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| Toynbee "Traversaro, Pier" |
member of the powerful Traversari family of Ravenna, born c. 1145,
died, at the age of 80, 1225; he was of great influence and
authority in Ravenna, with the history of which he was closely
identified for nearly fifty years; he was several times
podestà of the city, an office which was filled by members
of his house at least ten times in the forty years between 1180 and
1220. Piero, whose family were by tradition adherents of the
Empire, was a staunch Ghibelline and enjoyed the confidence of the
Emperor Frederick II. Among his own adherents were Guido del Duca
of Bertinoro
([Purg. xiv. 81]), and the Mainardi of the same town
([Purg. xiv. 97]). Piero, whom Benvenuto describes as 'vir
magnanimus et magnificus, qui filiam suam tradidit in uxorem
Stephano regi Hungariae', was a patron of the troubadours, among
them Aimeric de Peguilhan
(V.E. II. vi. 6) who sang the praises of his wife Imilia, a
daughter of the house of the Conti Guidi. On the death of Piero at
Ravenna in 1225, he was succeeded by his son Paolo who, deserting
the traditions of his family, became a Guelph. Paolo died at
Ravenna in 1240, and with him departed the power and splendour of
the 'domus Traversariorum', the representatives of which were
finally expelled from Ravenna by the Polenta family, who in 1310
entered into possession of all that was left of their inheritance.
[See T. Casini, Dante e la Rornagna, GD, i (1894), 1927, 112�124,
303�313.]
Pier Traversaro is mentioned by Guido del Duca (in Circle II of
Purgatory), together with his contemporary Arrigo Mainardi, among
the worthies of Romagna,
[Purg. xiv. 98]
[Guido del Duca]; the Traversari family is
mentioned as being (in 1300) without heirs,
[Purg. xiv. 107-108]
[Traversara, casa.]
©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