Toynbee "Omberto"

As D. and Virgil pass through the Circle of the Proud, the latter asks the spirits to tell them which is their nearest way to the next ascent ([Purg. xi. 37-45]); one of the spirits (that of Omberto) indicates a passage by which they can ascend ([Purg. xi. 46-51]); he then proceeds to tell his own history, how he belonged to a great Tuscan family, his father's name being Guiglielmo Aldobrandesco, of whom they possibly may have heard ([Purg. xi. 52-60]), and how pride in the ancient blood and noble deeds of his ancestry was the cause of his death at the hands of the Sienese at Campagnatico ([Purg. xi. 61-66]); after naming himself, he explains that he and those of his house all suffered for their pride and that he himself is now paying the penalty for it in Purgatory ([Purg. xi. 67-72]) [Aldobrandeschi: Guiglielmo Aldobrandesco] [Campagnatico].

Benvenuto and a few of the early commentators state that Omberto was slain in a skirmish with the Sienese. Benvenuto says:

. . . fuit iste Humbertus, qui hic loquitur, juvenis quidem strenuus et animosus valde: qui cum exivisset probiter contra inimicos ad unum avisamentum, interfectus fuit in campo apud unum suum castellum, quod dicitur Campagnaticum.

The battle referred to took place at Campagnatico in May 1259. Recent researches and a certain Sienese chronicle confirm this account of Omberto's death and give special meaning to [Purg. xi. 64-65] in attesting his 'proud' daring in the battle:

Mai [Omberto] non si volse arendare per sospetto di none essare menatto a Siena. E inanzi che lui morisse amazò di molta giente, inperochè lui s'armò, lui e 'l chavallo, e corriva perlla Piazza di Champagnatico com'un dragho. E se non fusse uno, che lancio uno spiedo, e gonsse al chavallo in sulla testa, che di subitto cade mortto, perchè del colppo gionto fece uscire le cervella; el Chonte che v'era su rimasse a piedi, e fugli tanta giente adosso, che non pottè schanpare, e fu feritto cor una maza di ferro in sulla testa, e Manaresi e Falconi gli furo adosso per tal modo, che gli fecero lasare questo mondo. (From BSDI, xvii (1910), 128.)

Another version of Omberto's death reports that he was suffocated in his bed by hired assassins of the commune of Siena:

In questo anno fu morto il Conte Uberto di Santa Fiore in Campagnatico, e fu affogato in sul letto da Stricha Tebalducci, da Pelacane di Ranieri Ulivieri, e da Turchio Marragozzi; e fello affogare il Comune di Siena per denari. [Agnolo Dei, Cron.; in L. A. Muratori, RIS, xv p. 28.]

But this report, in the light of D.'s verses, would seem, at least, not to be the version followed by D.