ECCELINO, or Ezzelino da Romano (1194-1259), fourth of the name, a famous Ghibelline chief, was born April 25, 1194. The family traced its origin to Eccelin, a knight who about 1036 followed the emperor Conrad II. into Italy, and received from him among other fiefs that of Romano, in the neighbourhood of Padua. Eccelino IV. was the elder of the two sons of Eccelino III., surnamed the Monk, who divided his little principality between them in 1223, and died in 1235. In his youth Eccelino displayed the dauntless courage and the power of dissimulation which characterized him through life. In 1226, at the head of a party of Ghibellines, he got possession of Verona, and was appointed podestat. He became one of the most faithful servants of the great emperor Frederick II., who by a charter granted in 1232 confirmed him in his possessions. Four years later (1236) he invited Frederick to enter Italy to his assistance, and in August met him at Trent. Eccelino was soon after besieged in Verona by the Guelfs, and the siege was raised by the emperor. Vicenza was next stormed, and the government was given to Eccelino. In 1237 the latter marched against Padua, became master of the city by capitulation, and crushed the spirit of the people by remorseless cruelty. The same year he took part •in the. siege of Mantua, and made himself master of Trevisa. On the return of Frederick to Italy he joined him with a large force, and contributed to the great victory over the Guelfs at Cortenuova (November). In the following year he strengthened his connection with the emperor by marriage with Selvaggia, his natural daughter. In 1239, after entering Padua with Frederick, he was excommunicated and declared deprived of his estates by the Pope. But he still went on fighting and augmenting his ...dominions and perpetrating such incredible cruelties that the emperor, it is said, would fain have been rid of him. Nevertheless Eccelino was among the auxiliaries of Frederick at the siege of Parma in 1247. At the time of Frederick’s death, in 1250, Eccelino, who had been named vicar-imperial of all the districts between the Trentine Alps and the river Aglio, had extended his authority from the Adriatic to the environs of Milan. He had married a second wife in 1249. At length (1256) a crusade against this foe of the church was proclaimed by Pope Alexander IV., and a powerful league was formed, which the Venetians joined. Padua was soon lost to him; but in 1258 he defeated the army of the league and reduced Brescia. In 1259 he was called to Milan by the Ghibelline party and attempted to march on the city. He was, however, encountered by his enemies at Cassano, September 16, 1259, and was severely wounded and taken prisoner. His troops then disbanded. The great leader was resolved not to survive his fall, nor would lie make his peace with the church. He tore the bandages from his wounds, refused to take food, and died at Soncino, September 26,1259. By the death of his brother Λlberico about a year later the family became extinct, and their possessions were distributed among the conquerors. The character of Eccelino is thus drawn by Mr Kington in his History of Frederick the Second (i. p. 503) :—“He was bold, clear-sighted in politics, and staunch to the side he had chosen as his own. He had a most commanding intellect, and his counsels were sure not to be slighted. He was a first-rate soldier, and could overawe his enemies with a glance. He was, however, superstitious, as many found to their cost. Covetous of power, he was unscrupulous as to the means by which it was won or kept. His merciless cruelty and his callousness to human suffering brand him as an enemy to mankind.” In the L·ivina Commedia (Inferno, xii.) Eccelino is seen amongst those who expiate the sin of cruelty in the lake of blood in the seventh circle of hell.
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