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| Toynbee "Ordelaffi" |
family alluded to by D., in conversation with Guido da Montefeltro
(in Bolgia 8 of Circle VIII of Hell), as being (in the year 1300)
rulers of Forlì; he says that it was under the dominion of 'the
green claws', le branche verdi,
[Inf. xxvii. 43-45]
[Forlì]; the member of the family who was ruler at the
time was Scarpetta degli Ordelaffi, who bore on the upper half of
his escutcheon on a field or a lion rampant vert, or as the
Anonimo Fiorentino describes it:
. . . uno scudo dal mezzo in giù addogato, da indi in su uno mezzo
leone verde nel campo giallo.
It is probable that D. was at Forlì early in his years of exile,
in 1303, as aide and secretary in the service of Scarpetta degli
Ordelaffi, who was captain of the Bianchi forces (1302-3). [See
OD, p. 413, n. 5; and M. Barbi, Dante: Vita, opere e
fortuna (Firenze, 1933), p. 23.]
©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