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| Toynbee "Bellinciòn Berti" |
Florentine of the ancient Ravignani family, father of
la buona Gualdrada
([Inf. xvi. 37]), through whose marriage with Guido Guerra IV,
the Conti Guidi traced their descent from the Ravignani. He lived
in the second half of cent. xii, and in 1176 was deputed by the
Florentines to take over from the Sienese the castle of
Poggibonsi, which had been ceded by the latter. Villani speaks of
him as 'il buono messere Bellincione Berti de' Ravignani onorevole
cittadino di Firenze' ({Villani iv. 1}).
Cacciaguida (in the Heaven of Mars) quotes B. as an example of the
simplicity of the Florentines of his day, describing how he was
content to be girt 'with leather and bone',
[Par. xv. 112-113]; and speaks of him as
l'alto Bellincione
in connexion with the Ravignani and their descendants, the Conti
Guidi,
[Par. xvi. 97-99].
[Gualdrada:
Guidi, Conti:
Ravignani.]
©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