We go back over around 50 years from the death of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II to beyond 1300 to retrace the steps of the kingdom of Sicily, the war of the Sicilian Vespers, the northern communes and maritime republics as well as looking over at Sardinia and keeping an eye as always on the papacy.
Tag: Ghibelline
After definitively defeating the Ghibellines, the Florentine Guelphs need new enemies so they split into White and Black Guelphs, catching Dante Alighieri, who had entered politics just a few years before, in a crossfire that will have dire consequences. On a literary level, he starts to get the idea of a sort od mid life crisis travel book…
Before saying goodbye to the 13th century, we take a quick tour of the peninsula to tie up some loose ends, such as the maritime republics, Piedmont and the situation with the communes.
We take a look back at the negotiation and the dealings that brought Charles of Anjou into Italy. Then Marco Cappelli tells us about the last stand of Conradine of Hohenstauen at the battle that took place near Marco’s home town Tagliacozzo.
We take a look at what happened to the sons of Frederick II, Conrad, Henry and Manfredi. In the case of Manfredi we see his rise to influence over almost all of Italy before it all came crashing down with the invasion of Charles of Anjou.