Toynbee "Lombardo_1"

In this last passage, Cacciaguida (in the Heaven of Mars), foretelling D.'s exile, tells him that his first refuge shall be with the great Lombard che 'n su la scala porta il santo uccello, i.e. who bears as his arms the imperial eagle over the ladder. The reference is clearly to some member of the Della Scala family, but there is some difficulty in deciding who is the particular individual intended [Scala, Della]. Nearly all the early commentators, including Pietro di Dante, who ought to have known take the reference to be to Bartolomeo della Scala. After the death of Ezzelino III, Mastino della Scala was elected captain of Verona (1262). He was succeeded (in 1277) by his brother Alberto della Scala, who had four sons, Bartolomeo, Albuino, Can Grande, and Giuseppe, the abbot of San Zeno ([Purg. xviii. 124]). Alberto died in 1301, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Bartolomeo, who died in March 1303/4. He in turn was succeeded by his younger brother, Albuino, with whom was associated (in 1308) the third brother, Can Grande. These two ruled conjointly until Dec. 1311, when, on the death of Albuino, Can Grande became absolute lord of Verona, and head of the Ghibelline party in Lombardy. Of these five persons, the father, Alberto, is excluded by the fact that he died in 1301, whereas D. did not go into exile until 1302. The second son, Albuino, is, in the opinion of most commentators, excluded by the fact that D. speaks of him elsewhere with contempt though some maintain that no slur is intended in the passage in question (Conv. IV. xvi. 6):

Bene sono alquanti folli che credono che per questo vocabulo 'nobile' s'intenda 'essere da molti nominato e conosciuto', . . . questo è falsissimo; chè, se ciò fosse quali cose più fossero nomate e conosciute in loro genere, più sarebbero in loro genere nobili: e così la guglia di San Piero sarebbe la più nobile pietra del mondo; e Asdente, lo calzolaio da Parma, sarebbe più nobile che alcuno suo cittadino; e Albuino de la Scala sarebbe più nobile che Guido da Castello di Reggio: che ciascuna di queste cose è falsissima.

The third son, Can Grande, is excluded by the fact that he is expressly alluded to independently in the same passage (Conv. IV. xvi. 76-81) as one whom D. shall see with the gran Lombardo, and special mention is made of his tender years (la novella età, Conv. IV. xvi. 80); he was at that time only 9 years old.

The youngest son, Giuseppe, the abbot of San Zeno, of whom D. speaks so severely ([Purg. xviii. 124-126]), is out of the question. The only member of the family, therefore, to whom the reference can be, seems to be the eldest son, Bartolomeo. It has been objected in his case that the gran Lombardo is spoken of as bearing the imperial eagle above the family ladder, whereas in the time of Bartolomeo the Scaligers did not bear the imperial eagle on their arms. This, however, as Scartazzini points out, is a mistake of D. himself, and the objection might be urged equally against any of the other members of the family; for D. makes Cacciaguida, speaking in 1300 (the date of the Journey), say that the Scaliger in question bears (porta) the imperial eagle on his arms, the fact being that the first of the family to be created imperial vicar was Albuino, who was appointed to the office by Henry VII in 1311. Butler suggests that Bartolomeo adopted the eagle as a sign of devotion to the imperial cause; but even so, since he did not succeed his father Alberto until 1301, the description in the text could hardly have applied to him in 1300.

[For the view that il gran Lombardo is Can Grande, see C. Hardie, Traditio, x (1963), 267-294]