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Battle of Montaperti

The Battle of Montaperti was fought on September 4, 1260, between Florence and Siena in Tuscany as part of the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. It gained notoriety for an act of treachery that turned the tide of the battle, which was immortalised by Dante Alighieri in his poem The Divine Comedy.

Guelphs and Ghibellines

The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions at least nominally supporting the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire respectively in Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries; in practice, the divide between these factions often had more to do with local rivalries than with the hostility between papacy and empire.

In the middle of the 13th century, the Guelphs held sway in Florence whilst the Ghibellines controlled Siena. In 1258, the Guelphs succeeded in expelling from Florence the last of the Ghibellines with any real power; they followed this with the murder of Tesauro Beccharia, Abbot of Vallombrosa, who was accused of plotting the return of the Ghibellines.

The feud came to a head two years later when the Florentines, supported by their allies from around Tuscany (Bologna, Prato, Lucca, Orvieto, San Gimignano, San Miniato, Volterra and Colle Val d'Elsa), moved an army of some 35,000 men towards Siena. The Sienese called for help from King Manfred of Sicily, who provided a contingent of German mercenary heavy cavalry. The Sienese forces were led by Farinata degli Uberti, an exiled Florentine Ghibelline. Even with these reinforcements, though, they could only raise an army of 20,000.

Battle

The two armies met at the hill of Montaperti, outside Siena, on the morning of September 4; at the head of the Sienese army was the formidable band of German mercenary cavalry. The battle raged all day, but despite their superior numbers, the Florentines were unable to make headway against the determined Sienese. As evening approached and the Florentines exhausted themselves on their opponent's defensive lines, the Sienese forces launched their counterattack, lead by the Count of Arras.

Though seemingly reckless, the Sienese were confident in counterattacking with such a significant numerical disadvantage because their charge was a signal to a member of the Florentine army, Bocca degli Abati. Although Bocca fought for Florence alongside the Guelphs, he was at heart a Ghibelline.

At the sign of the counterattack he made his way across the Florentine lines towards the standard-bearer of the Florentine army and hacked off his hand, causing the Florentine flag to fall. In the military climate of the day, the standard was all important - troops did not use uniforms, so the standard served as a way of knowing where your leader was and that he was still safe and in command — so the loss of their standard caused the Florentine army to panic.

Seizing this opportunity within the confusion, hundreds of Florentine Ghibellines attacked their Guelph compatriots as the main Sienese army charged, and the Florentines were routed, pursued by their enemies as they fled. It is estimated that some 15,000 men died.

After the battle, the German soldiers in the Sienese army used part of their pay to found the Church of San Giorgio in Pantaneto — the Germans had called on Saint George as their battle-cry during the battle.

The battle in the Divine Comedy

Whilst he was trawling through the Florence archives during the 14th century, Dante Alighieri (who was himself a Guelph) read about the battle from an account by Giovanni Villani, a Florentine merchant and historian, and discovered this act of treachery. As a result of this he reserved a place in the ninth circle of Hell for the traitor Bocca degli Abati in his Divine Comedy:

When someone yelled: "What the devil's eating you,

Bocca? Isn't it enough to chatter away

With your jaws? Do you have to bark too?"

"So!" I exclaimed. "Now there's no need for you to say

Anything, you wicked traitor! Now I can expose

The shameful truth about you to the light of day!"

The Ghibelline commander Farinata degli Uberti is also consigned to Dante's hell, not for his conduct in the battle, but for his alleged heretical adherence to the philosophy of Epicurus.