Toynbee "Guido Montefeltrano"

He was the vicar of Corradino in 1268. In 1274, after the expulsion of the Lambertazzi, the Ghibelline party of Bologna, he was summoned to take command of them and of the Ghibellines of Romagna (Villani. vii. 44). In June 1275, at the head of the combined forces of the Ghibellines of Romagna and the exiled Ghibellines of Bologna and Florence, he won a decisive victory at Ponte San Procolo, between Faenza and Imola, over the Guelphs with the Geremei of Bologna under Malatesta da Rimini (Villani. vii. 48), in which nearly 7,000 Guelphs are said to have been killed and 4,000 taken prisoners. In Sept. of the same year he again defeated the Guelphs at Reversano near Cesena, and took possession of the latter town, whence he expelled Malatesta, and of Cervia. In 1276, having been appointed captain of Forlì, he besieged and took Bagnacavallo. In 1282 he held Forlì against the French troops of Martin IV, under the command of Giovanni de Appia (called by Villani Gianni de Pà), count of Romagna, on whom he inflicted severe loss ([Inf. xxvii. 44]) [Forlì]; but in the following year he was driven out by the inhabitants, who had come to terms with the pope, and nearly the whole of Romagna submitted to the Church (Villani. vii. 80-82). In 1286 Guido himself made his submission to the pope (Honorius IV), and was reconciled to the Church, but was banished to Piedmont (Villani. vii. 108). About two years later (probably in March, 1288/9), however, having been elected captain of the Pisan Ghibellines, he returned from exile and went to Pisa, where his arrival was followed by the murder of Count Ugolino; for this act of disobedience the pope excommunicated him and his family, and laid Pisa under an interdict (Villani. vii. 128). Under his leadership the Pisans gained some successes against the Florentines, including the capture of Pontadera in 1291 (Villani. vii. 148); but in 1293, on peace being made between Pisa and Florence, he was dismissed (Villani. viii. 2). In 1292 he made himself master of Urbino which he held and defended against Malatestino of Rimini, who was at that time podestà of Cesena. Shortly afterwards he was once more reconciled to the Church, and late in 1296, he joined the Franciscan order ([Inf. xxvii. 67]). In 1298 he was induced by Boniface VIII to leave his retirement in order to give him advice as to the reduction of the stronghold of Palestrina, which the Colonna family was holding against him (Villani. viii. 23) (see below) [Colonnesi].

Guido (whose son Buonconte was killed at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289, while fighting on the Ghibelline side) died in Sept., 1298, at the age of 75, in the Franciscan monastery at Assisi, where he was buried, according to Angioli [Storia del convento d'Assisi]:

Guidus Montis Feltri, Urbini Comes, ac princeps . . . in ordine pie ac umiliter vixit, errata lacrimis et jejuniis diluens, et religiosissime in sacra Assisiensi domo obiit, ac in ea tumulatus est.

Benvenuto states, on the other hand, that Guido died and was buried at Ancona, he says with reference to his supposed conversion:

. . . dominus Malatesta, cum narraretur sibi a quodam familiari, quod comes Guido erat factus grater minor, respondit: caveamus ergo ne fieret guardianus Arimini . . . devote assumpsit habitum, humiliter servavit regulam, et patienter tulit paupertatem; unde saepe visus est ire publice mendicando panem per Anconam, in qua mortuus est et sepultus; et multa audivi de eo, per quae poterat satis sperari de eius salute.

The Anonimo Fiorentino tells the following anecdote of Guido as a monk:

. . . nell'ultimo, pentutosi et confessatosi, si arrendè a Dio, et fecesi frate dell'ordine di santo Francesco; et dicesi di lui che, andando una fiata verso Fano, increscendogli, montò in su una asina d'uno che andava per la via: egli era sprezzato, et non si curava, in sulla entrata di Fano molti asini ch'crano ivi alla porta incominciorono a ragghiare; uomini ch'erano ivi cominciorono a ridere; il Conte, benchè fosse frate, s'adirò et disse queste parole: lo sono stato gia intorno a Fano con più centinaja d'uomini a cavallo che questi non sono asini; et disse vero, però che sempre, mentre poteo, pericolò Romagna.

D. places Guido, on account of his wicked advice to Pope Boniface, among the Counsellors of evil in Bolgia 8 of Circle VIII of Hell (Malebolge), [Inf. xxvii. 4-132]; un'altra [fiamma], [Inf. xxvii. 4]; foco, [Inf. xxvii. 14]; questi, [Inf. xxvii. 33]; anima, [Inf. xxvii. 36]; foco, [Inf. xxvii. 58]; fiamma, [Inf. xxvii. 63, 131]; questi, [Inf. xxvii. 127]; elli, [Inf. xxvii. 130] [Consiglieri frodolenti].

After Ulysses has finished his story, another spirit (that of Guido da Montefeltro), accosting D. and Virgil out of its flame, asks for news of Romagna, and then refers to the hil-lcountry of Montefeltro to which in life he had belonged ([Inf. xxvii. 4-30]) [Montefeltro]; D., at Virgil's bidding, addresses Guido, he being a 'Latin', and tells him of the present state of Romagna ([Inf. xxvii. 31-54]); he then asks the spirit who he is ([Inf. xxvii. 55-57]); Guido in his reply does not name himself, but relates how he became a Franciscan monk, with the hope of making amends for his past life ([Inf. xxvii. 58-69]), and how Boniface VIII led him back to his former sins ([Inf. xxvii. 70-72]) [Cordigliero], he then explains that while in the flesh 'his doings were not lion-like but like those of a fox' (a quotation from {Cicero. De officiis. i. 13}), and that he had been famed far and wide for his cunning and subtle ways ([Inf. xxvii. 73-78]); that in the decline of life he repented and retired from the world ([Inf. xxvii. 79-84]), but Boniface sought him out and required his aid against the Colonna cardinals, urging him, under promise of absolution, to give his advice as to the capture of Palestrina ([Inf. xxvii. 85-105]); whereupon he yielded and told the pope that by 'long promise with short keeping' he would attain his end ([Inf. xxvii. 106-111]), Guido concludes by describing how after his death St. Francis came for his soul, which was claimed and carried off to Hell by one of the 'black cherubim' ([Inf. xxvii. 112-123]), and condemned by Minos to the eighth circle ([Inf. xxvii. 124-129]); his story over, he disappears, his flame writhing in woe, while D. and V. continue on their way ([Inf. xxvii. 130-136]).

That fraudulent counsel of 'long promise with short keeping' given to the pope by Guido is not an invention of D.'s is amply demonstrated by E. G. Parodi and A. F. Massera [BSDI, xviii (1910), 262 ff., and xxii (1914), 168 ff., respectively], it being reported, independently of D., by the Bolognese chronicler Francesco Pipino and by Riccobaldo of Ferrara, who was writing before 1313. The latter says [as cited by E. G. Parodi, p. 266]:

Erat eo tempore in ordine beati Francisci Guido qui, comes olim de Monte Feretro, dux fuerat bellorum pro Gibilinis. Hunc ad se vocavit papa Boniiacius. Persuadet, ut dux belli sit contra cardinales adversos. Cum omnino talia abnueret constanter, tum ait: -- Saltem me instruas quonam modo eos subigere valeam --. Tum ille: -- Multa promittite, pauca servate de promissis --.

[For the version by F. Pipino, see BSDI, vi (1898), 212; on the relation of the one chronicler to the other, see A. F. Massera, loc. cit.; see also G. Petraglione, GD, xi (1903), 136-142.]

In the Conv. IV. xxviii. 8, D. speaks of Guido as lo nobilissimo nostro latino Guido montefeltrano and couples him with Lancelot as having, like him, devoted himself to religion at the end of his days:

O miseri e vili che con le vele alte correte a questo porto, e là ove dovereste riposare, per lo impeto del vento rompete, e perdete voi medesimi là dove tanto camminato avete! Certo lo cavaliere Lancelotto non volse entrare con le vele alte, ne lo nobilissimo nostro latino Guido montefeltrano. Bene questi nobili calaro le vele de le mondane operazioni, che ne la loro lunga etade a religione si rendero, ogni mondano diletto e opera diponendo.

It is noticeable that D. repeats this same nautical metaphor in connexion with Guido in the D.C. ([Inf. xxvii. 79-81]).