A major Guelph victory over Ghibelline Arezzo in 1289 Tuscany, notable partly because Dante Alighieri fought in its ranks.
Key Facts
- Date
- 11 June 1289
- Location
- Plain of Campaldino, Casentino, Tuscany
- Guelph commander
- Amerigo di Narbona (condottiero)
- Ghibelline bishop
- Guglielmino degli Ubertini of Arezzo
- Notable Guelph combatant
- Dante Alighieri, age 24
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The longstanding conflict between pro-papal Guelph city-states and the imperial Ghibelline faction in medieval Italy created persistent armed rivalry in Tuscany. Florence, allied with Pistoia, Lucca, Siena, and Prato, sought to suppress Ghibelline power centered on Arezzo, which was led militarily by its bishop, Guglielmino degli Ubertini.
On 11 June 1289, a Guelph coalition under the condottiero Amerigo di Narbona engaged a Ghibelline force from Arezzo on the plain of Campaldino in the Casentino valley along the upper Arno. Among the Guelph fighters was the young Dante Alighieri, then twenty-four years old. The battle ended in a Guelph victory.
The defeat of the Aretine Ghibellines at Campaldino strengthened Florentine Guelph dominance in Tuscany. The battle later became notable in literary and cultural history because Dante Alighieri participated in it, drawing on the experience in his subsequent writings and cementing Campaldino's place in the broader record of medieval Italian factional warfare.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Amerigo di Narbona.
Side B
1 belligerent
Guglielmino degli Ubertini.