Toynbee "Cunizza"
sister of the Ghibelline, Ezzelino III da Romano, youngest daughter of Ezzelino II and Adeleita dei Conti di Mangona; she was born c. 1198, and in 1222 was married, for political reasons, to the Guelph captain, Count Riccardo di San Bonifazio of Verona. Shortly after her marriage she became enamoured of the troubadour Sordello, by whom (c. 1226), with the connivance of her brother, she was abducted from Verona and conveyed back to Ezzelino's court [Azzolino_1: Sordello]. Her intrigue with Sordello (which, however, appears to have been renewed later on at Treviso) did not last long, and she then went to the court of her brother Alberico at Treviso, where she abandoned herself to a knight named Bonio, with whom, according to the old chronicler Rolandino, she wandered about the world, leading a life of pleasure:

. . . miles quidam nomine Bonius de Tarvisio ipsam anlavit . . . cum ipso mundi partes plurimas circuivit, multa habendo solatia, et maximas faciendo expensas. (Chron. iii. 1, in L. A. Muratori R.I.S. viii, Pt. I, p. 18.)

After the death of Bonio, who was slain while defending Treviso on behalf of Alberico against his brother Ezzelino, Cunizza was married by the latter to Aimerio, count of Breganze; after his death, he having fallen a victim to a quarrel with Ezzelino, she married a gentleman of Verona; and subsequently she married a fourth husband in the person of Salione Buzzacarini of Padua, Ezzelino's astrologer. In or about 1260, both Ezzelino and Alberico being dead, and the fortunes of her house being at a low ebb, Cunizza went to reside in Florence, where in 1265, in the house of Cavalcante Cavalcanti, the father of D.'s friend Guido, she executed a deed granting their freedom to her father's and brothers' slaves, with the exception of those who had been concerned in the betrayal of Alberico. In 1279, being then upward of 80, she made her will, at the castle of La Cerbaia, whereby she bequeathed her possessions to the sons of Count Alessandro degli Alberti of Mangona, her mother's family. She probably died not long after this date, no further mention of her having been preserved. [See F. Zamboni, Gli Ezzelini, Dante e gli schiavi (Firenze, 1897); and E. Simioni, 'Cunizza da Romano nella storia e nella poesia di Dante', GD, xxxv (1932), 111-136.] Several of the old commentators record that she was of a tender-hearted and compassionate disposition, devoting herself especially to the alleviation of the misery caused by her brother's cruelties; thus Benvenuto says:

. . . ista fuit Cunitia soror olim Eccelini . . . recte filia Veneris, semper amorosa, vaga, de qua dictum est [supra], qualiter habebat rem cum Sordello Mantuano et cum hoc simul erat pia, benigna, misericors, compatiens miseris, quos frater crudeliter affligebat. Merito ergo poeta fingit se reperire istam in spera Veneris.

D. condones the dissoluteness of Cunizza's life in consideration of her merciful acts, and places her in Paradise, in the Heaven of Venus, among the spirits of those who were lovers on earth (Spititi amanti), [Par. ix. 32]; un altro [splendore], [Par. ix. 13]; beato spirto, [Par. ix. 20]; luce nova, [Par. ix. 22] [Venere, Cielo di]. After Charles Martel has ceased speaking, another spirit (that of Cunizza) approaches D., and by an increase in its brilliancy signifies its desire to talk with him ([Par. ix. 13-15]); with the approval of Beatrice D. addresses it, asking (by implication) who it is ([Par. ix. 16-21]); C. replies, describing the position of Romano in the Trevisan territory, the birthplace of the 'firebrand', Ezzelino da Romano ([Par. ix. 22-30]) [Azzolino_1: Azzolino_2: Romano_4]; after stating that she and Ezzelino were born of the same father, she names herself, and explains that she owes her position in Paradise to the influence of love ([Par. ix. 31-33]), and that, strange as it may appear to the 'common herd' her past sins do not weigh upon her, but that she rejoices, inasmuch as that influence was the occasion of her present state of blessedness ([Par. ix. 34-36]); having pointed out the spirit of the troubadour Folquet de Marseille, she dwells on his fame, and on the obligation of leaving a good fame behind one ([Par. ix. 37-42]) [Folco]; this obligation, she adds, the inhabitants of the Trevisan territory are neglecting in spite of the chastisement inflicted upon them by the tyrants of Romano ([Par. ix. 43-45]); she then foretells the war between Padua and Vicenza ([Par. ix. 46-48]) [Bacchiglione: Vicenza]; the assassination of Riccardo da Cammino, lord of Treviso ([Par. ix. 49-51]) [Cammino, Riccardo da], and the treachery of Alessandro Novello, bishop of Feltro, to the Ghibelline refugees from Ferrara ([Par. ix. 52-60]) [Feltro_1]; in conclusion, she expresses her faith in the coming judgements of God, and then in silence returns to her former station ([Par. ix. 61-66]).

©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