Toynbee "Guido Guerra_2"
one of the Conti Guidi of the Dovadola line; he was eldest son of Marcovaldo, the fourth son of Guido Guerra IV and of Gualdrada de' Ravignani. Villani, however, makes him the son of Marcovaldo's eldest brother, Ruggero, who, as a matter of fact, died without issue [Guidi, Conti: Table XXIV d.] Guido is one of the Florentines (the other two being Jacopo Rusticucci and Tegghiaio Aldobrandi) seen by D. among the Sodomites in Round 3 of Circle VII of Hell, [Inf. xvi. 4] [Sodomiti]; he is named to D. by Jacopo Rusticucci, who describes him as the grandson of 'the good Gualdrada', and praises both his wisdom and his valour, [Inf. xvi. 34-39] [Gualdrada].

This Guido Guerra was a zealous Guelph, although his family before him appear to have belonged to the imperial party. One of his early exploits was the relief of Ostina (about 20 miles SE. of Florence), which was besieged by the Ghibellines (1250); he thus gave the impulse to the reaction in favour of the Guelphs in Florence. In 1255, he was sent by the Florentine Guelphs to the relief of Orvieto, which was at war with the Ghibellines of Viterbo; and he proceeded, without instructions, to expel the Ghibellines from Arezzo and to take possession of the city, which was at the time at peace with Florence. The Florentines disavowed his proceedings and reinstated the Ghibellines, but Guido refused to retire from Arezzo except on payment of a large sum, which was advanced to the Aretines by the Florentines for the purpose of buying him off ({Villani, vi. 61}). Guido Guerra was one of those who attempted to dissuade the Florentine Guelphs from undertaking the disastrous expedition against Siena in 1260, which resulted in the defeat at Montaperti, and the ruin of the Guelph party in Florence ({Villani, vi. 77}) [Aldobrandi, Tegghiaio]. In consequence of this reverse the Guelphs fled from Florence and took refuge in Romagna, where Guido acted as their leader. At the Battle of Benevento (1265/6) he materially contributed to the defeat of Manfred, his troop of Florentine and Tuscan Guelphs doing such good service on behalf of Charles of Anjou that Manfred exclaimed bitterly, 'Where are my Ghibellines for whom I have made such sacrifices?' ({Villani, vii. 8}). Guido Guerra died in 1272 at Montevarchi in the Valdarno, where he usually resided. The following character of him is given by Filippo Villani:

. . . fu uomo di grande animo, che selllpre pensava e desiderava cose grandi, uomo gagliardo e bellicoso, e di fatti d'arme peritissirno. . . .Fu molto guelfo, spesso capitano, sprezzatore de' pericoli, e quasi troppo sollecito ne' casi subiti, d'ingegno e d'animo maraviglioso, donde spesso i fatti quasi perduti riparava, e spesso quasi tolse la vittoria di mano a' nemici: d'animo alto e liberale, e giocondo molto, da' cavalieri amato, cupido di gloria, ma per l'opere buone da lui fatte . . . morendo senza figliuoli, lasciò erede il comune di Firenze . . . Fu chiamato Guerra per lo continuo uso della guerra, nella quale infino da giovine era invecchiato, di quella mirabilmente dilettandosi.

Benvenuto says of him:

. . . describit autor dictum comitem a nomine proprio et ab agnomine proprio, dicens: . . . Guido Guerra ebbe nome; et bene sibi convenit utrumque, quia fuit magnanimus dux multorum, et bene guidavit et fuit magnus guerriger et vir bellicosus multum. . . .hic cornes Guido Guerra, tempore, quo Carolus primus vocatus est ab Ecclesia venit in Italiam contra Manfredum, ivit cum fere cccc equitibus florentinis exulibus obviam Guidoni de Monforte, qui ducebat exercitum Caroli per terram usque Mantuam; deinde transiverunt per Bononiam, Romandiolam, Marchiam et Ducatum, et non potuerunt transire per Tusciam, quia tota erat sub parte ghibellina, et dominio Manfredi; unde multum temporis expendiderunt in via; tandem appulerunt Romam, ubi erat Carolus. Postea Guido cum suis fuit in expugnatione sancti Germani; deinde fuit in bello, quod habuit Carolus contra Manfredum apud Beneventum.

[For further particulars, see M. Barbi, BSDI, vi (1898), 211-212; and P. Santini, SD, vi (1923), 25-44.]

©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