Toynbee "Mainardo Pagano"
Maghinardo or Mainardo Pagano da Susinana, head of the Pagani family, lord of Faenza (1290), Forlì (1291), and Imola (1296). D., in allusion to his arms (on a field argent a lion azure), speaks of him as il leoncel dal nido bianco, [Inf. xxvii. 50]; and informs Guido da Montefeltro (in Bolgia 8 of Circle VIII of Hell) that both Faenza and Imola were at that time under his lordship ([Inf. xxvii. 49-50]); he further speaks of him as changing sides between summer and winter, muta parte da la state al verno ([Inf. xxvii. 51]), in allusion to his support of the Florentine Guelphs although he himself was a Ghibelline (see below); Guido del Duca (in Circle II of Purgatory), apostrophizing the Pagani, speaks of Mainardo as il demonio, [Purg. xiv. 118]. [Pagani.]

Although Mainardo was a Ghibelline by birth, and a staunch supporter of the Ghibellines in Romagna, on the S. side of the Apennines he was equally devoted to the Florentine Guelphs, out of a feeling of gratitude to Florence for the care that had been taken of him and his property by the Florentines after he had been placed under their protection as a minor by his father Piero. Further, documents show that the richest Florentine bankers later underwrote his activities. (See below.)

Instances of his political inconsistency are numerous. He was allied with the Ghibelline Accarisi against the Guelph Manfredi in 1273, and his two brothers, Bonifacio and Paganino, were killed in an encounter, in 1275 he aided the Ghibellines led by Guido da Montefeltro against Guelphs led by Malatesta. Then he aided the Guelph Manfredi, in 1286, in their unsuccessful attacks against Imola and Forlì; a few months later, they succeeded in taking both Faenza and Forlì. He next appears on the side of the Guelphs at the Battle of Campaldino (1289), when the Ghibellines of Arezzo were defeated ({Villani. vii. 131}); but he then expelled the Guelph Manfredi from Faenza, in November, 1290, and made himself master of the city ({Villani. vii. 144}). Later in the same year, with Malatesta and Malatestino, with Guido da Polenta, and with other Guelphs, he made himself lord of Forlì despite the opposition of the Legate Pietro Saraceno. (Podestà of Forlì at that time was Ugolino Cignatta, and Guido da Polenta was captain of the people.) The following year, Mainardo paid homage to the new count of Romagna, Ildebrandino da Romena, but, a little later, he impeded his coming to Faenza; in 1292, together with Rinieri da Calboli, he attacked and occupied Forlì, and he took with him a brother and nephew of Ildebrandino; in 1293 he made himself lord of Montemaggiore (with the help of Bernardino, count of Cunio), the castle of Alessandro da Romena, with whom, however, he was reconciled in 1294; he helped him defeat Tossignano and procure the liberation of the Calbolesi.

Documents dated from 1297 through all of 1299 (belonging to a period in which M., with the marquis of Este, was engaged in fighting Guelphic Bologna) show that some of the richest bankers of Florence underwrote his activities in Romagna, a fact which sheds some light on his amicable relations with the Guelph city. In an act (Faenza, July 2, 1299) 'super palatio Comunis, . . . vir nobilis dominus Maghinardus quondam Petri Paghani de Suxinana, principalis, et pro eo et eius precibus et mandatu', through his agent 'Ottavianus quondam domini Ugolini de Senno de Ubaldinis', borrows 1,000 gold florins for six months. Similar acts follow in a matter of days in a series of loans from several 'campsores' of Florence, among whom were the Bardi, the Spini, and also bankers of Colle and Mugello. In 1297 he spent considerable amounts to fortify the castle of Acquaviva and to cut the communications between Bologna and Massa Lombarda; in 1298 he had a castle built near Massa Lombarda and cut off the town's commerce; through these efforts he eventually dominated Lamone and Santerno.

After the peace of 1299 he helped Boniface VIII in his war with the Colonnesi, and he accompanied Charles of Valois when he entered Florence, Nov. 1, 1301; he died at Imola in 1302. In his youth he had married a Florentine lady, one of the Tosinghi, by whom he had several daughters; his possessions and lands were divided among them after his death.

[See F. Torraca, 'Le rimembranze di Guido del Duca', NA, xlvii (1893), 19-23; and G. Zaccagnini, 'Maghinardo da Susinana', Atti e mem. della R. Deput. di stor. patria per le prov. di Romagna, xxiv (1934), 50-54.]

Villani gives the following account of Mainardo:

Il detto Maghinardo fu uno grande e savio tiranno, e della contrada tra Casentino e Romagna grande castellano, e con molti fedeli; savio fu di guerra e bene avventuroso in più battaglie, e al suo tempo fece grandi cose. Ghibellino era di sua nazione e in sue opere, ma co' Fiorentini era guelfo e nimico di tutti i loro nimici, o guelfi o ghibellini che fossono, e in ogni oste e battaglia che e' Fiorentini facessono, mentre fu in vita, fu con sua gente a loro servigio, e capitano; e ciò fu, che morto il padre, che Piero Pagano avea nome, grande gentile uomo, rimanendo il detto Maghinardo picciolo fanciullo e con molti nimici, conti Guidi, e Ubaldini, e altri signori di Romagna, il detto suo padre il lasciò alla guardia e tuteria del popolo e comune di Firenze, lui e le sue terre; dal qual comune benignamente fu cresciuto, e guardato, e migliorato suo patrimonio, e per questa cagione era grato e fedelissimo al comune di Firenze in ogni sua bisogna. ({Villani. vii. 149}.)

Benvenuto, who copies Villani's account almost verbatim, says of Mainardo:

Maghinardus Paganus . . . fuit nobilis castellanus in montibus supra Imolam; qui sua probitate et felicitate ex parvo castellano factus est magnus dominus in Romandiola, ita quod habuit tres civitates, scilicet Forlivium, Faventiam, et Imolam.

©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