Читать книгу Under The Green Claws - Ivo Ragazzini - Страница 5

Inscription on an old tombstone dated 1282 set into the facade of an ancient funeral monument that was once placed in the center of Piazza Maggiore in Forlì, and had vanished for centuries.¹

PER IL CAPRICCIO DEL ROMANO PONTEFICE MARTINO IIII, GIOVANNI D'APPIA DUCE DELL'ESERCITO FRANCESE IN ITALIA, E I SOLDATI FORLIVESI, SI DIEDERO BATTAGLIA DA ENTRAMBE LE PARTI NEL LUOGO DOVE TI TROVI.

BEN PRESTO DAL POPOLO DIFENSORE FURONO RESPINTI, E TUTTI GLI OTTOMILA COMBATTENTI DISPERSI.

CON ESSI PERSERO LA LORO VITA DUE MILA SOLDATI SCELTI CHE QUI GIACCIONO.

IL DUCE FORLIVESE GUIDO FELTRANO, CALENDIMAGGIO MCCLXXXII (1282).

(On the whim of the Roman pontiff Martin IIII, Giovanni d'Appia duke of the French army in Italy, and the soldiers from Forlì, both parties were in combat in the place you stand.

The defending populace quickly repulsed them, and all eight thousand fighters were killed.

With those who lost their lives were two thousand select soldiers who lie here.

The Forlivese duke Guido Feltrano, May Day MCCLXXXII [1282])2

This plaque was dedicated specifically to the victims of a violent battle that was fought hand to hand, street by street, by the Forlì Ghibellines, inside the walls of their town, against an army made up of French and Italian Guelphs that had been sent by Pope Martin IV.

This plaque and the monument, which at the time proudly indicated the exact place in Piazza Maggiore where the Ghibellines and Guelphs battled for a day and a night and how it ended.

This tombstone is no longer present and these events are recalled by Dante in a few poetic lines.³

But what happened to lead to such a slaughter of citizens?