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| Toynbee "Alessàndria" |
town in Piedmont on the Tanaro, in the ancient
duchy of Milan; mentioned in connexion with the war waged against
it by the son of William, marquis of Montferrat, to avenge his
capture and imprisonment,
[Purg. vii. 135]
[Guiglielmo_3]; coupled with Trento and Turin as
being near the frontier and consequently incapable of preserving a
pure dialect owing to the introduction of foreign elements,
Alexandria,
V.E. I. xv. 8.
Alessandria was built (in 1168) by the Lombard League as a bulwark
against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. It received the name
Alessandria in honour of Pope Alexander III, but it was also
called
Cesarea for a time. In 1174, it was unsuccessfully besieged by
Frederick Barbarossa.
©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