggle againstAzzo VII of Este, the new duke of theEste ended with the total defeat of the latter and the annexion of many territories.
After a failed pacification attempt by Frederick, as soon as the emperor departed Ezzelino attacked the Este, submitting Treviso - even though it was his brother's fief -Belluno andFeltre. He was now lord of all lands between the city ofTrento and theOglio river and had acquired a reputation for cruelty and the regular use oftorture against all enemies and alleged plotters, in the cities he ruled. In 1249, five years after Selvaggia's death at the age of just 21 years, he marriedBeatrice di Buontraverso.
After Frederick's death in 1250, Ezzelino supported his son,Conrad IV. There was growing disgust at Ezzelino's cruel behavior,[3] and in 1254 he wasexcommunicated byPope Innocent IV, who also launched acrusade against him. He had reconciled with his brother and allied himself with other seigneurs of the Veneto andLombardy, attacking Padua, which resisted, and Brescia, which was instead sacked after an easy victory of his German knights over the crusaders' army. In 1258 he launched a broad Ghibelline offensive in Lombardy and Veneto along withOberto Pallavicino ofCremona. After a failed attempt to assaultMilan itself, he was wounded by an arrow in the course of theBattle of Cassano d'Adda and had to retreat but was captured nearBergamo. He killed himself by intentional self-neglect during his imprisonment in the castle ofSoncino, near the city of Cremona in Lombardy. In the following year his brother Alberico was put to death, and the Romano family became extinct.[3]
It was only after his death that the alliance between Sambonifacio and Este fell apart.[1]
Much of what we know about Ezzelino comes from a literary tradition that was embroidered over the course of centuries; despite the brevity of his reign, Ezzelino's reputed cruelty became symbolic of tyranny, poets and chroniclers living in recent memory of his tactics used his name to evoke the sense of arbitrary power and the moral transgressions it enabled; fourteenth century authors raised the level of accusation, insisting that Ezzelino's parentage was demonic.Rolandino of Padua'sChronicle of the Trevisan March (c. 1262) charts the rise and the fall of the 'da Romano' family, introducing Ezzelino as a young man throwing stones at the home of the family rival; the extremely partisan political work follows the fortunes of Padua under the tyrant's iron grip up to thecommune's liberation by the Guelph League.Albertino Mussato'sEcerinis ( c. 1315 ) portrays Ezzelino as the son of theDevil; the Latin verse play introduces Ezzelino's mother, who provides testimony of the tyrant's infernal sire.InDante Aligheri'sDivine Comedy, his soul is consigned toHell, where Dante encounters him in the Seventh Circle, First Ring: the Violent against their Neighbors (Inferno, XII, 109). His younger sisterCunizza is also cited by Dante, inParadise, IX, 31-33.
Before Ezzelino, the seizing of political power in city-states throughout the Middle Ages, had been based on real or pretended inheritance claims or else were directed against infidels and the excommunicated; but with him, as the historianJacob Burkhardt relates, "Here for the first time the attempt was openly made to found a throne by wholesale murder and endless barbarities, by the adoption in short, of any means with a view to nothing but the end pursued."[4] The example set by the success of this kind of ruthlessness, was not lost on the future tyrants of late Middle Age and early Renaissance Italy.
