Cansignorio della Scala (5 March 1340 – 19 October 1375) was

Lord of Verona The Lords of Verona ruled the city from 1260 until 19 October 1387 and for ten days in 1404. The lordship was created when Mastino I della Scala was raised to the rank of ''capitano del popolo'' from that of ''podestà''. His descendants, the Scalig ...

from 1359 until 1375, initially together with his brother Paolo Alboino.

Biography

He inherited the lordship of Verona at the death of his father Mastino, together with his brothers Cangrande II and Paolo Alboino. However, Cangrande took the effective reins. Cansignorio plotted against his tyrannic rule and, after having him assassinated, could enter the city in 1359 with the help of the

Carraresi The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405. Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, F ...

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 ...

Legacy

Before his death in 1375 he had his brother Paolo Alboino (who had been in prison since 1365) assassinated to give the succession to his illegitimate sons Bartolomeo II and

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 male ...

. The latter however were forced by the city's bankruptcy to accept the protectorate of

Bernabò Visconti Bernabò or Barnabò Visconti (1323 – 19 December 1385) was an Italian soldier and statesman who was Lord of Milan. Along with his brothers Matteo and Galeazzo II, he inherited the lordship of Milan from his uncle Giovanni. Later in 1355, he an ...

Despite his ruthless character, Cansignorio ruled Verona quite moderately and enriched it with numerous constructions, including the first masonry bridge over the

Adige The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the prov ...

since the Ponte Pietra (Verona) and the first watchtower in Italy, the ''Gardello''. Cansignorio's tomb is one of the notable

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 ...

Scaliger tombs The Scaliger Tombs (Italian: ''Arche scaligere'') is a group of five Gothic funerary monuments in Verona, Italy, celebrating the Scaliger family, who ruled in Verona from the 13th to the late 14th century. The tombs are located in a court ou ...

in the courtyard of Santa Maria Antica of Verona.

Marriage and children

Cansignorio married

Agnes of Durazzo Agnes of Durazzo (1345 – 10 February 1383) was the wife of James of Baux, titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople. She was the last woman to claim the title of empress of the Latin Empire. Agnes was the second daughter of Charles, Duke of D ...

, second daughter of Charles, Duke of Durazzo and

Maria of Calabria Maria of Calabria (6 May 1329 – 20 May 1366), Countess of Alba, was a Neapolitan princess of the Capetian House of Anjou whose descendants inherited the crown of Naples following the death of her older sister, Queen Joanna I. Life Early yea ...

. Agnes was a younger sister of

Joanna, Duchess of Durazzo Joanna of Durazzo (1344 – 20 July 1387) was the eldest daughter and eldest surviving child of Charles, Duke of Durazzo, and his wife, Maria of Calabria. She succeeded as duchess on the death of her father in 1348 when she was only a child of fo ...

and an older sister of

Margherita of Durazzo Margaret of Durazzo ( it, Margherita di Durazzo 28 July 1347 – 6 August 1412) was Queen of Naples and Hungary and Princess of Achaea as the spouse of Charles III of Naples. She was regent of Naples from 1386 until 1393 during the minority of he ...

, Queen consort of

Charles III of Naples Charles the Short or Charles of Durazzo (1345 – 24 February 1386) was King of Naples and the titular King of Jerusalem from 1382 to 1386 as Charles II, and King of Hungary from 1385 to 1386 as Charles II. In 1381, Charles created the chivalr ...

. Their marriage was childless. Cansignorio had three known children, all illegitimate. His daughter Lucia della Scala married first Cortesia Serego and then Bernardino da Polenta of the ruling family of

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

. His sons

Bartolomeo II della Scala Bartolomeo II della Scala (died 12 July 1381) was lord of Verona from 1375 until his death, together with his brother Antonio I della Scala. The illegitimate son of Cansignorio della Scala, he obtained the power in Verona after the latter's death ...

and

Antonio I della Scala Antonio della Scala (1362 – 3 September 1388) was Lord of Verona from 1375 until 1387, initially together with his brother Bartolomeo. Antonio was the illegitimate son of Cansignorio della Scala. At the latter's death, he was associated in the l ...

would succeed as Lords of Verona.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scala, Cansignorio 1340 births 1375 deaths 14th-century murderers Lords of Verona Italian assassins Cansignorio Burials at Santa Maria Antica, Verona Assassins of heads of state 14th-century Italian nobility Medieval assassins