The Della Scala family, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

and mainland

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

(except for

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years.

History

When

Ezzelino III Ezzelino III da Romano (25 April 1194, Tombolo7 October 1259) was an Italian feudal lord, a member of the Ezzelino family, in the March of Treviso (in modern Veneto). He was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II ( r. 1220–1250), and rule ...

was elected ''

podestà Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city ...

'' of the commune in 1226, he was able to convert the office into a permanent lordship. Upon his death the Great Council elected as podestà Mastino I, who succeeded in converting the ''signoria'' (seigniory) into a family inheritance, governing at first with the acquiescence of the commune, then, when they failed to re-elect him in 1262, he effected a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

and was acclaimed ("people's captain"), at the head of the commune's troops. In 1277 Mastino was killed by a faction of the nobles. The reign of his son Alberto as ''capitano'' (1277–1302) was an incessant war against the counts of San Bonifacio, who were aided by the

House of Este The House of Este ( , , ) is a European dynasty of North Italian origin whose members ruled parts of Italy and Germany for many centuries. The original House of Este's elder branch, which is known as the House of Welf, included dukes of Bavaria ...

. Of his three sons, Cangrande I inherited the podestà position in 1308, only the last shared the government (1308) and made a name as warrior, prince and patron of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

and

Giotto Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto ( , ) and Latinised as Giottus, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the Gothic/ Proto-Renaissance period. G ...

. By war or treaty he brought under his control the cities of

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

(1328),

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Vene ...

(1329), and

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

. Cangrande I was succeeded by his nephews Mastino II (1329–51) and Alberto. Mastino, the richest and most powerful prince of his generation in Italy, continued his uncle's policy, conquering

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

in 1332 and carrying his power beyond the

Po river The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. T ...

. He purchased

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...

(1335) and

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

(1339). A powerful league was formed against him in 1337: Florence, Venice, the

Visconti Visconti is a surname which may refer to: Italian noble families * Visconti of Milan, ruled Milan from 1277 to 1447 ** Visconti di Modrone, collateral branch of the Visconti of Milan * Visconti of Pisa and Sardinia, ruled Gallura in Sardinia from ...

, the Este and the Gonzaga all joined, and after a three-year war, the Scaliger dominions were reduced to Verona and Vicenza. His son

Cangrande II Cangrande II della Scala (7 June 1332Gian Maria Varaninidella Scala, Cangrande ''DBI'', Volume XXXVII (1989), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani – 14 December 1359) was Lord of Verona from 1351 until his death. In 1351, after the ...

(1351–59) was a cruel and suspicious tyrant; not trusting his own subjects, he surrounded himself with German mercenaries, but was killed by his brother Cansignorio (1359–75), who beautified Verona with palaces, provided it with aqueducts and bridges and founded the state treasury. He also killed his other brother, Paolo Alboino. Fratricide among the Scaligeri continued when

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ma ...

(1375–87), Cansignorio's natural son, slew his brother Bartolomeo. This aroused the indignation of the people, who deserted him when

Gian Galeazzo Visconti Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the found ...

of Milan made war on him. Having exhausted all his resources, he fled from Verona at midnight (19 October 1387), thus ending the Scaliger domination. His son Can Francesco attempted fruitlessly to recover Verona (1390). Guglielmo (1404), natural son of Cangrande II, was more fortunate: with the support of the people, he drove out the Milanese, but he died ten days thereafter, and Verona then submitted to Venice (1405). The last representatives of the Scaligeri lived at the imperial court and repeatedly attempted to recover Verona by the aid of popular uprisings. After the Scaligeri had been ousted, two self-proclaimed members of the family, Giulio Cesare della Scala (also known as

Julius Caesar Scaliger Julius Caesar Scaliger (; April 23, 1484 – October 21, 1558), or Giulio Cesare della Scala, was an Italian scholar and physician, who spent a major part of his career in France. He employed the techniques and discoveries of Renaissance humanism ...

) and his son

Joseph Justus Scaliger Joseph Justus Scaliger (; 5 August 1540 – 21 January 1609) was a French Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewish a ...

, made a reputation as

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

scholars, though their relationship to the historic Scaliger family is disputed. The church of ''

Santa Maria Antica Santa Maria Antica is a Roman Catholic church in Verona, Italy. The current church is Romanesque in style and dates to 1185, rebuilt after the earthquake of 1117 destroyed the original building that dated back to the end of the period of Lombard ...

'' in Verona is surrounded with the

tombs A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

(''arche'') of the Scaligeri in the form of Gothic shrines, or ''tempietti'', enclosing their sarcophagi: Cangrande della Scala is memorialized with an equestrian statue; Cansignorio by a marble

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

monument by Bonino da Campione, 1374.

References

{{Reflist Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire) Italian noble families

History

See also

References