Toynbee "Arrigo_2"
Henry VII of Luxemburg, Emperor 1308-1313; l'alto A, [Par. xvii. 82], [Par. xxx. 137]; Henricus, Epist. v. 5; Epist. vi. 25, Epist. vi. 27; Epist. vii. 1, Epist. vii. 31; the successor of Albert I, [Purg. vi. 102] [Alberto Tedesco]; the other, altro, who was to heal the wounds of Italy neglected by Rudolf, [Purg. vii. 96] [Ridolfo_1]; Titan pacificus, 'the Sun of peace'; alius Moyses, Epist. v. 3, Epist. v. 4; sponsus tuas [Italiae], mundi solatium et gloria plebis tue clementissimus Henricus, divus et Augustus et Cesar, Epist. v. 5; novus agricola Romanorurm; Hectoreus pastor, Epist. v. 16, Epist. v. 17; rex, Epist. v. 19; romanus princeps, mundi rex, et Dei minister, Epist. vi. 5; delirantis Hesperie domitor, Epist. vi. 12; Romane rei baiulus, divus et triumphator Henricus, Epist. vi. 25; sanctissimus triumphator et dominus singularis, Epist. vii. 1; sol noster, Epist. vii. 7; preses unice mundi, Epist. vii. 22; excellentissimus principum, Epist. vii. 23; proles altera Isai, Epist. vii. 29.

D refers to the secret opposition encountered by Henry VII from the Gascon pope, Clement V, who was ostensibly his supporter, [Par. xvii. 82], [Par. xxx. 142-144] [Guaschi]; Beatrice points out to D. the throne prepared for Henry in the Celestial Rose, and refers to him as the coming regenerator of Italy, [Par. xxx. 137-139] [Rosa].

D. wrote three letters with especial reference to the Emperor Henry VII -- one addressed to the princes and peoples of Italy, exhorting them to receive him, Epist. v; the second to the rebellious Florentines who opposed his coming, Epist. vi; the third addressed to the emperor himself, beseeching him to come into Tuscany and chastise Florence without delay, Epist. vii.

Henry, count of Luxemburg (born c. 1275), was at the instance of Clement V unanimously elected emperor, Nov. 27, 1308, in opposition to Charles of Valois, the candidate of the French king, Philip the Fair, 'on account of his renowned valour, say the old Books, and also, add the shrewder of them, because his brother, archbishop of Trier, was one of the Electors, and the pope did not like either the Austrian or the French candidate then in the field' (Carlyle). Henry, who had been recommended to Clement by the Cardinal da Prato as 'il migliore uomo della Magna, e il più leale e il più franco e più cattolico' (Villani, viii. 101), was crowned at Aix, Jan. 6, 1308/9. In the following June he sent ambassadors to Florence to announce that he was coming into Italy to receive the imperial crown, a ceremony which had been neglected by his predecessors for many years. To this advent of Henry D. looked anxiously for a settlement of the affairs of Italy (a drizzare Italia verrà [Par. xxx. 137]), and for a means to secure his own return to Florence. But his hopes were doomed to bitter disappointment. The emperor crossed the Alps in late Oct. 1310, with a force of about 5,000 men, with less than 500 cavalry, and at first was well received. The cities of Lombardy opened their gates; Milan (where he assumed the iron crown, Jan. 6, 1310/11) decreed a vast subsidy, Guelph and Ghibelline exiles alike were restored, and Imperial vicars appointed everywhere. Supported by the Avignonese pontiff, who dreaded the restless ambition of his French neighbour, King Philip IV, Henry had the interdict of the Church as well as the ban of the Empire at his command. But this success did not last long. Tumults and revolts broke out in Lombardy; and at Rome, whither he went (early May 1312) to be crowned, Henry found St. Peter's in the hands of King Robert of Naples and the Tuscan Guelphs, so that the coronation had to take place, shorn of its ceremony, in St. John Lateran, on the southern bank of the Tiber (June 29, 1312). The hostility of the Guelphic league, headed by the Florentines, with King Robert as their acknowledged leader, compelled the emperor to hasten back to Tuscany, for the purpose of laying siege to Florence, which had persistently defied him. To counterbalance the opposition of the Guelphs, he was obliged to abandon his policy of impartiality and to identify himself with the Ghibellines, whose aid he secured by granting to their chiefs the government of cities. Meanwhile Clement V, yielding to the menaces of the French king, had secretly withdrawn his support from the emperor ([Par. xvii. 82], [Par. xxx. 142-144]). Henry arrived before Florence in September (1312); but in October he was obliged to raise the siege and retire to Pisa, whence on Aug. 8 of the next year he set out with the intention of reducing Naples. On his way south he was seized with illness, and on Aug. 24, 1313, he died at Buonconvento near Siena. His somewhat sudden death, which was probably due to a malarial fever contracted at Rome, was currently ascribed to poison administered by a Dominican monk in the consecrated wafer. The emperor's body was taken to Pisa and interred in the cathedral, where a monument (removed in 1830 to the Campo Santo), ascribed to Giovanni Pisano, was erected to him.

The news of Henry's death, which was a crushing blow for D. and the Ghibellines, was received with unbounded joy by their opponents, as is testified by the following letter addressed by the Signoria of Florence to their allies a few days after the event:

To you our faithful brethren, with the greatest rejoicing in the world we announce by these presents the blessed news, which our Lord Jesus Christ, looking down from on high as well to the necessities of ourselves, and other true and faithful Christians, the devoted servants of Holy Mother Church, as to those of His own Cause, has vouchsafed to us. To wit, that the most savage tyrant, Henry, late Count of Luxemburg, whom the rebellious persecutors from old time of said Mother Church, namely the Ghibellines, the treacherous foes of you and of ourselves, called King of the Romans, and Emperor of Germany, and who under cover of the Empire had already consumed and laid waste no small part of the Provinces of Lombardy and Tuscany, ended his life on Friday last, the twenty-fourth day of this month [of August], in the territory of Buonconvento. Know further that the Aretines and the Ghibelline Conti Guidi have retired themselves towards Arezzo and the Pisans and Germans towards Pisa taking his body, and all the Ghibellines who were with him have taken refuge in the strongholds of their allies in the neighbourhood. . . .We beseech you, therefore, dear brethren, to rejoice with ourselves over so great and fortunate accidents.

[See I. Del Lungo, Dino Compagni e la sua cronica, I, Pt. 2, pp. 637-638; see also pp. 607 ff.]

Of Henry VII, the ideal sovereign of D.'s Monarchia, the Guelph Villani says:

Arrigo conte di Luzimborgo . . . fu savio e giusto e grazioso, prode e sicuro in arme, onesto e cattolico; e di piccolo stato che fosse per suo lignaggio, fu di magnanimo core, temuto e ridottato; e se fosse vivuto più lungamente avrebbe fatte grandissime cose. Questi fu eletto a imperadore . . . e incontanente ch'ebbe la confermazione dal papa, si fece coronare in Alamagna a re; e poi tutte le discordie de' baroni della Magna pacificò, con sollecito intendimento di venire a Roma per la corona imperiale, e per pacificare Italia delle diverse discordie e guerre che v'erano, e poi di seguire il passaggio oltremare in racquistare la terra santa, se Dio gliel'avesse conceduto. ({Villani ix. 1}) . . .Questa somma virtude ebbe in sè, che mai per avversità quasi non si turbò, nè per prosperità ch'avesse non si vanagloriò. (Villani, ix. 49.)

After giving a detailed account (Villani, ix. 19-52) of the emperor's doings in Italy, Villani excuses himself for having devoted so much space to them on the twofold ground of the universal interest they excited and of the great future that seemed in store for Henry himself:

. . . non si maravigli chi legge, perchè per noi è continuata la sua storia sanza raccontare altre cose e avvenimenti d'Italia e d'altre provincie e reami; per due cose, l'una, perchè tutti i cristiani, ed eziandio i Greci e' saraceni, guardavano al suo andamento e fortuna, e per cagione di ciò poche novità notabili erano in nulla parte altrove; l'altra, per le diverse e varie grandi fortune che gl'incorsono in sì piccolo tempo ch'egli visse, che di certo si credea per gli savi, che se la sua morte non fosse stata sì prossimana, al signore di tanto valore e di sì grandi imprese com'era egli, avrebbe vinto il Regno e toltolo al re Ruberto, che piccolo apparecchiamento avea al riparo suo . . . e appresso s'avesse vinto il Regno come s'avvisava, assai gli era leggiere di vincere tutta Italia, e dell'altre provincie assai. (Villani, ix. 53.)

Dino Compagni speaks of him in similar terms of praise: . . . non avendo [la Chiesa] braccio nè difenditore pensorono il papa e i suoi cardinali fare uno imperadore, uomo che fusse giusto, savio e potente, figliuolo di santa Chiesa, amatore della fede. E andavano cercando chi di tanto onore fusse degno: e trovorono uno che in Corte era assai dimorato, uomo savio, di nobile sangue, giusto e famoso, di gran lealtà, pro' d'arme e di nobile stiatta, uomo di grande ingegno e di grande temperanza, ciò è Arrigo conte di Luzimborgo di Val di Reno della Magna, d'età d'anni XL, mezzano di persona, bel parlatore, e ben fazionato, uno poco guercio. (iii. 23.)

[See F. Schneider, Kaiser Heinrich VII. (Greiz-Leipzig, 1924-8); W. M. Bowsky, Henry VII in Italy (Lincoln, Nebraska 1960); B. Barbadoro, Arrigo VII nella storiá d'Italia e nel pensiero di Dante (Firenze, 1922).]

©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