Ugolino della Gherardesca (c. 1220-1289), count of Donoratico, was the head of the powerful family of Gherardesca, the chief Ghibelline house of Pisa. Centuries: 12th century - 13th century - 14th century Decades: 1170s 1180s 1190s 1200s 1210s - 1220s - 1230s 1240s 1250s 1260s 1270s Years: 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 - 1220 - 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 See also: 1220 state leaders The world in 1220 Middle Ages in Europe Fifth Crusade (1217-1221) Events Mongols... For broader historical context, see 1280s and 13th century. ... The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting, respectively, the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in Italy during the 12th century and 13th century. ... Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. ...

He is best known from Dante's fictional depiction of him in Inferno. Alleged to have betrayed his native city of Pisa to its enemies in Genoa, he was betrayed by his co-conspirator the Archbishop Ruggieri and imprisoned, along with his two sons and two grandsons. Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelinos fresco. ... Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. ... Location within Italy Flag of Genoa Christopher Columbus monument in Piazza Aquaverde Genoa (Italian Genova, Genoese Zena, French Gênes, German Genua, Spanish Genova) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. ...

Historical Personage

His alliance with the Visconti, the leaders of the Guelph faction, through the marriage of his sister with Giovanni Visconti, judge of Gallura, aroused the suspicions of his party, and the Ghibellines being then predominant in Pisa, the disorders in the city caused by Ugolino and Visconti in 1271-1274 led to the arrest of the former and the banishment of the latter. Visconti died soon afterwards, and Ugolino, no longer regarded as dangerous, was liberated and banished. But he immediately began to intrigue with the Guelph towns opposed to Pisa, and with the help of Charles I of Anjou attacked his native city and forced it to make peace on humiliating terms, pardoning him and all the other Guelph exiles. Visconti was a noble family that ruled Milan during the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance period. ... Guelph has several meanings: Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada. ... Charles I (March 1227 - January 7, 1285) was the posthumous son of King Louis VIII of France, created Count of Anjou by his elder brother King Louis IX in 1246, thus founding the second Angevin dynasty. ...

He lived quietly in Pisa for some years, although working all the time to extend his influence. War having broken out between Pisa and Genoa in 1284, Count Ugolino was given the command of a division of the Pisan fleet. It was by his flight - usually attributed to treachery - that the fortunes of the day were decided and the Pisans totally defeated at La Meloria (October 1284). But the political ability which he afterwards displayed led to his being appointed podesta for a year and capitano del popolo for ten years. Location within Italy Flag of Genoa Christopher Columbus monument in Piazza Aquaverde Genoa (Italian Genova, Genoese Zena, French Gênes, German Genua, Spanish Genova) is a city and a seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. ... For information on the phantom island of the same name, see Podesta (island). ...

Florence and Lucca took advantage of the Pisan defeat to attack the republic, but Ugolino succeeded in pacifying them by ceding certain castles. He was however less anxious to make peace with Genoa, for the return of the Pisan prisoners, including most of the leading Ghibellines, would have diminished his power. He was now the most influential man in Pisa, and was preparing to establish his absolute sovereignty, when for some reason not clearly understood he was forced to share his power with his nephew Nino Visconti, son of Giovanni. The duumvirate did not last, and the count and Nino soon quarrelled. Then Ugolino tried to consolidate his position by entering into negotiations with the archbishop, Ruggieri degli Ubaldini, the leader of the Ghibellines. But that party having revived once more, the archbishop obliged both Nino and Ugolino to leave the city, and had himself elected podesta and capitano del popolo. Founded 59 BC as Florentia Region Tuscany Mayor Leonardo Domenici (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  102 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 356,000 almost 500,000 3,453/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Latitude Longitude 43°47 N 11°15 E www. ... Lucca (population 90,000) is a city in Tuscany, northern central Italy, near (but not on) the Ligurian Sea. ...

However, he allowed Ugolino to return soon afterwards, and was even ready to divide the government of the city with him, although he refused to admit his armed followers. The count, determined to be sole master, attempted to get his followers into the city by way of the Arno, and Ruggieri, realizing the danger, aroused the citizens, accusing Ugolino of treachery for having ceded the castles, and after a days street fighting (July q, 1288), Gherardesca was captured and immured together with his sons Gaddo and Uguccione, and his grandsons Nino (surnamed il Brigata) and Anselmuccio, in the Muda, a tower belonging to the Gualandi family; here they were detained for nine months, and then starved to death. Arno River in Florence, Italy The Arno is a river in region of Italy, that crosses all the region from Mount Falterona (near the city of Arezzo, in Casentino area), to Pisa where it enters Tyrrhenian Sea. ... MUDA is a Japanese term for anything that is wasteful and doesnt add value. ...

The corpses were buried in the St. Francis church of Pisa.

The Legend

The historic details of the episode are still involved in some obscurity, and although mentioned by Villani and other writers, it owes its fame entirely to Dante, who placed Ugolino and Ruggieri in the second ring (Antenora) of the lowest circle of the Inferno (canto xxxii. 124-140 and xxxiii. 1-90). This terrible but magnificent passage, which, according to Landor, includes thirty lines unequalled by any other thirty lines in the whole dominion of poetry, has been paraphrased by Chaucer in the Monk's Tale of the Canterbury Tales, and by Shelley. But the reason why Dante placed Ugolino among the traitors is not by any means clear, as the flight from La Meloria was not regarded as treachery by any writer earlier than the 16th century, although G. del Noce, in Il Conte U. della Gherardesca (Città di Castello, 1894), states that that was the only motive; Bartoli, in vol. vi. of his Storia della Letteratura italidna, suggests Ugolino's alliance with the Ghibellines as the motive. The cession of the castles was not treachery but an act of necessity, owing to the desperate conditions of Pisa. Giovanni Villani (ca 1275-1348), the Florentine writer of the famous chronicles (the Cronica) is the greatest Italian chronicler of his own times and the cornerstone of the early medieval history of Florence. ... Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Folio 108r: Hell; The Musée Condé, Chantilly The word inferno, and similar words, have several meanings. ... Walter Savage Landor (January 30, 1775 - September 17, 1864), English writer, eldest son of Walter Landor and his wife Elizabeth Savage, was born at Warwick. ... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ... Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822) was one of the major English romantic poets and is esteemed by some scholars the finest lyric poet in the English language. ...

According to Dante, the prisoners were slowly starved to death and before dying Ugolino's children begged Ugolino to eat their bodies. In the end, Ugolini states that hunger overpowered grief. This ambiguous line has been interpreted in two ways: Either Ugolini devoured his offspring's corpses after being driven mad with hunger, or hunger, but not grief, had the power to kill him. The first and more ghastly of these interpretations has been the most popular and resonant. For this reason Ugolino is known as the "Cannibal" Count and is often depicted biting his own fingers ("eating of his own flesh", a reference to his horrible sin) in consternation, as in the sculpture The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin, Ugolino and his Sons by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and other artwork. Ugolino appears in the Inferno as both a damned soul and a punishing demon who gnaws vengefully at the skull of the evil Ruggieri. The Gates of Hell, Musée Rodin. ... Auguste Rodin Rodins The Burghers of Calais in Calais, France. ... Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, sometimes called Jules Carpeaux (May 11, 1827 - October 12, 1875) was a French sculptor who studied under Fran ois Rude. ...

Scientific analysis

In 2002, Italian archaeologist Francesco Mallegni found what he believes are the remains of Ugolino and his children. DNA analysis agrees with the remains being a father, his sons, and his grandsons. Additional comparison to DNA from modern day members of the Gherardesca family leave Mallegni about 98 percent sure that he has identified the remains correctly. Forensic analysis discredits the cannibalism story. Analysis of the rib bones of the putative Ugolino skeleton reveals traces of magnesium, but no zinc, implying he had consumed no meat in the weeks before his death; apparently the starvation part of the story is at least partly correct. Ugolino also had few remaining teeth and is believed to have been in his 70s or 80s when he was imprisoned, making it further unlikely that he could have outlived and eaten his descendants in captivity, as the cannibalism account requires. Space-filling model of a section of DNA molecule Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life (and most viruses). ... Forensics or forensic science is the application of science to questions which are of interest to the legal system. ...

Additionally, Mallegni notes that the putative Ugolino skull was damaged; perhaps he did not ultimately die of starvation, although malnourishment is evident. In 2003 Mallegni was to publish an Italian language book about his study of the Ugolino remains. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

References

Besides the above-quoted works see P. Tronci, Annali Pisani (2 vols., Pisa, 1868-1871); S. de Sismondi, Histoire des republiques italiennes (Brussels, 1838); also the various annotated editions of Dante, especially W. W. Vernon's Readings from the Inferno, vol. ii. (2nd ed, London, 1905).

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...