GHERARDESCA, Ugolino Della (c. 1220-1289), count of Donoratico and head of the Gherardeschi, one of the leading Ghibelline houses of Pisa, began to take part in public affairs about the time when the dissensions which had arisen about the partition of Sardinia had resulted in sending over the entire clan of the Pisan Visconti to the Guelphs. For having given his sister in marriage to one. of these—Giovanni Visconti of Gallura—he was banished from Pisa by his own party, who seem to have had good reason otherwise for suspecting his loyalty; but he was permitted to return in terms of the peace of 1267. Notwithstanding the ambiguous character of his politics, he soon succeeded in gaining a high place in the public service of his native city; and in the battle of Meloria (6th August 1284), which terminated the long war with Genoa, he was one of the three Pisan admirals. It was by his cowardly or traitorous flight at a critical moment, it is said, that the contest was decided in favour of the Genoese; but, be this as it may, whether by means of his treachery, or in spite of it, he almost immediately afterwards (October 1284) was nominated by the citizens who remained to the twofold office of capitano and podestâ for one year; and some months afterwards (February 1285) this term was extended to ten years. In this capacity of virtual dictator lie, by the banishment of ten leading Ghibelline citizens of Pisa, secured peace with the Florentines; he also endeavoured to propitiate the Genoese by the offer cf Castro in Sardinia, and the Lucchese by the actual surrender of Ripafratta and Viarreggio, but unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, though thoroughly alienated from the Ghibellines, he had not succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Guelphs; and in 1287 he was by them compelled ...to associate with himself in the government Nino Visconti, a nephew by the marriage already referred to, who had now reached manhood. But this arrangement was rendered nugatory by the disagreements of the two colleagues, and Ugolino found it necessary to resign his office in December of the same year. In his unscrupulous ambition after personal ascendency he now turned for support to the party he had so long deserted, and entered into an alliance with the Gualandi, Sismondi, Lanfranchi, and other uncompromising Ghibellines, who looked upon the archbishop Ruggiero degli Ubaldini as their head. But this unnatural combination soon terminated in an open rupture, the immediate occasion of which was the violence of Ugolino, who, on some sudden provocation, had killed a nephew of the archbishop. In August 1288 he was beset in the Palazzo del Popolo by the Ghibellines, and, after fire had been set to the building, taken prisoner, along with his sons Gaddo and Ugoccione, and his grandsons Nino (surnamed Brigatto) and Anselmuccio. (Some accounts mention a third grandson, named Henry.) After having been confined for twenty days in the Palazzo del Comune, they were removed to the Gualandi’s Tower, Alle Sette Vie, afterwards called the Torre della Fame. Here they were kept till March 1289, when, by order of the archbishop, the door was locked and the keys thrown into the Arno. Nine days afterwards the tower was re-entered and the bodies removed to the church of San Francisco.
The story of Ugolino, though it is to be met with in other contemporary writers (see Villani, vii. cc. 120, 127), owes all its fame to Dante, who has placed him above Ruggiero on the inner margin of the second division (Antenora) of the ninth and lowest circle of his Inferno. Dante’s powerful narrative, which includes “thirty lines unequalled by any other thirty in the whole dominions of poetry” (Landor), has been paraphrased, or rather almost translated, by Chaucer, in the Monk's Tale, and has also been reproduced in modern times by Shelley. It ought to be observed, however, with reference to Ugolino’s alleged treachery, that the baser explanation of his conduct at Meloria is not to be met with in any document earlier than the 16th century; while with regard to the accusation of having sold the fortresses of Pisa to the Lucchese and Florentines, Dante, though evidently himself believing it, does not say more than that he “was alleged” (aveva voce) to have done so.
Ruggiero’s share in the murder of Ghcrardesca has sometimes been doubted, but on very inadequate grounds. Only in one respect can the poet be fairly accused of having absolutely departed from strict historical accuracy, namely, with regard to the age of the sons and grandsons, who, though represented by him as children, appear to have been all of them grown up. The narrative of Villani has already been referred to; references to other sources may be found in Sisιnondi and in the annotated editions of Dante, particularly in that of “Philalethes” (the late king of Saxony).
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