Alberico da Romano (1196 – 26 August 1260), calledAlberico II, was anItaliancondottiero,troubadour, and an alternatinglyGuelph and Ghibelline statesman. He was also a patron ofOccitan literature.
Alberico was born in thecastle ofSan Zenone toEzzelino II da Romano and Adelaide Alberti di Mangona. He was a brother ofEzzelino III andCunizza. He married twice. From his first marriage to a noblewoman fromVicenza named Beatrice, he had one daughter, Adelaide, who married Rinaldo d'Este in 1235, and five sons: Ezzelino, killed in battle in 1243; Alberico; Romano; Ugolino; and Giovanni. From his second marriage to Margherita he had three daughters: Griselda, Tornalisce, and Amabilia.
Politically allied with his brother Ezzelino, Alberico served aspodestà of Vicenza on behalf of theEmperor Frederick II in 1227. In 1239 he became detached from the Ghibelline faction and allied with the GuelphGuecellone da Camino. That same year he aided theMilanese against the emperor. In 1240, as a Guelph, he conqueredTreviso and became itspodestà, governing it as a Ghibelline until 1257.Pope Alexander IV excommunicated him and, in 1259, on the death of his brother following theBattle of Cassano d'Adda, he was chased from the city of Treviso and took refuge in the castle of San Zenone with most of his family.
On 25 August 1260 the Guelph troops ofVenice,Trento,Padua, and Vicenza invested San Zenone. Completely circled and with no possibility of mounting a defence, Alberico surrendered in the hopes of saving his and his relatives' lives. The hatred his brother had incurred, however, was too great. The following day his sons, some still young children, were chopped to pieces before his eyes while he languished in chains. His female relatives were paraded naked through the streets and then burned alive. Alberico, having been forced to assist in their execution, was then tortured with hot irons, tied to the tail of a horse, and dragged through the streets of Treviso until dead. The chroniclerSalimbene de Adam recorded that "Vidi ista oculis meis" ("I saw this with my own eyes").
Alberico was a friend and patron of troubadours and anOccitan poet himself. He is known to have had contact withSordello andUc de Saint Circ. Folios 153r to 211r of thechansonnier known as MSD, now α, R.4.4 in theBiblioteca Estense,Modena, form theLiber Alberici ("Book of Alberic"). TheLiber'srubric reads:Hec sunt inceptiones cantionum de libro qui fuit domini Alberici et nomini repertorum earundem cantionem. The chansonnier was produced in 1254 in Lombardy under Alberico's patronage.
Alberico has been identified as the author of the poemNa Maria, pretç e fina valors. The rubric identifies the composer as onenabieiris de roman (ornabietris...), which could be a corruption ofN'Albric de Roman; however, the name is usually considered a corruption of "Beatriz" and the poem is assigned toBieiris de Romans by most scholars today. Alberico does have one other work extant, atenso he composed with Uc:Mesier Albric, so.m prega Ardisons.
Alberico also has a connection to theSicilian School of poetry. The man he replaced at Treviso was the Sicilian poetJacopo de Morra di Puglia.
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