Corso Donati was a leader of the Black Guelph faction in 13th- and early 14th- century

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Bologna and Pistoia

In the late thirteenth century, power in Florence and the other Tuscan cities was divided between the

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 ...

, an outsider who served as chief magistrate, and the guildmasters. Corso served as Podestà of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

in 1283 and 1288, and of

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a ty ...

in 1289. In 1289, as captain of the people in Pistoia, he led a group of soldiers in a cavalry charge at the

Battle of Campaldino The Battle of Campaldino was a battle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines on 11 June 1289. Mixed bands of pro-papal Guelf forces of Florence and allies, Pistoia, Lucca, Siena, and Prato, all loosely commanded by the paid ''condottiero'' Amerigo di ...

, in which the Guelphs defeated the

Ghibellines 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, r ...

and cemented their control over Florence.

Leader of the Black Guelphs

In 1293, the merchants of Florence, led by Giano della Bella, prevented the nobility from taking the office of guildmaster. Corso led the noble faction which aligned with the working class against the merchants. In 1294 Corso was acquitted of killing a man in a fight; an angry mob came to della Bella seeking justice after the acquittal, but he sent them away whereupon they rioted and della Bella was exiled as having caused the riot. At that time, the

Cerchi family The Florentine banking family of the Cerchi, minor nobles of the Valdarno, with a seat especially at Acone near Pontassieve, settled in Florence in the early thirteenth century and increased their fortunes. The family became the heads of a conso ...

, leaders of the merchant faction who had long feuded with the

Donati Donati is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Angelo Donati (1885-1960), Italian banker and philanthropist * Baldassare Donati (1525/30–1603), Italian composer of the late Renaissance *Buoso Donati (—ca. 1285), charac ...

, became allied with the White Guelphs while the Donati allied with the Black Guelphs, similar factions which had arisen in Pistoia. The leaders of both Guelph factions, including Corso, were exiled by the merchants in 1300, but the White Guelphs were soon allowed to return. Corso and the Black Guelphs petitioned

Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial ...

for aid, and returned to Florence with

Charles of Valois Charles of Valois (12 March 1270 – 16 December 1325), the fourth son of King Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon, was a member of the House of Capet and founder of the House of Valois, whose rule over France would start in 1 ...

in November 1301, killing or exiling many White Guelphs. One of the exiled was the famous poet

Dante Alighieri 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: ...

, who by marrying Gemma Donati had become a distant relative of Corso.

Plots against the Black Guelphs

Raffaello Sorbi - La morte di Corso Donati

Beginning in February 1303, Corso broke with the other Black Guelphs and joined the Cavalcanti, a family of White Guelphs, in calling for the examination of the finances of his former allies. This led to a new eruption of fighting in which forces from

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 ...

temporarily controlled Florence. Donati was one of twelve prominent Florentine citizens summoned by

Pope Benedict XI Pope Benedict XI ( la, Benedictus PP. XI; 1240 – 7 July 1304), born Nicola Boccasini (Niccolò of Treviso), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 October 1303 to his death in 7 July 1304. Boccasini entered the ...

in 1304 in an attempt to bring peace to the city; the White Guelphs and some

were restored, although the Ghibellines were expelled again in 1306. In 1308 Corso was accused of plotting to overthrow the Florentine commune and take power as lord of the city with the aid of his father-in-law

Uguccione della Faggiuola Uguccione della Faggiuola (c. 1250 – 1 November 1319) was an Italian condottiero, and Ghibelline magistrate of Pisa, Lucca and Forlì (from 1297). Biography Uguccione was born at Casteldelci and came to prominence in the late 13th century as ca ...

, a Ghibelline, and was condemned as a rebel and a traitor; he died on October 6, 1308 while attempting to flee the city after having been besieged in his house by an angry mob.

In literature

He is discussed prominently in several contemporary histories:

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

's ''History of Florence'', the ''

Nuova Cronica The ''Nuova Cronica'' (also: ''Nova Cronica'') or '' New Chronicles'' is a 14th-century history of Florence created in a year-by-year linear format and written by the Italian banker and official Giovanni Villani (c. 1276 or 1280–1348). T ...

'' of

Giovanni Villani Giovanni Villani (; 1276 or 1280 – 1348)Bartlett (1992), 35. was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the ''Nuova Cronica'' (''New Chronicles'') on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of ...

, and the ''Cronica delle cose occorrenti ne' tempi suoi'' of

Dino Compagni Dino Compagni (c. 125526 February 1324) was an Italian historical writer and political figure. Dino is an abridgement of Aldobrandino or Ildebrandino. He was born into a ''popolano'' or prosperous family of Florence, supporters of the White party o ...

. Dante's

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

, which was written after Donati's death but set prior to it in 1300, includes a scene in which Corso's brother Forese indirectly describes Corso as “the one who bears the greatest blame” for the downfall of Florence and foresees him being dragged by a beast into hell.''Purgatorio'' XXIV 79–87. The canto does not mention Corso by name, but he is stated to be the subject in the summaries of the canto from bot
The Princeton Dante Project
and th

In the Divine Comedy, Corso's sister

Piccarda Piccarda Donati (Florence, mid-thirteenth century – Florence, end of the thirteenth century) was a medieval noblewoman and a religious woman from Florence, Italy. She appears as a character in Dante Alighieri's ''Divine Comedy''. Biography Pic ...

is the first person Dante meets in Paradise. Corso Donati is also the subject of a play by nineteenth-century writer Carlo Marenco, who was inspired by Dante's works.

Buildings

Two buildings owned by and named after Corso, the ''torri Corso Donati'' or ''towers of Corso Donati'', still stand in Piazza San Pier Maggiore in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donati, Corso Year of birth missing 1308 deaths Divine Comedy Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines 13th-century people of the Republic of Florence 14th-century people of the Republic of Florence Corso