The ''Ghibelline Annals of Piacenza'' is an anonymous

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

chronicle of

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

from 1154 to 1284. It is known by several titles, all modern inventions. Georg Pertz called it the ''Annales Placentini Gibellini'', while called it the ''Chronicon Placentinum'' ('Chronicle of Piacenza').See §Editions. The author of the ''Annals'' was a

Ghibelline The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, rival ...

, that is, pro-

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. He probably wrote anonymously because Piacenza was generally a

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

city. It is likely that he was an associate of the Ghibelline Landi family. He was educated, cultured and probably a

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

. For the period which they share in common, the ''Ghibelline Annals'' is a more subtle work than the '' Guelph Annals of Piacenza'' (1031–1235). Although the work is anonymous, Pertz identified the author with Muzio da Monza (died 1302), ''

capitano del popolo Captain of the People ( it, Capitano del popolo, Lombard: ''Capitani del Popol'') was an administrative title used in Italy during the Middle Ages, established essentially to balance the power and authority of the noble families of the Italian ...

'' of Piacenza in 1294 and accused of Ghibelline sympathies. The ''Ghibelline Annals'' draws heavily on the earlier ''Guelph Annals'' as a source. It is not sectioned in any way, but is a continuous prose narrative. Neither is it purely local or regional in focus, although it is best informed about events in and around Piacenza. Parts of it are accounts of the deeds (''gesta'') of the Emperors

Frederick I Frederick I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I, Count of Zoll ...

and Frederick II. The work is an especially valuable source for the 13th century. The original manuscript from 1295 survives, now in London,

Harleian The Harleian Library, Harley Collection, Harleian Collection and other variants ( la, Bibliotheca Harleiana) is one of the main "closed" collections (namely, historic collections to which new material is no longer added) of the British Library in ...

3678. __NOTOC__

Notes

Editions

* * *

Bibliography

* * * * {{refend

External links

Excerpt translated by Daniel Franke
on the

Battle of Cortenuova The Battle of Cortenuova (sometimes spelled Cortenova) was fought on 27 November 1237 in the course of the Guelphs and Ghibellines Wars: in it, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II defeated the Second Lombard League. Background In 1235 Emperor F ...

(1237) 13th-century Latin books 13th-century history books 1295 works