Читать книгу Under The Green Claws - Ivo Ragazzini - Страница 14

The following year the Bolognese, believing that the Lambertazzi were preparing to return from Faenza to Bologna, decided to anticipate them and remove them from Romagna once and for all.

The Bolognese made a conducted a few raids in the Faenza territories to test the strength of the Ghibellines. Subsequently they decided to put together an army that was reinforced by Guelphs from Lombardy, Imola, Cesena and Ravenna.

Once assembled, they left to march towards Faenza to free it from the Lambertazzi so they would have a stronghold from which to attack Forlì.

The people of Forlì and the Lambertazzi, knowing this, did their utmost to stop them.

They gathered a sizeable Ghibelline army and set about reinforcing the Faenza and Forlì defenses, while Guido da Montefeltro managed to gather a series of worthy Ghibelline commanders under him, who came from various parts of Tuscany and Romagna, followed by their troops.

Those who came under the Ghibelline insignia were Guglielmo de' Pazzi of Valdarno, commander of the Tuscan outcasts, Mainardo Pagani da Susinana, a Guido Novello and sons, Bandino, Tancredi, Ruggiero and Tigrino of the Guidi counts, lords of Modigliana with their people, to whom they joined the Forlì people Aliotto Pipini, Superbo Orgogliosi, Teodorico Ordelaffi³² and waited for the Bolognese near Faenza to forestall them before they put siege to the Ghibelline territory.

On 13 June 1275 as soon as the news came that the Bolognese had crossed the San Procolo³³ bridge and were preparing to invade the territories of Faenza, they waited no longer and went to meet them so they could face them in open country.

Having come within sight of the Bolognese, Count Feltrano with the help of the Ghibelline commanders Maghinardo Pagani, Theodoric degli Ordelaffi, and other captains of the Lambertazzi, organized the troops for war and made a speech to incite them to battle.

The Bolognese captain Malatesta da Verucchio³⁴ did the same with his men and immediately after they blew their trumpets, starting the battle of Ponte San Procolo.

Forthwith the Guelph cavalry, made up of the Bolognese nobility, were the first to relinquish their positions under the blows of the Lambertazzi.

Then they fled openly, abandoning the Bolognese infantry on foot, composed of the commoners, around the Bolognese carroccio.

The Bolognese army, left to itself, heroically organized themselves around the carroccio and the battle was kept in balance, but Guido da Montefeltro was decisive when he deployed heavy crossbows that systematically tore the Bolognese ranks to pieces.

To help you understand the scale of this battle eight thousand Bolognese were killed.

All fell, prey to the Forlivesi military pavilions, possessions, insignia, around three thousand chariots and, more importantly, the banner, which was the Bolognese municipal banner hanging from a pole, and the Bolognese carroccio, a four-wheeled cart decorated with the city insignia, around which the fighters gathered.

Guido da Montefeltro was made to climb triumphantly onto the Bolognese carroccio he had just conquered and was towed away by five hundred Bolognese prisoners to the walls of Forlì, where he was welcomed as a conqueror by a riot of crowds.

The Bolognese carroccio was kept as a trophy in the town hall, while the Bolognese banner was kept inside a Forlì convent, which at the time was named San Giacomo.³⁵