Pope Urban II. Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle). Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493, p. 193v.
The Ubaldini lineage was one of the oldest and most prominent Ghibelline houses in the Florentine countryside (contado). Family members first appear in documents from the eleventh century as proteges of the bishop, the margrave, and the Guidi. Like the Pazzi of the Arno Valley, the da Sommaia, and the da Gangalandi, the Ubaldini played only a minor role in Florentine urban public life. They possessed extensive landed holdings and castles (castelli) in the western Mugello, the lush Apennine valley north of Florence. Many of these possessions were originally imperial grants, such as their investment of land by Frederick I in 1184 in the Mugello.
Throughout the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, the Ubaldini were consistently hostile to Florentine political and military interests in the Mugello. Like the Ubertini and Pazzi of the Arno Valley, they often disrupted commercial traffic to and from the city and controlled strategic arteries linking Florence with the Romagna. For those reasons, after the mid-thirteenth century the Florentines attempted to limit the domination of the Mugello by the Ubaldini, if not end it altogether by military means. In the Ordinances of Justice of 1293, the Ubaldini appeared on the list of magnates of the contado declared ineligible to hold major public offices in Florence. The Ubaldini were sympathetic to the White Guelfs; and they continued to obstruct the free flow of grain traffic from the Romagna into the city in the early fourteenth century. In 1306, the Florentines razed the Ubaldini stronghold at Montaccianico in the Mugello, establishing Scarperia and Firenzuola as new towns (terre nuove).
Ottaviano degli Ubaldini (d. 1272), cardinal and bishop of Bologna, appeared in Dante's Inferno (10.120).
See also Florence; Ordinances of Justice
GEORGE DAMERON
Compagni, Dino. Dino Compagni's Chronicle of Florence, trans. Daniel Bornstein. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986.
Villani, Giovanni. Cronica di Giovanni Villani. Florence: II Magheri, 1823.
Benvenuti Papi, Anna. Pastori di Popolo: Storie e leggende di vescovi e di cittá nell'Italia medievale. Florence: Axnaud, 1988.
Dameron, George. Episcopal Power and Florentine Society, 1000-1320. Harvard Historical Studies, 107. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Davidsohn, Robert. Storia di Firenze, 8 vols., trans. Giovanni Battista Klein. Florence: Sansoni, 1960-1978.
Fiumi, Enrico. "Fioritura e decadenza delPeconomia fiorentina." Arcbivio Storico Italia.no, 115, 1957, p. 428.
Larner, John. Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch, 1216—1380. London: Longman, 1980, p. 91.
Piattoli, Renato. "Ubaldini." In Enciclopedia dantesca, Vol. 5. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1970, pp. 770-771.
Raveggi, Sergio, Massimo Tarassi, Daniela Medici, and Patrizia Parenti. Ghibellini, Guelfi, e Popolo Grasso: I detentori del potere politico a Firenze nella seconda metà del Dugento. Florence: La Nuova Italia, 1978.
"Ubaldini." In Paget Toynbee, A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante, rev. ed., ed. Charles S. Singleton. Oxford: Clarendon, 1968, pp. 623-624.
The Uberti clan of Tuscany was one of the region s oldest noble families, and by the twelfth century it was the leading noble family of Florence. Because of their strict noble attitude, the Uberti, as a family, never participated openly in the commercial success of the city. The Uberti were staunch supporters of imperial interests, and in 1177 they struggled with the Giandonati family for influence with the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, and for control of the communal offices in Florence. This three-year struggle ended with the institution of the podestà in Florence, and an agreement to share civic offices.
The murder of Buondelmonte de Buondelmonti by Schiatta Uberti in 1215 divided the city for the first time between the Guelfs, supporters of the Buondelmonti family and of papal interests; and the Ghibellines, who were pro-imperial and were led by the Uberti. The feud between the Uberti and the Buondelmonti lasted into the fourteenth century, although there were several attempts at reconciliation through intermarriage. In 1247, after Emperor Frederick II made his son Frederick of Antioch vicar-general of Tuscany, Florentine Guelfs battled the Uberti, who were ensconced in their urban strongholds. The Guelfs were driven from the city, and some thirty-six of their family towers were destroyed by the victorious Uberti and their followers.
With the death of Frederick II in 1250, Florence established a popular government. The Uberti openly opposed this in 1251 and were exiled for a year. The imperial coronation of Manfred (Frederick II's natural son) in 125B once more emboldened the Ghibellines, and an attempted coup led to exile yet again. The Ghibelline exiles joined with the Sienese and imperial army that defeated the Florentine Guelfs at Montaperti in 1260. The Guelfs fled Florence, and the victorious Ghibellines proposed the total destruction of the city. Farinata degli Uberti (d. 1264) defended hispatria, and the proposal died. (See Dante, Paradise, 16.109 ff.; Inferno, 6.79-87, 10.16-18, 22 ff.) After Manfred's defeat and death at Benevento (1266), the Guelfs regained control of Florence and promptly razed the possessions of the Uberti. Much of the rubble was left untouched for a decade, a symbol of the family's destruction. Since most of the Uberti refused to return to Florence (or were not allowed to return, according to Villani), the commune retained the property, on which were built Le Stinche prison, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza Signoria, and, later, the Uffizi. Branches of the Uberti family relocated to Cremona, Mantua, Venice, and Verona.
See also Farinata degu Uberti; Florence; Frederick II Hohenstaufen; Ghibelline; Guelfs; Montaperti, Battle of
JOSEPH P. BYRNE
uavidsohn, Robert. Storm di Firenze. Florence: Sansom, 1956-1968.
Schevill, Ferdinand. Medieval and Renaissance Florence. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
The Franciscan reformer ubertino da Casaie (1259-c. 1329) was the author of the Arbor vite crucifixe Jesu—sometimes translated as The Tree of the Crucified Life of Jesus. This work had a strong effect on later Franciscan rigorists and on some prelates ind monarchs; figures who were influenced by it include Dante, Giovanni dalle Celle, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Bernardino, John Brugman, and King Martin I of Aragon.
Most of our information about Ubertino until the time when he composed the Arbor vite in 1305 comes from its first prologue, but its chronology is not always clear. Ubertino was a native of Casale Monferrato in the diocese of Vercelli and in the Franciscan province of Genoa. He was received into the Franciscan order (Friars Minor) at age fourteen. Scholars disagree about the next period of his life. Some think that he remained in his province for a considerable time, until c. 1284 or 1285; but others—on the basis of his own testimony that he studied for nine years et Parisius fui—believe that after his novitiate he went to Paris and remained there until c. 1284. In any svent he spent the years 1285 to 1289 (dates on which all the scholars agree) at Santa Croce in Florence. There, he was probably a subordinate lector in its studium, since he says that he was occupying the office of lector when he heard, at Pentecost, of John of Parma's death, which occurred in March 1289 (Arbor vite, 5.3).
It seems likely that Ubertino's studies in Paris had preceded this period in Florence rather than that, as some scholars hold, he went to Paris only after 1289. Ubertino associates Paris with a time when he was lax and ambitious. He tells us that his coming to Tuscany was accompanied by a conversion to a more ascetic life. Half of his four-year stay in Florence coincided with the lectorate there of the reformer who was to have the greatest influence on him, Petrus Johannis Olivi. Ubertino would have been exposed to Olivi's doctrine of usus pauperi, or "poor use," as essential to the Franciscan way of life—that is, the austere use of necessities and the avoidance of economic security and all superfluity. He must also have heard Olivi prophesy the persecution of the "spiritual" church by the "carnal" church. Uber tino's first meetings with Olivi—and with Margaret of Cortona, Cecilia of Florence, and John of Parma (who was in retirement at Greccio)—must have taken place just before or during 1285-1289. His crucial encounter with Angela of Foligno may also have been at this time. (There is conflicting evidence in the manuscripts on the date of this meeting: some say "in the twenty-fifth year of my religion.") According to Ubertino, these were the meetings that brought about his real conversion, after "almost fourteen years of external observance." It is difficult to believe that he then relapsed into what he calls laxity and ambition.
Ubertino learned a great deal from Olivi at Santa Croce; but unlike Olivi, he had no vocation to be a professional theologian, or to continue as a lector. Instead, Ubertino abandoned teaching to become a wandering preacher, traveling through Tuscany, Umbria, and the Marches, and denouncing both the heresy of the Brethren of the Free Spirit and the corruption of the official church. It is clear from the Arbor vite that he considered the resignation of Pope Celestine V and the subsequent election of Pope Boniface VIII illegitimate—a point on which he differed from Olivi. In the Arbor vite he identified Boniface, as well as Boniface's successor Pope Benedict XI, with the mystical Antichrist. How far Ubertino went in expressing these radical views in his public sermons is uncertain, but some hint of his opinions must have reached Benedict XI, because the pope summoned and arrested him. Ubertino was freed only because of the entreaties of a delegation of Perugian citizens; he was then sent by his Franciscan superiors to La Verna for an extended period of meditation. He used that time to write the Arbor vite, although he can hardly have composed the whole artful and almost interminable work, as he ivows, in three months and seven days in 1305, without premedication and with the aid of just a few books. Perhaps he was referring anly to the nucleus of this vast work—a conjecture that might explain how Angelo Clareno could have described it as a "small" sook. In any case, the more extreme opinions in the work were evidently not known to Ubertino's enemies among the Friars Minor for a long time, for they attacked only his defense of Olivi md were unable to keep Ubertino from exerting considerable influence in high ecclesiastical circles.
Ubertino also became the confidant and servant of a prominent cardinal, Napoleone Orsini, who looked kindly on the Spiritual faction of the Franciscans. Ubertino was appointed Orsini's chaplain in 1306 (though their connection seems to have begun sarlier) and as late as 1324 was still doing important diplomatic work for him, helping conduct negotiations between Pisa and Aragon. In 1307, Ubertino was in Tuscany trying to further efforts on behalf or the Florentine exiles and was also undertaking juridical activity against the heretics of the Free Spirit, At about this time, he was also becoming increasingly involved in defending the interests of the Spiritual Franciscans; he served as procurator for various Spiritual groups, carrying their cases as far as Avignon.
Orsini's protection, and perhaps that of Cardinal James Colonna as well, must have been vital to Ubertino during the many years when he was able to frustrate the designs of the Franciscan leaders against him. He also seems to have elicited some sympathy from the popes to whom these leaders complained about him—Clement V and John XXII. At the time of the Council ofVienne (1310-1312), Ubertino wrote polemical treatises defending Olivi, advocating the doctrine of "poor use" for the Franciscan order, and pleading that at the very least the Spirituals should be allowed to follow the will of Francis and be free from persecution by the order. These writings were reflected to some extent in the bulls of Clement V, although in the end Clement refused to grant the Spirituals exemption from their superiors. The Spirituals fared worse under John XXII, but after their downfall Ubertino was not turned over to the authorities of the order. Instead, he secured from John a bull (20 October 1317) permitting him to enter the Benedictine house of Gembloux in the diocese of Liege, though there is no record that he ever set foot there. Ubertino was still in Avignon in 1322, when John asked him and a number of cardinals, bishops, Franciscans, Dominicans, and other clerics for their opinion on whether, as the Franciscans asserted, Christ and his apostles had owned nothing either individually or in common. The pope eventually issued a bull condemning the Franciscans' claim that only their order, which professed corporate as well as individual poverty, fully imitated the life of Christ and his apostles; in this bull, John came very close to quoting some of Ubertino's earlier arguments against the practices of the Franciscan community.
But Ubertino's longtime defense of Olivi finally made it possible for the Franciscan community to bring him down. In 1325, in a bull directed to the Franciscans, John described Ubertino as a fugitive—Ubertino having fled from Avignon in fear of imminent condemnation—and ordered his arrest. Ubertino may have escaped to the court of Lewis of Bavaria, and he may have helped in the writing of some of Lewis's attacks on John XXII; this hypothesis rests mainly on Albertino Mussato's testimony that Ubertino and Marsilius of Padua accompanied Ludwig to Rome in 1328. There is contemporary testimony that Ubertino preached on behalf of Ludwig's Franciscan antipope Peter Corbara.
The date and manner of Ubertino's death are unknown, though a later tradition of the Fraticelli (a Spiritual Franciscan group) held that it was violent.
Ubertino was an interesting combination of ascetic, polemicist, and diplomat. He was a gifted rhetorician and, particularly in his polemical works, a brilliant satirist. He poured into the Arbor vite his often moving meditations on Christ's life and the similarities between Christ and Saint Francis. This work, obviously constructed in large part from Ubertino's earlier sermons and treatises, also contains a multitude of long and short extracts from various authorities: the church fathers; Bernard, Bonaventure, Olivi, and other Franciscan writers; and Thomas Aquinas. There are surely also many sources that have not yet been identified. The fifth book of the Arbor vite, containing Ubertino's views on ecclesiastical history, is mainly based, as Manselli (1965, 1977) has shown, on Olivi's Postilla in Apocalypsim. Ubertino's polemical treatises are vivid, supple, and remarkably readable, despite the technicality of their arguments. In these works, the historical dimension disappears, and "poor use" is emphasized much more than corporate expropriation. In 1322, the pope commanded Ubertino to enlarge his oral opinion on whether Christ and the apostles had possessed nothing, either individually or in common. Ubertino did so in the unpublished treatise De altissima paupertate (Treatise on the Highest Poverty), largely copied—although with significant omissions, additions, and modifications—from Olivi's question 8, De altissima paupertate, in the series of questions called De perfectione evangelica. Ubertino's summary of that treatise, Reducendo igitur ad brevitatem, was included in a famous collection of opinions on the question, in manuscript Vatican Latinus 3740, and attracted a marginal note in the pope's own hand. This summary drew a number of its arguments from Olivi's question 9, dealing with whether usus pauper was included in the Franciscan vow of evangelical poverty. Cardinal Orsini's opinion contained in the same collection follows a line of argument similar to Ubertino's and may actually have been written by Ubertino.
Ubertino's doctrines regarding poverty are the most interesting aspect of his thought. They seem to have undergone considerable development over his lifetime. In the Arbor vite, Ubertino accepted the official Franciscan view, shared by all factions, that as followers of evangelical perfection, if not as prelates transferring goods to the poor, they absolutely embraced corporate as well as individual poverty. To this he added Olivi's view that "poor use" was necessary to the observance of the highest poverty, and that the persecution of those who followed "poor use" was a sign of the appearance of the Antichrist and the coming of the "last age."
In Ubertino's poiemical treatises, this historical dimension of his thought disappears entirely, and he is much more concerned with poor use than with corporate expropriation. In his final treatise, written when he was nominally a Benedictine, Ubertino was unwilling to accept the traditional view that the holding of collective property by monastic corporations according to human law was no breach of evangelical perfection. He did, however, clearly affirm, against the Franciscans, that possession according to natural (though not civil) law was inseparable from the use of consumable things. The Franciscans' theory, on the other hand, maintained that Franciscans had only the use of such things, whose ownership always rested with the donors or was held by the pope. Ubertino now evidently regarded this theory as a pitiful pretense. He also thought that it was ultimately inimical to Olivi's doctrine of "poor use," a doctrine to which—despite his careful editing and revision of Olivi's question concerning the highest poverty—he always remained faithful.
See also Boniface VIII, Pope; Celestine V, Pope; Franciscan Order
CHARLES T. DAVIS
Arbor vitae crucifixae Jesu. Venice: Andrea de Bonettis de Papia, 1485. (Reprint, ed. Charles T. Davis. Turin: Bottega d'Erasmo, 1961.)
Declaratio fratris Ubertini de Casali et sociorum eius contra falsitates datas per fratrem Raymundum procuratorem et Bonagratiam da Bergamo, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp. 160—195.
Decretalis etiam, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp. 130-135.
Reducendo igitur ad brevitatem, ed. Charles T. Davis. In "Ubertino da Casale and His Conception of Altissima Paupertas." Studi Medievali, Series 3(22.1), 1981, pp. 41-56.
Rotulus iste, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp. 89-130.
Sanctitas vestra, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 3, 1887, pp. 48-89.
Sanctitati apostolice, ed. F. Ehrle. Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 2, 1886, pp. 374-416.
Super tribus sceleribus Damasci, ed. A. Heysse. Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 10, 1917, pp. 103-174.
Tractatus Ubertini de altissima paupertate Christi et apostolorum eius et virorum apostolicorum. Codex Vienna Staatsbibliothek, 809, fols. 128r-159v.
Bihl, Michael. "Review of Biographies of Ubertino, by Huck, Knoth, and CaJlaey." Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 4, 1911, pp. 594-599.
Blondeel, E. "L'influence d'Ubertin de Casale sur les écrits de S. Bernardin de Sienne" and "Encore l'influence d'Ubertin de Casale sur les écrits de S. Bernardin de Sienne." Collectanea Franciscana, 6, 1936, pp. 5-44, 57-76.
Callaey, Frédégand. L'idealisme franciscain spirituel au XIVsiecle: Étude sur Ubertin de Casale. Louvain, 1911.
—. "L'influence et la diffusion de XArbor vitae de Ubertin de Casale." Revue d'Historie Ecclésiastique, 17, 1921, pp. 533-546.
—. "L'infiltration des idées franciscaines spirituales chez les fréres mineurs capucins au XVI siécle." In Miscellanea Francesco Ehrle, Vol. 1. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1924.
Colasanti, G. "I Santi Cuori di Gesú e di Maria nell'Arbor vitae (1305) di Ubertino da Casale, O. Min." Miscellanea Francescana, 59, 1959, pp. 30-69.
Damiata, Marino. Pietá e storia nell' "Arbor vitae" di Ubertino da Casale. Florence: Edizioni Studi Francescani, 1988, pp. 195-215.
—. "Ubertino da Casale: Ultimo atto." Studi Francescani, 86, 1989, pp. 279-303.
Daniel, Randolph. "Spirituality and Poverty: Angelo da Clareno and Ubertino da Casale." Medievalia et Humanistica, n.s., 4, 1973, pp. 89-98.
Davis, Charles T. "Ubertino da Casale and His Conception of Altissima Paupertas." Studi Medievali, Series 3(22.1), 1981, pp. 1-41.
Douie, Decima L. The Nature and the Effect of the Heresy of the Fraticelli. Manchester: University Press, 1932, pp. 120-152. (Reprint, 1978.)
Ehrle, F. "Die Spiritualen, ihr Verhältniss zum Franzis Kanerorden und zu den Fraticellen." Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 1, 1885, pp. 509-569; 2, 1886, pp. 106-164; 3, 1887, pp. 553-623; 4, 1888, pp. 1-190.
—. Zur Vorgeschichte des Konzils von Vienne." Archiv für Literatur und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 2, 1886, pp. 353-416; 3, 1887, pp. 1-195.
Godefroy, P. "Ubertin de Casale." Dictionnaire de theologie catholique, 15, 1950, pp. 2021-2034.
Guyot, B. G. "L'Arbor vitae crucifixae Iesu d'Ubertin de Casale et ses emprunts aux De articulis fidei de S. Thomas d'Aquin." In Studies Honoring Ignatius Charles Brady, Friar Minor, ed. Romano Stephen Almagno and Conrad L. Harkins. Saint Bonaventure, N.Y.: Franciscan Institute, 1976, pp. 293-307.
Hofer, J. "Das Gutachten Ubertins von Casale tiber die Armut Christi." Franziskanische Studien, 11, 1924, pp. 210-215.
Huck, Johann Chrysostomus. Ubertin von Casale und dessen Ideenkreis: Ein Beitrag zum Zeitalter Dantes. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1903.
Ini, A. M. "Nuovi documenti sugli Spirituali di Toscana." Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 66, 1973, pp. 305-377.
Knoth, E. Ubertin von Casale: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Franziskaner an der Wende des 13. und 14. Jahrbunderts. Marburg, 1903.
Manselli, Raoul. "Pietro di Giovanni Olivi ed Ubertino da Casale (a proposito della Lectura super Apocalipsim e dell'Arbor vitae crucifixae lesu)." Studi Medievali, Series 3(6), 1965, pp. 95-122.
—. "L'anticristo mistico: Pietro di Giovanni Olivi, Ubertino da Casale, e i papi del loro tempo." Collectanea Franciscana, 47, 1977, pp. 5-25.
Martini, A. "Ubertino da Casale alia Verna e la Verna nell'Arbor Vitae." La Vema, 11, 1913, pp. 273-344.
Oliger, Livarius. "De relatione inter Observantium querimonias Constantienses (1415) et Ubertini Casalensis quoddarn scriptum." Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 9, 1916, pp. 3-41.
Potesta, G. L. "Un secolo di studi suit' Arbor vitae: Chiesa ed escatologia in Ubertino da Casale." Collectanea Franciscana, 47, 1977, pp. 217-267.
—. Storia ed escatologia in Ubertino da Casale. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1980.
Zugaj, M. "Assumptio B. M. Virginis in Arbor Vitae Crucifixae Jesu (a. 1305) Fr. Ubertino de Casali, O. Min." Miscellanea Francescana, 46, 1946, pp. 124-156.
See Hugo, Marquis of Tuscany
Ugolino di Vieri (died c. 1380 or 1385) was a well-known goldsmith of Siena about whom we have documentary evidence for the period from 1329 until his death. His major work is a gold and silver reliquary (1337-1338) crafted for the Holy Corporal, preserved in the cathedral in Orvieto. This reliquary, in the Gothic style, has eight small statues of apostles and prophets, a crucifix with Mary and John, and some thirty enamels that depict the life of Christ and the miracle of the Holy Corporal (the miracle of Bolsena"). The influence of Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Duccio (the Maestà) on these scenes—and that of Giovanni Pisano on the sculptures—is evident. Another known work by Ugolino is a reliquary for the head of Saint Savino (duomo, Orvieto), which he made in collaboration with the obscure Sienese artisan Viva di Lando.
See also Bolsena; Orvieto; Reliquaries
CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ
Dal Poggetto, Paolo. Ugolino di Vieri: Gli smalti di Orvieto. Florence: Sade/Sansoni, 1965.
White, John. Art and Architecture in Italy 1250-1400, 2nd ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987.
The poet Uguccione da Lodi (thirteenth century) was from northern Italy, but despite the apparent toponymic designation in his name, he was probably a member of a well-known family in Cremona. If so, he would be a contemporary of Gerardo Pateg. Virtually nothing is known about Uguccione's life, and the debates concerning his place of origin carry over into the attribution of works to him. However, one work is his beyond all reasonable doubt—the so-called Libro.
The Libro, which displays the metrical influence of Old French and Franco-Veneto chansons de geste and thematic traces of Old French didactic works, consists of 702 verses divided into stanzas of monorhymed alexandrines (fourteen-syllable lines) with groups of hendecasyllables at both the beginning and the end. Modeled on the techniques of sermon literature, the Libro constantly reminds the reader of earthly corruption and how worldly temptations lead to sin and, eventually, to perdition in hell. As part of its didactic intent, the poem furnishes many examples taken from the Bible and from everyday life and urges the reader to serve God and to follow his commandments in order to win the eternal rewards of paradise. As a devotional work, the Libro is rich in both sententious phraseology—e.g., Avaricia en 'sto segoio abunda e desmesura ("In this world avarice abounds and knows no limits")—and seemingly ecstatic utterances, such as the following:
Iusta devinitad, verasia maiestate,
omnipotente Deu sovr' ogna poestate,
misericordia Te clamo con grande pietate
qe me secori per la Too bontate. . .
("Righteous divinity, true majesty, omnipotent God over all other powers. With great piety I entreat you for mercy that through your goodness you may help me. . . .") One point of interest of the poem is its language, which is similar to that used by other northern Italian didactic poets of the period: Bonvesin de la Riva, Gerardo Pateg, and Giacomino da Verona. In the manuscript (Saibante-Hamilton 390, Staatsbibliothek, Berlin), the text of the Libro is followed by another poem, referred to as the Istoria, which presents virtually the same subject matter in 1,142 novenari (with some ottonari interspersed) arranged in rhymed couplets. There is no reason to assume, as some critics have done, that these two poems are actually one; indeed, it is likely that the second is simply a later continuation by an anonymous author.
See also Bonvesin da la Riva; De Contemptu Mundi; Gerardo Pateg; Giacomino da Verona; Italian Prosody; Pietro da Barsegapé
CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ
Broggini, Romano. "L'opera di Uguccione da Lodi." Studi Romanzi, 32, 1956.
Contini, Gianfranco, ed. Poeti del Duecento, 2 vols. Milan and Naples: Ricciardi, 1960, Vol. 1, pp. 597-624.
Dionisotti, C., and C. Grayson, eds. Early Italian Texts, 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 1965, pp. 149-152.
Tobler, Adolfo. "Das Buch des Uguçon de Laodho." Abhandlungen der K. Akademie der Wissenschafien zu Berlin. Philos.-Historische Abh., 1884.
Levi, Ezio. Uguccione da Lodi e i primordi della poesia italiana. Florence: L. Battistelli, 1928.
Medin, Antonio. "L'opera poetica di Uguccione da Lodi." Atti del R Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere, ed Arti, 81(2), 1921-1922, pp. 185-209.
Vizmuller-Zocco, Jana. "The Language of Uguçon da Laodho," 2 vols. Dissertation, University of Toronto, 1982.
Under the entry Pis in Derivationes, Uguccione (c. 1125 or 1130-30 April 1210) states that he was born in Pisa—without, however, indicating the year, which has had to be estimated by his biographers. The date of his election as bishop of Ferrara is likewise uncertain. He completed his studies at Bologna, where in all probability he wrote his grammatical treatises. Later, he began to lecture on Gratian's Decretum, perhaps at the monastery of Saint Nabore and Saint Felice, where Gratian had taught. One of Uguccione's students was Lothar, a count of the Segni, who later became Pope Innocent III. Uguccione headed the diocese of Ferrara until his death. During his years as bishop he was given important assignments by popes Celestine III and Innocent III, his former pupil, mostly for the purpose of resolving a crisis at Nonantola, which was governed by an abate insufficient to the task. The archbishop of Ravenna, Guglielmo Cu riano, also entrusted Uguccione with settling disputes between the inhabitants of Ravenna and those of nearby Rimini. The outline of these biographical events agrees with the traditional view according to which Uguccione da Pisa, bishop of Ferrara, was, as both lecturer on grammar and canonist, the author of all of the works mentioned below. Miiller (1991, 1994) has challenged this view, arguing that the grammarian and the canonist should not be identified as the same person.
It will be useful to point out links among Uguccione's works, based on internal cross-references. The De dubio accentu and Rosarium are cited in Derivationes and explicitly referred to by name in the Agiographia, which is itself referred to by name in the Surnma decretorum. These references constitute the writer's claim to authorship and the basis for all further critical discussion of his works.
De dubio accentw. This brief treatise provides the correct pronunciation of a number of compound words or words in which the penultimate syllable is followed by a mute plus a liquid. In a set of appendixes, Uguccione deals with more specialized issues relating, again, to pronunciation, and also to spelling. Giovanni Balbi's Catholicon often draws on this text, while occasionally deferring to Bene da Firenze's teachings.
Rosarium: This treatise on grammar, cited twice in the Derivationes, is preserved in a single manuscript dating from 1382, Erfurt Ampl. Q. 69 (252), ff. 1-63. It provides a summary of ars grammatics based on the eight parts of speech. A list of conjugated verb forms, arranged alphabetically (amo, amas, etc.. to zelo, zelas), appears on leaves 24ra—54rb.
Derivationes: Preserved in more than 200 extant manuscripts, this lexicon comprises the entire patrimony of the Latin language, classified by the principles of word derivation. It constitutes a fundamental stage in the development of medieval Latin lexicography because it organizes a large amount of linguistic data into derivational groupings and because it integrates into this scheme erudition passed down from antiquity, to be preserved and passed on to future generations. The work remains unpublished.
Agiographia: This short text also uses the word derivation format, which, in its most noteworthy section, presents a list of saints' names, arranged according to the liturgical calendar; these are then glossed with reference to traditional hagiographical aspects relating to holy deeds leading to canonization. The work serves as a bridge between Uguccione's two major texts; it is cited in the Summa decretomm, and it makes, in turn, an explicit reference to the Derivationes.
Summa decretorum: Uguccione worked on this text from 1178 to at least 1188. However, some questions arise as to whether the commentary regarding cases 23-26 is authentic or the work of one of Uguccione's continuators. Relatively recently, this text has been subjected to renewed scrutiny by historians of canon law, in an attempt to understand Uguccione's views on the thorny issue of the relationship between the two supreme authorities on earth—the papacy and the empire. According to some, Uguccione's thinking on this subject may have inspired Dante's Monarchichia;, indeed, Dante explicitly cites the Derivationes in his Convivio (4.6.5). The Summa decretorum also deals with a number of questions pertaining to the theology of the sacraments. For the manuscript tradition of this Summa, still unpublished, readers should consult Leonardi (1956-1957).
Expositio de symboio apostolorum: This text is attributed to Uguccione in Trombelli (1775) and codex 2633 in the University Library of Bologna but is not cited by him in any of his other works. It offers a commentary on the twelve articles of the credo, thereby constituting itself a catechism on the fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith. This brief exposition may be the fruit of Uguccione's pastoral activity, undertaken during the last twenty years of his life as bishop of Ferrara.
See also Gratian; Innocent III, Pope; Law: Canon
GIUSEPPE CREMASCOU
Translated by Richard Lansing
De dubio accentu—Agiographia—Expositio de symbolo apostolorum, ed. Giuseppe Cremascoli. Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 1978.
Derivationes. Florence: Accademia della Crusca, 2000.
Il "De dubio accentu" di Uguccione da Pisa, ed. Giuseppe Cremascoli. Bologna, 1969.
Expositio Domini Huguccionis Ferrariensis Episcopi de Symbolo Apostolorum, ed. Joannes Chrysostomus Trorabelli. In Bedae et Claudii Taurinensis itemque aliorum veterum Patrum opuscula, Bologna, 1755, pp. 207-223.
L' "Expositio de symbolo apostolorum"di Uguccione da Pisa, ed. Giuseppe Cremascoli. Studi Medievali, 14, 1973, pp. 364-442.
Häring, Nicholas M. "Zwei Kommentare von Huguccio, Bischof von Ferrara." Studia Gratiana, 19, 1976, pp. 355-416.
Austin, H. D. "Glimpses of Uguiccione's Personality." Philological Quarterly, 26, 1947, pp. 367-377.
—. "Uguiccione Miscellany." Italica, 27, 1950, pp. 12-17.
Cremascoli, Giuseppe. "Saggio bibliografico." Aevum, 42, 1968, pp. 123-168.
Leonardi, Corrado. "La vita e l'opera di Uguccione da Pisa decretista." Studia Gratiana, 4, 1956-1957, pp. 37-120.
Marigo, Aristide. I codici rnanoscritti delle "Derivationes" di Uguccione Pisano. Rome: Istituto di Studi Romans, 1936.
Miiller, Wolfgang P. "Huguccio of Pisa: Canonist, Bishop, and Grammarian?" Viator, 22, 1991, pp. 121-152.
—. Huguccio: The Life, Works, and Thought of a Twelfth-Century Jurist. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1994.
Riessner, Claus. Die "Magnae Derivationes" des Uguccione da Pisa und ihre Bedeutung für die romanische Philologie. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1965.
Uguccione della Faggiuola (1250-1318) was born into aGhihelline family. He became renowned as a military and political leader throughout northern Italy. At various times he was podestà of Arezzo, Gubbio, and Pisa; capitano del popolo (captain-general) of various cities, including Cesena and Pisa; and ruler of Lucca.
Having brought peace to Arezzo in 1303, Uguccione was appointed its podestà after gaining the support of Pope Boniface VIII. But because the success of his campaign had derived in part from an alliance with Guelf forces, his reign was short-lived: the Ghibellines expelled him from the city the following year. He returned to Arezzo in 1308, after having married one of his daughters to the leader of the Black Guelfs in Florence, Corso Donati, and once again became its podestà. from 1309 to 1310. Shortly thereafter he joined forces with Henry VII of Luxembourg when Henry descended into Italy, and he served as Henry's vicar in Genoa. After Henry's death, Pisa named Uguccione podestà and captain-general for a ten-year term. During this period he consolidated his power through several acts of ruthless violence, and he gained the support of Castruccio Castracane in his mission to force Lucca to return appropriated territory to Pisa. Uguccione achieved his greatest military victory in 1315 at the battle of Montecatini, where he destroyed the Guelf forces. Over time, his position of strength was weakened by his tyrannical mode of governing and his generally dissolute behavior, coupled with a political policy that adversely affected Florence. In 1317, he took refuge in Verona, placing himself in the service of Cangrande della Scala, who appointed him podestà of Vicenza. Uguccione died in battle at Vicenza a year later.
Uguccione was cited as one of Dante's ideal political figures by Boccaccio, on the basis of a supposed letter to Frate Ilaro, which claims that Dante dedicated the Inferno to Uguccione in gratitude; supposedly, early during his exile, Dante had been a guest at one of Uguccione's castles. Neither the letter nor the legend to which it gave rise has been accepted by critics as authentic, although one has advanced the theory that the veltro ("greyhound") of Inferno 1 (101), the prophesied destroyer of the lupa ("she-wolf'), is to be identified with Uguccione. Historical records (chiefly Villani's chronicle) show, however, that Uguccione was not only tyrannical, brutal, and power-hungry but also avaricious, and therefore an unlikely candidate for the solution to the problem of greed represented by the she-wolf.
See also Cangrande della Scala; Castruccio Castracani; Dante Alighieri; Lucca
RICHARD LANSING
Green, Louis. Chronicle into History: An Essay on the Interpretation of History in Florentine Fourteenth-Century Chronicles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
Lenzi, Eugenio. Uguccione delta Faggiuola e Castruccio nel Trecento toscano. Lucca: M. Pacini Fazzi, 2001.
Petrocchi, Giorgio. "Uguccione della Faggiuola." In Enciclopedia dantesca, Vol. 2. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1970-1978, pp. 778-780.
Villani, Giovanni. Nuova cronica, 3 vols., ed. G. Porta. Parma: Fondazione Pietro Bembo-Guanda, 1990-1991.
Just as Paris was the ancestor and model of the northern European universities, Bologna was the point of origin for the autonomous development of Italian universities. Bologna's specialty from the very beginning was Roman and canon law, usually called the "two laws," There were also some independently founded schools of higher education: the ancient schools of medicine at Salerno, a lively native university at Arezzo, a royal university at Naples, and two papal studia. But with these exceptions, all the other Italian universities began as secessions from Bologna and shared its corporate structure and curriculum. Much of the instability of the later foundations may also be attributed to this origin, for they necessarily inherited the tension between student populace and commune that typified life in Bologna and repeatedly caused the scholars to flee. After an initial fifty turbulent years of institutional life in the first half of the thirteenth century, Bologna never, in fact, had a serious rival for first place among Italian schools. The fame of Bologna began with its great teachers—especially Irnerius (d. c. 1130), a specialist in Roman law; and the monk Gratian (died c. 1159), the founder of studies of canon law. These men organized the teaching of law by recovering authoritative texts and by creating systematic methods for glosses and commentaries. In the early years, Roman law was studied largely by laymen and Italians. The study of canon law, by contrast, was immediately of interest to clerics, who came from all over Europe to study at Bologna and returned to found faculties of canon law throughout the continent.
Bologna's institutional hallmark was the student university, a corporate organization of the students as a governing body for their own affairs. (The word universitas originally meant a corporation or guild and could be any voluntary organization; what we call a university was properly called a studium generate, meaning a school of broad studies whose teaching certificates were universally recognized, according to what was called the ius ubique docendi, the right to teach everywhere.) At Bologna, the curriculum was regulated, the faculty was certified, and fees were set by the law students' guilds in the person of the rector and other representatives of the student "nations" (at first four and finally two, the Italian and Ultramontane). The nations and the various smaller national groups within them, sometime also called nations, were the focus of student life and culture. By the time of the first surviving statutes (1317), there was a clear rotation of the rectorship of the Ultramontane university among student leaders of rival nationalities. Thus, in one year of every three the rector would be a German; in other years he was chosen from among the French, English, Spanish, or other non-Italian students. The power of the student universities derived from their economic importance to the city; some estimates suggest that as many as 10,000 students resided in the city c. 1250, when its total population was only 40,000. Most of the students were foreigners—i.e., not Bolognese—whereas most professors had or acquired Bolognese citizenship. This provided the teachers with the protection of the commune and ensured that they would often side with it in disputes. The students, meanwhile, were left with scant protection under local law and had to devise their own regulatory mechanisms in the face of the citizens' hostility. Students from the city who could claim citizenship were excluded from the student universities whose legal protection they did not need. Early in the thirteenth century, the commune of Bologna opposed every new pretension of the student universities, a policy that led to a series of secessions. The most important was that of 1217-1220, when the students virtually deserted Bologna for law schools already existing at Reggio and Vicenza; professors, dependent on students' fees, went along. A further major secession occurred in 1222, giving rise to Bologna's most enduring rival, Padua. There were similar departures en masse from Bologna in 1246, to Siena; and in 1276, to Perugia. In 1228, the secessionist fever led many of the students who had only recently arrived at Padua to move on to Vercelli. Of these unwanted offspring of Bologna, only Padua had an uninterrupted existence into the fourteenth century. By the mid-1240s, the city of Bologna had conceded most of the eventual privileges of the student corporations, including the full protection of the law, but the scholars continued to exercise their rights of boycott and secession in times of dispute. Notable groups seceded or were lured away to Padua in 1260-1262, 1274, and 1306; to Arezzo, Siena, and Florence in 1321-1328; and to Florence again when that studium was refounded in 1349.
Bologna's powerful student corporations were not the first organization of the studium there, for the university seems to have started (as at Oxford and Paris) with a professional guild or corporation of professors. Such an organization is presupposed by the "Authentic Habitus," a decree of Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1158 that granted imperial protection to scholars at all levels. This grant was intended to free foreign scholars from reprisals by the governments of university towns, but it also established an important notion of academic freedom in that it allowed students to choose whether their legal disputes would be settled in a bishop's court or by their own professors. In contrast to northern European universities, where most students were clerics, the Italian schools of Roman law and the arts faculties were largely composed of laymen both as teachers and as students. This gave the Italian universities a strongly secular character. In the bitter town-and-gown controversies, moreover, the local governments came to play an ever larger role in safeguarding the university and even in financing it. During the disputes of 1217—1220 at Bologna, Pope Honorius III imposed a rule whereby the licenses to teach that accompanied doctoral degrees were to be conferred by the archdeacon of the cathedral. This was analogous to similar attempts by the bishop to impose supervision on the schools of Paris in the same period, but at Bologna it had the effect of excluding the bishop from the affairs of the university by vesting the church's right to supervise in another local official. The papal rule was probably accepted easily at Bologna because the masters there already cooperated with the student universities in the matter of curriculum and did not see the presence of a church official as infringing any exclusive right of the professoriat. Instead, the new rule was a way of asserting the universality of the Bologna degree. Later in the thirteenth century, the rights of the archdeacon at Bologna and analogous officials in other Italian universities were disputed. But for the most part, direct involvement by such church officials in Italian universities remained minor for most of the Middle Ages.
The curriculum at all the Italian universities was dominated by the study of the two laws. In this they followed the lead of Bologna. The traditional arts courses—grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric—were modified under the pressure of legal studies into a specialized preprofessional sequence in the Latin language. Emphasis was on writing skills needed by government officials, clerks, and notaries, embodied in ars dictaminis (letter theory) and ars notariae (notarial study). Critical philological, philosophical, and moral study of literature together with speculative philosophy were the content of the arts courses in the rest of Europe, but these subjects were not a major part of the program of Italian universities in the thirteenth century, A transformation of the arts course so that it centered on letter theory occurred c. 1200, starting at Bologna; it was a rejection of university-level study of the classical authors, a practice that continued somewhat longer in northern Europe but eventually gave way there too, in the course of the thirteenth century, to speculative and philosophical study of grammar and logic. In both cases, the advanced study of arts was professionalized, but Italian scholars did this by adapting the course to the needs of law, the dominant discipline in their tradition, while the French arts schools reflected the methods of theology, "queen of sciences" at Paris. Much of the early humanists' rejection of university training stemmed from the realization that the curricular demands of the law course had led to a degradation of classical norms in writing Latin.
Medicine was an important field in Italy and was represented in most university programs, often in a combined faculty of arts and medicine. There were medical schools at Salerno from the tenth century on, but they were based on clinical practice and had no university structure until after Frederick II attempted to co-opt them for his new university at Naples in the 1220s. By the early fourteenth century, Salerno was in decline. Elsewhere in Italy, the first explicit mentions of university professors of medicine are from the second quarter of the thirteenth century; but Arezzo, Bologna, and Padua probably had professors of medicine much earlier. Bologna in the late thirteenth century and Padua in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries became almost as well known for medical studies as for law.
Theology was a relative latecomer to Italian universities, largely because of the early preeminence in this field of the schools of Paris. But even though the only theological faculty in Italy in the thirteenth century was that of the Roman curial college, which followed the papal court, theological studies could be pursued at Bologna and in many other university towns at the studia of the mendicant orders. When theology was added to Italian university programs, in most cases after 1350 as part of a papal program to develop theological studies in centers outside Paris, this was accomplished by grouping the teachers of existing religious studia in those cities into new faculties of theology within the old universities. The relative strength of medicine and weakness of theology meant that philosophical studies in the Italian universities typically developed not as an offshoot of systematic theology (as at Paris or Oxford) but in the context of medical theory. The Italian scholastic tradition, as a result, was more concerned with physics than metaphysics, while Aristotelian logic was taught to all candidates for medical degrees but not necessarily to students of grammar and rhetoric. This is the reason why the arts disciplines and medicine were usually grouped in one faculty in Italy, something that rarely occurred elsewhere in Europe.
The most important of the Italian universities not founded from Bologna was that of Arezzo, which became a major regional university, although it never had an international reputation. In the last decades of the twelfth century, flourishing private and church-sponsored schools of law and grammar, and possibly also of medicine, were already making Arezzo the principal Tuscan center for higher studies. In 1215, these schools were given further impetus by the arrival from Bologna of a famous professor of Roman law, Roffredo of Benevento, who attracted large numbers of students and set off a period of rapid growth. By the time of the first known statutes of 1255 (the earliest Italian university statutes to survive), the university had eight chairs salaried by the commune: four in law, two in grammar and dialectic, and two in medicine. These professors constituted a collegium that governed the behavior of the faculty and students, set fees and course schedules, examined for degrees, and certified licenses to teach in all the schools of the city. Arezzo's licenses were recognized throughout Tuscany. No student statutes survive, but students probably had their own universitas and were certainly represented by an elected beadle who was also a notary. We must envision, therefore, a faculty-directed university with municipal financing, very different in kind from the Bolognese model.
The 1250s were the golden age of Arezzo's university, even as the city's power in Tuscany waned. The university was forced to close its doors in 1260-1261, in the political chaos that followed the battle of Montaperti. But it was prestigious enough to weather this storm; it reopened in November 1261 and survived and flourished for nearly thirty years more even in the face of Arezzo's continued political and economic decline. In 1285, Arezzo's schools served as a model for the reform of Siena's university. However, the final military disaster suffered by Arezzo at Campaldino in 1289 signaled the decline of its university as well. By 1312, all the professors had left. Attempts to revive the studium were made in 1338 and 1355, but not until 1450 could Arezzo again boast of an enduring university.
As Arezzo declined, Siena became the principal university in Tuscany. During the disputes at Bologna in the 1320s, the governing council of Siena set out to lure away as many students and faculty members as possible with promises of secure salaries and housing subsidies. Although many of the scholars returned to Bologna later, this government-sponsored program ensured that Siena would thereafter have an international reputation. Finally, in 1357, the city fathers obtained an imperial privilege that named Siena a studium generale and granted its graduates the ius ubique docendi.
Naples too had a university independent of the Bolognese model, founded in 1224 by a decree of Frederick II. It was intended to give southern Italy a native institution of higher learning to rival Bologna, and to provide lawyers and civil servarus for the royal government. On this account, its foundation decree stipulated that subjects of the emperor were henceforth forbidden to study elsewhere, a provision clearly aimed at Guelf Bologna. Supervision of the studium was placed in the hands of a royal official. Its corporations were organized by discipline and included both masters and students, apparently on the model of similar guilds at Montpellier; Salerno also provided models For some of the institutions at Naples. Frederick probably intended to transfer Salerno's ancient medical schools to Naples but never succeeded. Indeed, the emperor's attention to the whole effort seems to have wandered more than once, and the university did not really establish itself in his lifetime. The studium was effectively refounded in 1266 by Charles of Anjou and played an important role in the cultural life of Naples into the fifteenth century.
The studium curiae or Roman curial university was also a princely foundation, created by Pope Innocent IV in 1244-1245 with faculties of theology, canon law, and civil law. It had no fixed seat but followed the papal court and served primarily as a source of benefices for clergy in the papal and cardinalate households. It was governed by a faculty collegium under the chairmanship of the cardinal chamberlain. A second papal university, the studium urbis in Rome itself, was founded in 1303 by a decree of Pope Boniface VIII. It suffered from Boniface's early death but survived the subsequent Avignonese papacy. As reformed in 1431 by merger with the studium curiae, it is the ancestor of the present-day University of Rome. During the fourteenth century, it had universities of students and masters on the Bolognese model. Close control by papal officials was foreseen by the founding decree, but with the absence of the papal court, lay officials of the city of Rome assumed real control of the university administration.
Padua was one of the earliest offshoots of Bologna and its only serious rival at any time. Although Padua's greatest flowering was in the Renaissance when, especially for sciences and medicine, it outranked even Bologna, the university was large and distinguished from the beginning. It benefited from being relatively close to Bologna (and thus being an easy place for discontented scholars to go) and from continuous, strong support by the city's rulers: at first the bishop and commune, then the Carrara and Delia Scala lords of Padua, and finally the republic of Venice. Venice had no university before modern times and adopted Padua in the fifteenth century as the chief institution of higher learning for the expanding Venetian territorial state. Similarly, several attempts to create a university at Florence in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ended with the transfer of the Florentine studium to Pisa in 1472.
None of the largest Italian cities of the Middle Ages had major universities, with the exception of the unique royal foundation at Naples. The reason for this situation is probably to be sought in the commercial ideals and aspirations of the rulers of the great cities. The Genoese, Milanese, Venetians, and Florentines seemed ready to send their younger sons—those destined for professional and church careers—away to school; and they seem at the same time to have been unwilling to entertain the presence in their own cities of large populations of foreign students. Italy's flourishing medieval universities, therefore, remained the property of cities of the second rank.
There is no single bibliography for the history of the Italian universities as such. Reviews of the literature on individual universities appear in local historical journals and in the publications of the kalian universities themselves. The most useful of these is Quaderni per la storia dell'Università di Padova. At the time of this writing, the massive Bibliographic internationale de l'histoire des universités had not yet published a volume for Italy, but many aspects of university history in general were addressed in the volumes already issued. Also useful for studying universities in general are book reviews and articles in History of Universities.
See also Ars Dictaminis; Bologna; Education; Law: Canon; Law: Roman; Liberal Arts; Notaries; Padua
PAUL F. GEHL
Bibliographie Internationale de l'histoire des universités. Geneva: Droz, 1973-.
Brucker, Gene. "Florence and Its University: 1348-1434." In Action and Conviction in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Memory of E. H. Hardison, ed. T. K. Rabb and Jeffrey E. Siegal. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969.
Cobban, A. B. The Medieval Universities: Their Development and Organization. London: Methuen, 1975.
History of Universities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981—.
Hyde, J. K. "Commune, University, and Society in Early Medieval Bologna." In Universities in Politics, Case Studies from the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, ed. John W. Baldwin and Richard A. Goldthwaite. Baltimore, Md., and London: Johns Hopkins Press, 1972.
—. "Universities and Cities in Medieval Italy." In The University and the City from Medieval Origins to the Present, ed. Thomas Bender. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Kibre, Pearl. Scholarly Privileges in the Middle Ages. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1962.
Paolini, Lorenzo. "L'evoluzione di una funzione ecclesiastica: arcidiacono e lo Studio di Bologna nel XIII secolo." Stuai Medievali, Series 3(29), 1988, pp. 129-172.
Quaderni per la storia dell'Università di Padova, Vol. 1. Padua: Antenore, 1968-.
Rashdall, Hastings. The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. F. M. Powicke and A. B. Emden, 3 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1936.
Siraisi, Nancy G. Arts and Sciences at Padua. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1973.
Sorbelli, AJbano. Storia dell'Università di Bologna. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1944.
The University World: A Synoptic View of Higher Education in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. Douglas Radcliffe-Umstead. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh, 1973.
Wieruszowski, Helene. The Medieval University. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1966.
—. "Arezzo as a Center of Learning and Letters in the Thirteenth Century." Traditio, 9, 1953, pp. 321-391. (Reprinted in Politics and Culture in Medieval Spain and Italy. Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1971.)
Like most structures of the late Roman empire, cities contracted and urban life disintegrated as the empire fell. This urban decay was most pronounced in the western half of the empire. Beginning in the tenth and eleventh centuries, cities expanded, and urban life recovered in western Europe as a consequence of the "commercial revolution." This urban revival was most pronounced in Italy, especially northern Italy, since this was the birthplace of the commercial revolution. By the end of the Middle Ages, a number of Italian cities had even transformed themselves into city-states, which governed territorial empires, controlled world markets, fashioned European diplomacy, and fostered the artistic and intellectual movements of the day. The unique culture of the Italian Renaissance was based on, and was a result of, medieval Italian city life. Yet the splendor, power, and vibrancy of a city like Florence during the Quattrocento would have been hard to discern in the cities of Roman Italy in the fifth century.
The Roman empire rested on a foundation composed of cities. Because of the economic problems and political confusion of the late empire, the state began to depend excessively on that foundation. The state taxed cities and their inhabitants heavily and regulated the activity of artisans and commercial groups. Urban officials served as imperial administrators and were personally liable for the taxes owed from their district. Occupations became both hereditary and onerous for the urban classes, whose only relief was to desert the positions and the cities. The flight from the cities was hastened by political conflict during the late imperial period and by the invasions of German tribes. By the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth century, most Italian cities had erected walls for defense. Significantly, the urban area that these walls encompassed was smaller than before. The physical shrinking of the city reflected the shrinking of its population. Urban building ceased, cities abandoned their forums, and public buildings were mined to help build the walls. As imperial political and economic control became decentralized, cities, like dying stars, collapsed in on themselves. The devastating Ostrogothic-Byzantine war (535-554) hastened this collapse, and the advent of the Lombards (c. 568) almost eliminated the once-elaborate Roman civic administration in Italy. Cities, which were once economic and residential centers, became primarily military and ecclesiastical administrative centers. The bishop became a central figure in city administration, as did the representative of the local military or tribal leader.
Although one-fourth of the Roman cities in Italy completely vanished, the truncated survivors preserved at a minimal level the hallmarks of Roman urbanism: civic administration, public buildings, and the classical heritage. Notaries, for instance, preserved elements of Roman law. In addition, many Italian cities in the early Middle Ages lived in the shadow of Byzantium and preserved a modicum of urbanism fueled by trade with the Byzantine empire.
Although the market systems of Italian cities were too underdeveloped for an urban revival under the Carolingians, city bureaucracies did grow and cities developed their own legal codes. Cities increased their autonomy as the authority of the Carolingians and their successors waned. Raids by the Muslims and Hungarians forced cities to serve as places of refuge and to develop their own military force, a militia organized by city quarters. Cities began to receive various liberties from the kings. Some bishops even received political power and were particularly conscientious about organizing defensive walls. The autonomy of the cities was exemplified by the development of bitter rivalries between them, a feature of Italian urban development throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Around 1100, throughout Italy, there was a political revolution in the towns. Where once government authority had lain in the hands of the bishop or local representative of the emperor, a sworn assembly of the citizens elected an executive body (usually four to twelve men) to rule over them. These were the consuls, a name that reflected the classical heritage of these cities; and this was the birth of the commune. A later addition was a body of advisers to the consuls; this advisory body was called the council or senate. This communal development stemmed from the idea of corporate unity, an idea so dominant in Italian urban development that families, guilds, and political factions had a corporate organization parallel to communal organization.
Communes began to expand their authority and populace beyond their walls, and even extended their walls during the High Middle Ages. The commercial revolution generated this renewal. By 900, Milan was the commercial center for its surrounding region, and rural families, including major landholding families, flocked to it. The Italian urban revival and the commercial revolution itself were fostered by these landholding families, who supplemented their position by participating in trade. By 1000, Milan was the hub of the trade network of northern Italy. Communes were involved in both long-distance and local trade. The rise of Venice as an economic power and an urban entity was fueled by its monopoly of the local salt trade and its control of trade in the Adriatic. This growth accelerated through Venice's long-distance trading contacts with the Byzantine empire. Other port cities benefited from their contacts with the wider Mediterranean world. Pisa and Genoa especially benefited from trading contacts made during the crusades. This trade generated further economic and industrial growth, such as shipbuilding. Complicated trade networks developed. Venice was the center for trade uniting central Europe, the Po valley, and the Levant; Milan was the center for trade uniting northern Europe and Italy; Genoa was the center for trade uniting northern Europe and the western Mediterranean. Smaller towns duplicated the economic activity of the larger ones. Moreover, Italian merchants operated internationally. Some areas internationalized their local economy: San Gimignano marketed its saffron throughout the known world. Economic activity and wealth were distinctive features of Italian urbanism.
As control of trade became crucial for urban development, Italian cities squabbled over trade routes. Pisa and Genoa fought for control of the western Mediterranean, and Genoa and Venice fought for control of the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Inland cities also squabbled over trade routes. Florence and Lucca fought for control of routes linking the northern and central areas of Italy. By the early fifteenth century, five cities—Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples—dominated Italian economics and politics.
As the urban elite became wealthier and more numerous, its members wanted more of a say in their government: in maintaining peace, defending their city, promoting their interests, and exercising judicial and fiscal authority. Communes directed their grievances against the local lay or ecclesiastical lord, who usually represented the Holy Roman emperor. Tension between the papacy and the empire during the investiture controversy (1075-1122) and afterward also influenced urban political development, with cities forming rival parties to support either the papacy (Guelfs) or the empire (Ghibellines), though these parties were always defined by local issues. This factionalism was also i distinctive feature of Italian urbanism in the Middle Ages.
Although the transition from lordship to commune could be violent, many times it was not, and the bishop or lay lord accepted the authority of the commune or even became its active illy. Communes eventually usurped the state's rights of coinage, lolls, customs, justice, and war. Communes also instituted political control of the countryside around the city. Efficient control of the countryside guaranteed food, troops, and taxes for the city and eliminated the power of the rural nobility.
Despite their rivalries, communes defended their rights against the Holy Roman emperor. In 1167, the communes of northern Italy formed a league to oppose attempts by Frederick I Barbarossa to reimpose imperial authority. The treaty of Constance (1183) formally recognized the communes and their rights. The communes also united against Frederick II (1195-1250) and his attempts to reimpose imperial authority in Italy.
Communes also experienced considerable internal strife. The minor landholding nobility, who had recently moved to the city and begun to engage in trade, collided with the major landholding families, who had also been living in the city and engaging in trade. Both groups clashed with the artisans and the strictly urban merchants. Internal disputes based on family, wealth, status, occupation, and residence (quarters and districts developed rivalries) exemplified the complexity and vibrancy of Italian city life. The constant stream of immigration from countryside to city, a result of population growth and the city's control of the countryside, exacerbated these tensions. Families built defensive towers that studded the urban landscape; vendettas proliferated. These internal disputes became a standard feature of Italian urban development throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Because of these disputes, Italian cities witnessed a political evolution from the mid-twelfth century to the mid-thirteenth century. This was the advent of the podestà, an outside executive, who was usually specially trained for this position. He came equipped with his own advisory council; his own bureaucracy, including judges, treasurers, and notaries; and his own soldiers to enforce order. His goal was to ensure order and justice; however, podestas tended to fail, largely because factional tendencies were too intense. One unpopular podestà had his teeth removed by his opponents; he prudently quit. Despite its failings, government by podestas dramatically increased the number of urban officials and refined the cities' revenue-gathering tools, instituting both direct and indirect taxes. Cities also funded debt. The rising cost of warfare to maintain the city against its rivals and to ensure its control of the countryside necessitated this; in the late thirteenth century, cities shifted from using an urban militia to relying on mercenary bands.
From the early thirteenth century on, a state within a state developed in most Italian cities. This was the popolo, a guild-based pressure group that reflected the tension between the urban nobility, who held political authority, and the lesser merchants, artisans, and bureaucrats, especially the recent arrivals, who wanted political power. Some nobles gave up their status and joined with the popolo. The popolo had a disciplined and highly structured organization that often paralleled the commune's own governmental structure. Its captain counterbalanced the podestà; its council of representatives from guilds, professional associations, miiitia companies, and districts and neighborhoods counterbalanced the commune's council. The popolo had its own officials, such as the executor of justice, whose role was to protect members from the commune's officials, especially the podestà. Unfair taxation and unequal justice, both of which favored the urban nobility, caused the popolo to demand communal offices. In some communes street brawls turned into civil war, and the popolo, because of its use of violence and its ability to join with one of the noble factions, forced out the podestà's government, though it kept the bureaucracy. The new regimes instantly put social and political restraints on the urban nobility, which crippled them politically. These restraints were also intended to curb violence by the nobles. Regimes based on the popolo never extended political power and representation through all the urban classes, but these regimes did have some signal accomplishments, reflected especially in renewed urban building and patronage of the arts. Nevertheless, the popolo was dominated by the wealthy, and civic republicanism in Italian cities always implied oligarchy. The failed uprising of impoverished Florentine industrial workers, called the ciompi (1378), reflected the reality of oligarchy, the continued existence of factionalism, and the use of violence to solve political questions.
Italian cities saw phenomenal growth in population up to the advent of the black death (1348). Florence, Venice, Milan, and Genoa had populations in excess of 100,000. Then populations fell; Florence, for example, lost one-third of its population, and other cities suffered similarly. Recurrent visitations of the plague and other diseases limited the urban population from the late Middle Ages through the early modern period.
Plague, which killed the poor in droves, and the ciompi uprising illustrated a social reality of Italian urbanism. The fabulous wealth of the urban elite existed side by side with the crushing poverty of the urban laboring classes. In some cities one-fourth or more of the population had neither property nor any other possessions and lived a precarious hand-to-mouth existence. City governments experimented with poor relief and control; and private organizations, such as religious confraternities and the Franciscans, tried to alleviate the effects of poverty.
Oligarchy, factionalism, and violence doomed the popular regimes and paved the way for the accession of signori—regimes dominated by one man. One faction would eventually gain power in a commune and would then extend the term of the urban executive, either the podestà or the captain, for life. Its opponents would then be exiled. Like a wave, signorial governments spread throughout Italy in the fourteenth century, although Florence—until the advent of the Medici (1434)—re sisted this form of government, as did Venice.
Signorial rule was personal and could become dynastic, reflecting a change in the urban ethos. To secure public order, government became a private possession. Despite this curtailment of personal liberties and loss of public responsibility, signo rial cities were more peaceful than their predecessors. Moreover, the signore and his court became the font from which the cultural achievements of the Italian Renaissance poured forth.
See also Black Death; Ciompi; Florence; Genoa; Ghibelline; Gothic Wars; Guelfs; Investiture Controversy; Lombard Leagues; Lombards; Milan; Podesta; Tides, Official; Venice
LOUIS HAAS
Becker, Marvin. Florence in Transition, 2 vols. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1967.
—. Medieval Italy: Constraints and Creativity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.
Bowsky, William. A Medieval Italian Commune: Siena under the Nine, 1287-1355. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981.
Brucker, Gene. Renaissance Florence. New York: Wiley, 1969.
Cohn, Samuel Kline, Jr. The Laboring Classes in Renaissance Florence. New York: Academic, 1980.
Goldthwaite, Richard A. The Building of Renaissance Florence: An Economic and Social Flistory. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.
Herlihy, David. Medieval and Renaissance Pistoia: The Social History of an Italian Town. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1967.
Hyde, John. Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000-1350. London: Macmillan, 1973.
Lane, Frederic. Venice: A Maritime Republic. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973.
Martines, Lauro. Power and Imagination: City-States in Renaissance Italy. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979, 1988.
Najemy, John. Corporatism and Consensus in Florentine Electoral Politics, 1280—1400. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982.
Pullan, Brian. Rich and Poor in Renaissance Venice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971.
Tabacco, Giovanni. The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy: Structures of Political Rule, trans. Rosalind Brown Jensen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Trexler, Richard. Public Life in Renaissance Florence. New York: Academic, 1980.
Waley, Daniel. The Italian City-Republics. London: Longman, 1969.
Pope Urban II (Qdo of Lagery, Eudes de Chatillon; c. 1035-1099, r. 1088-1099) was a church reformer and founder of the crusading movement. Urban was a native of France and was descended from a noble family of Châtillon-sur-Marne, near Soissons; Odo was his baptismal name. During his early school days at Reims, he came under the influence of Saint Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian order, who remained a potent influence in shaping his goals and values even after he had become pope. Odo's early career followed a pattern common among young clerics of noble lineage. After becoming archdeacon of Reims by 1160, he abandoned his career among the secular clergy and entered the monastery of Cluny. There, too, he advanced rapidly. By c. 1070 he was prior of Cluny; then Pope Gregory VII recruited him into the papal service in 1079-1080 and soon named him cardinal-bishop of Ostia,
Odo served Gregory diligently, at times at considerable peril to himself, notably when he was a-papal legate in Germany during some of the darkest days of the pope's struggle against King Henry IV. When Gregory died at Salerno on 25 May 1085, Odo seemed a likely successor, but the choice fell instead on Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino, who reigned briefly as Pope Victor III. Shortly before his death (in 1087), Victor recommended that Odo be elected to succeed him. On 12 March 1088, the cardinals who had assembled at Terracina complied with Victor's suggestion, and Odo was crowned as Pope Urban II the same day.
The papacy was at this point in dire straits. Since Rome and the patrimony of Saint Peter were in the hands of Henry IV's supporters, papal revenues were greatly reduced, an antipope (Clement III) had the backing of the emperor, and the church reform movement seemed to be faltering. The great achievement of Urban's pontificate was to redress and, in large measure, to reverse this situation.
Urban was in many ways far more successful in implementing the papal reform program than Gregory VII had ever been. He achieved this in part by an unremitting round of meetings with bishops, the clergy, and powerful laymen, in which he preached, argued, bargained, and cajoled to induce his hearers to accept the main planks of the reformers' platform—to refrain from simoniacal appointments to church offices, to restore church property to clerical control, and to commit the clergy at every level to celibacy. At the same time, Urban sought, with considerable success, to reduce the political tension resulting from the confrontations that had marked the pontificate of Gregory VII. In place of confrontation, Urban offered negotiation; instead of demands, he advanced proposals; and he preferred to outmaneuver his opponents rather than challenge them directly.
Urban saw clearly that his reform program could succeed in the long run only if it was securely anchored in the church's legal structure. Accordingly, he devoted a great deal of time and effort to persuading church councils to adopt the principal tenets of his program as church law. He also lavished time and attention on his role as supreme judge in the ecclesiastical court system, and his decisions became an integral part of the canonical jurisprudence of later generations.
Pope Urban II. Hartmann Schedel, Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle). Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493, p. 193v.
Urban is best-known, however, as the pope who proclaimed the First Crusade. At the council of Clermont on 27 November 1095, Urban called on the knights, nobles, and bishops of Christendom to join in an expedition to push back Turkish armies that had occupied Asia Minor and to help the Byzantine emperor restore Christian control over the Levant. He further promised that participants in this expedition would receive spiritual rewards, as well as a share in the conquests that they achieved. The council adopted his proposals, which quickly aroused a broad and enthusiastic response—probably broader and more enthusiastic, indeed, than Urban had anticipated. The pope devoted a great deal of time and effort over the following months to spelling out the implications of his proposal and refining arrangements for its organization and implementation.
By the fall of 1096, crusaders from France, Germany, and England were on the way to their rendezvous at Constantinople. In Italy, Urban's proposal aroused interest at first mainly among the restless Norman conquerors of the south, who saw it as an opportunity to secure a foothold in Byzantine territories; and the merchants of a few maritime cities in the north, especially Genoa and Pisa, who perceived that the venture, if successful, might open up profitable commercial opportunities in the Middle East.
After the initial bands of crusaders had departed, Urban once more directed his attention to the implementation of church reform and endeavored to resolve the issues that had put the papacy at odds with the principal monarchs north of the Alps. Although he achieved some successes, his program was still incomplete when he fell ill in the summer of 1099. At the beginning of July, the crusading armies that he had dispatched to the east had taken the city of Jerusalem. News of this momentous victory had not yet reached Rome when Urban died on 19 July 1099."
See also Crusades; Gregory VII, Pope
JAMES A. BRUNDAGE
The Councils of Urban II, Part 1, Decreta Claromontensia, ed. Robert Somerville. Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1972.
Jaffe, Philipp. Regesta pontificum Romanorum, 2nd ed., 2 vols. Leipzig, 1885-1888, Vol. 1, pp. 657-701. (Reprint, Graz: Akademische Druck- U. Verlagsanstalt, 1956. Includes some of Urban's letters.)
Patrologia Latina, 151, cols. 283-558. (Texts of most of Urban's surviving letters.)
Becker, Alfons. Papst Urban II (1088-1099), 2 vols. Schriften der Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 19. Stuttgart: A. Hiersemann, 1964-1988.
Furhmann, Horst. Papst Urban II. und der Stand der Regularkanoniker. Munich: Beck, 1984.
Gossman, Francis J. Pope Urban II and Canon Law. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1960.
Kuttner, Stephan. "Brief Notes: Urban II and Gratian." Traditio, 24, 1968, pp. 504-505.
—. "Urban II and the Doctrine of Interpretation: A Turning Point?" Studia Gratiana, 15, 1972, pp. 53-86.
Somerville, Robert. "The Council of Clermont and the First Crusade." Studia Gratiana, 20, 1976, pp. 323-337.
—. "Mercy and Justice in the Early Months of Urban II's Pontificate." In Chiesa diritto e ordinamento delta "Societas Christiana" nei secoli XI e XII: Atti delta nana Settimana internazionale di studio, Mendola, 28 agosto-2 settembre 1983. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1986, pp. 138-158.
Before becoming pope, Urban IV (Jacques Pantaléon; c. 1200-1264, r. 1261 — 1264) had been bishop of Verdun and legate to the Holy Land (1252), and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem (1255).
Urban's predecessor, Pope Alexander IV, had wanted to replace Manfred (the natural son of Emperor Frederick II Hohen staufen) as king of Sicily with a younger son of Henry III of England; Urban set this scheme aside and substituted Charles of Anjou as the candidate. Charles was to have the kingdom of Sicily, except for Benevento, in return for an annual payment of 10,000 gold uncie (later reduced to 8,000), plus a down payment of 50,000 marcs when he received his kingdom; and 300 knights to serve three months in any year, on request, in the papal armies. Charles also promised never to accept the imperial crown or the kingship of the Romans (it was their holdings in both Germany and Sicily that had made the Hohenstaufen unacceptable to the pope), not to become involved in Lombardy or Tuscany, and to exercise no charge in any town in the papal state. In return, the pope announced a crusade in Charles's support and, to finance it, levied an ecclesiastical tithe (tenth) in France and Provence (to which there was widespread resistance). The clause concerning offices in the papal state was almost immediately ignored to allow Charles to become senator of Rome, shortly before Urban's death.
Urban minimized the Germans involvement in Italian and Sicilian affairs by granting to both Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso X of Castile, in 1263, the right to call themselves "king elect of the Romans." He thus prolonged an interregnum in the Holy Roman empire that had lasted since 1254. He also successfully maneuvered to reduce Manfred's support in Lombardy and Tuscany, which initially posed a severe danger.
Faced with the downfall, in 1260, of the Latin empire of Constantinople at the hands of Michael VIII Palaeologus, Urban declared a tax in 1262 for recovering it, but in most places he failed to collect the tax. He also started negotiations with Michael for a union of the Greek and Latin churches; these negotiations were to lead to an abortive agreement for union at the Council of Lyon in 1274.
See also Charles I of Anjou; Manfred
CAROLA M. SMALL
Malaspina, Saba. Rerum sicularum historia. In L. A. Muratori, Rerum italicarum scriptores, Vol. 8. Milan, 1727.
Les registres d'Urbain IV, ed. Leon Dorez and Jean Guiraud. Paris: Fontemoing, 1899-1929.
Hampe, Karl. Urban IV und Manfred (1261-1264), Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1905. (Reprint, Liechtenstein: Krauss, 1977.)
Jordan, Édouard. Les origines de la domination Angevine en Italic. Paris: A. Picard Fils, 1909. (Reprint, New York: Franklin, 1960.)
Pope Urban V (Guillaume de Grimoard, 1310—1370, r. 1362-1370) had previously been abbot of Saint Victor in Marseille and three times papal nuncio in Italy. Although he was personally frugal, he was a generous patron of both art (notably in embellishing the papal palace at Avignon) and learning—he endowed several universities and founded two, at Krakow and Vienna. In 1364, he compelled Cardinal Albornoz to make peace in the Romagna with Bernabo Visconti, hoping to free resources for a crusade organized by the king of Cyprus. He also hoped to use the mercenary companies on the crusade, but they refused to go. Urban's subsequent vigorous measures against the condottieri who remained in France and Italy (he excommunicated them and forbade cities to employ them) were largely unsuccessful. However, the peace he had arranged enabled him to take his curia back to Rome from Avignon in 1367, although he relied on support from Emperor Charles IV to establish order in Italy. The Lateran palace being in ruins, Urban settled at the Vatican, creating a precedent for all future popes. Charles arrived in 1368 but failed entirely to impose his will. In 1370, under pressure from the cardinals, Urban returned to Avignon, where he died.
See also Albornoz, Gil Alvarez Cabrillo de; Condottieri; Rome; Visconti Family
CAROLA M. SMALL
Baluze, Etienne. Vitae paparum avenionensium, 4 vols., ed. G. Mollat. Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1914-1927.
Lettres secretes et curiales du Pape Urban V, ed. Paul Lecacheux and G. Mollat. Paris: A. Fontemoing and E. de Boccard, 1902-1955.
Les registres d'Urbain V (1362-1363), ed. M. Dubrulle. Paris: E. De Boccard, 1926.
Chaillan, Marius. Le bienheureux Urbain V (1310-1370). Paris: V. Lecoffre, J. Gabalda, 1911.
Housley, Norman. The Avignon Papacy and the Crusades, 1305-1378. Oxford: Clarendon, 1986.
Mollat, Guillaume. The Popes at Avignon, 1305-1378, trans. Janet Love. London: T. Nelson, 1963.
Partner, Peter. The Lands of Saint Peter: The Papal State in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.
Renouard, Yves. The Avignon Papacy, 1305-1403, trans. Denis Bethell. London: Faber, 1970.
Pope Urban VI (Bartolomeo Prignano, c. 1318-1389, r. 1378-1389) had been a curial official. When Pope Gregory XI died in Rome in 1378 shortly after arriving from Avignon, a divided college of cardinals elected Urban to succeed him. Finding the new pope Urban VI intolerably rude and violent, the cardinals slipped away from Rome. Most of them met at Fondi in the Angevin kingdom of Naples and rejected the election as having been coerced by a rioting Roman populace. They chose from among their French majority Robert of Geneva to reign as (anti • pope) Clement VII. This new claimant failed to drive Urban from Rome and went to Avignon, which he made his residence. Urban named a new group of cardinals, but he soon also alienated them, and some lost their lives for conspiring against him. Nor would Urban heed the advice given to him by Catherine of Siena. This intransigence contributed to dividing Europe into hostile religious camps, usually along the lines of alliances in the Hundred Years' War. Moreover, Urban meddled in the politics of Naples, and he lost most of his political support in Italy. Nonetheless, when Urban died in Rome in 1389, his cardinals were quick to perpetuate the Great Schism by electing a successor from their own ranks. The schism would endure for another quarter-century.
See also Catherine of Siena, Saint
THOMAS IZBICKI
Ullmann, Walter. The Origins of the Great Schism: A Study in Fourteenth-Century Ecclesiastical History. Hamden: Archon, 1972.
Urbino is a city in rhe Marche, bordering on the Romagna, situated at 1,600 feet (486 meters) above sea level, on the top of two hills between the valleys of the Foglia and the Metauro. The Roman municipium was known as Urbinum Metaurense. There are remains of a pool from the Roman era in the church of San Sergio (first home of the bishops of Urbino) and a Roman theater beneath the present Via San Domenico.
Urbino was the seat of a diocese from the fifth century on. The town was besieged and taken from the Goths by Belisarius in 538. Under Byzantine rule, Urbino became an important outpost against the Lombards of Arezzo. In 595, Pope Gregory the Great entrusted Leontius, bishop of Urbino, with the church of Rimini during an illness of the bishop of Rimini. Urbino was donated to the church and included within the papal state in a treaty of 817 between Emperor Louis I the Pious and Pope Paschal I. In the twelfth century, Urbino was Ghibelline and staunchly loyal to the Swabian emperors.
In 1226, Frederick II gave Urbino as a comital her to the brothers Buonconte and Taddeo of Montefeltro as a reward for their assistance. Under Buonconte's grandson, Count Guido (c. 1220-1298; see Dante's Inferno, 27), and his successors, the territory was enlarged, despite the sometimes fierce opposition of the papacy, until it included Gubbio, Cagli, and Casteldurante (now called Urbania). The Montefeltro remained important military captains (condottieri) through the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when they were often in sharp competition with the papacy and with the Malatesta, the condottieri lords of neighboring Rimini. In 1443, Pope Eugenius IV granted the title of duke to the young, weak Oddantonio. However, when Oddantonio died, the papacy did not recognize the title and declined even to grant the accustomed apostolic vicariate. Not until 1474 was the hereditary title of duke finally conceded to Federico of Montefeltro by Pope Sixtus IV. After Federico's death in 1482, the duchy passed to his son, Guidubaldo, who was the last Montefeltro ruler of Urbino. Guidubaldo is the ruler famously described in Baldassare Castiglione's Book of the Courtier (in which the discussions were imagined as taking place in 1506).
Much of the medieval town was destroyed to make way for Renaissance building projects, such as the ducal palace (c. 1444-1482) and the fortifications of 1507. Surviving fourteenth-century monuments include the churches of San Francesco, Sant'Agostino, and San Domenico and the oratory of San Giovanni Battista.
See also Condottieri; Montefeltro Family; Rimini
WILLIAM J. CONNELL
Federico di Montefeltro: Lo stato—Le arti—La cultura, 3 vols. Rome: Bulzoni, 1986.
Franceschini, Gino. I Montefeltro. Milan: Dall'Oglio, 1970.
Ligi, Bramante. I vescovi e arcivescovi di Urbino. Urbino: Stabilimento Tipografico Editoriale Urbinate, 1953.
Ugolini, Filippo. Storia dei conti e duchi d'Urbino, 2 vols. Florence: Grazzini, Giannini, 1859.
See Banks and Banking.
