Toynbee "Alberigo, frate"
Friar Alberigo (so called because he was one of the Jovial Friars, which order he joined in or before 1267), a member of the Manfredi family, the Guelph lords of Faenza (to which Tebaldello also belonged [Inf. xxii. 122]), and father of Ugolino Bucciola (V.E. I. xiv. 3) [Bucciola, Ugolinus: Frati Godenti]; placed by Dante in Tolomea, the third division of Circle IX of Hell, among those who betrayed their guests, [Inf. xxxiii. 118]; un de' tristi de la fredda crosta, [Inf. xxxiii. 109]; lui, [Inf. xxxiii. 115], [Inf. xxxiii. 121], [Inf. xxxiii. 139], [Inf. xxxiii. 150]; el, [Inf. xxxiii. 142]; il peggiore spirto di Romagna, [Inf. xxxiii. 154] [Tolomea: Traditori]. As Dante and Virgil pass among the traitors in Tolomea, one of them (Alberigo), taking the poets for damned spirits on their way to Giudecca, begs them to remove the crust of ice from his face that he may weep, [Inf. xxxiii. 109-114]; Dante undertakes to do so if he will reveal his identity, and on hearing who he is expresses surprise that he is already dead ([Inf. xxxiii. 115-121]); A. says that he knows not how his body fares upon earth and then explains to D. the 'privilege' possessed by Tolomea, viz. that of receiving the souls of traitors like himself immediately after the act of treachery, while the body upon earth is tenanted by a fiend until its death ([Inf. xxxiii. 122-133]); he then points out the soul of Branca d'Oria of Genoa, who had murdered his father-in-law ([Inf. xxxiii. 134-138]); D. does not believe him, saying that he knows Branca to be still alive ([Inf. xxxiii. 139-141]); but A. explains that the soul of B. had descended to Hell even before that of his victim and that its place in his body was occupied by a devil, as was also the case with the soul of his accomplice in the crime ([Inf. xxxiii. 142-147]) [Branca d'Oria]. A. now claims the fulfilment of D.'s promise to remove the ice from his face, but D. refuses to do so and, with an imprecation on the Genoese, departs from him ([Inf. xxxiii. 148-157]). [Branca d'Oria].

The circumstances of Alberigo's crime according to Benvenuto, were as follows. In 1286 (more probably in 1284), his close relative ('consanguineus') Manfred, in order to obtain the lordship of Faenza, plotted against him and in a dispute which occurred in consequence struck Alberigo; the latter, however, pretended to forgive the insult on the ground that it was the act of an impetuous youth, and a reconciliation took place. Later on, when he thought the matter had been forgotten, Alberigo invited Manfred and one of his sons to a banquet (at his house at Cesate, May 2, 1285); the repast over, he called out, 'Bring the fruit', at which signal some assassins, who had been concealed behind the tapestry, rushed out and dispatched father and son before his eyes. Hence 'le male frutta di frate Alberigo' passed into a proverb. Villani, in recording the murder of a brother of Alberigo by his nephew in 1327, says;

. . . così mostrò che non volesse tralignare e del nome e del fatto di frate Alberigo suo zio, che diede le male frutta a' suoi consorti, faccendogli tagliare e uccidere al suo convito. ({Villani. x. 27}.)

Benvenuto says:

. . . iste vocatus est frater Albericus de Faventia civitate de Manfredis nobilibus et potentibus, qui saepe habuerunt dominium illius civitatis; et fuit de fratribus Gaudentibus. . . .Fuerunt autem in dicta domo tres consanguinei eodem tempore, scilicet Albericus praedictus, Alberghettus et Manfredus. Accidit autem, quod in MCCLXXXVI Manfredus, juvenis animosus, cupiditate regnandi, struxit insidias fratri Alberico; et cum [increparetur ex hoc a fratre Alberico, et] devenissent ad graves contentiones verborum, Manfredus ductus impetu irae, dedit fratri alapam magnam, scilicet fratri Alberico. Sed ipse frater Albericus sagacior aliquandiu rem dissimulanter tulit; et tandem cum credidit iniuriam excidisse a memoria illius, finxit velle reconciliare sibi dictum Manfredum dicens, quod parcendum erat calori juvenili. Facta igitur pace, Albericus fecit convivium, cui interfuerunt Manfredus et unus filius eius. Finita coena cum magna alacritate, dixit Albericus: Veniant fructus, et subito eruperunt famuli armati, qui latebant ibi post unam cortinam, qui crudeliter trucidaverunt ad mensam patrem et filium, Alberico vidente et gaudente.

©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press