Under The Green Claws. Ivo Ragazzini

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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      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

      11. The Ghibellines take all of Romagna

      On the impetus of that Guelph defeat, the Ghibellines advanced towards Bologna in the following months and sacked a few villas and castles in the surroundings; had it not been for the rain and the inclement season they would have attempted to capture Bologna and the return of the Lambertazzi.

      Again they set fire to Castel San Pietro, which had recently been rebuilt by the Bolognese, returned to Romagna and took the fortress of Cervia, which surrendered without a shot being fired, after three days of negotiations, in exchange for the freedom of the occupants.

      Now, in Romagna the cities of Rimini, Ravenna and Cesena remained loyal to the Bolognese and the Forlivese turned their weapons against the latter in an attempt to take possession of the stronghold of Roversano, a strategic location a few miles from Cesena, which the Bolognese and the captain Malatesta da Verucchio rushed to defend, after the defeat of Ponte San Procolo, they had returned to Rimini to reorganize.

      However, this time Malatesta da Verucchio was defeated and he had to flee with some troops and close himself up inside Cesena, leaving the Bolognese praetor with notables and a thousand soldiers, besieged inside the Roversano fortress, who eventually surrendered.

      The Bolognese notables were taken prisoner and also taken as a trophy inside Forlì, while the captured soldiers were led beneath the walls of Cesena and let free in exchange for opening the gates to the Forlì people.

      While the Malatesta and a few Guelphs fled towards Rimini, the people of Cesena opened their gates and accepted Teodorico Ordelaffi and Orgoglioso De' Orgogliosi from Forlì as their Ghibelline governors.

      Now only Ravenna was needed to have all of Romagna under the Ghibellines, and the Ghibellines worked hard to take the latter city as well.

      In 1276 il Feltrano surprised and dispersed a Bolognese rescue expedition near Bagnacavallo, which had been sent by the Geremei who, with the Florentine Guelphs and six hundred French knights, were marching to the rescue of Ravenna.

      The Bolognese then organized new troops to rescue the city.

      Guido da Montefeltro, like the good strategist he was, besieged Bagnacavallo so he would be able to control the road that led from Bologna to Ravenna and leave the latter isolated.

      To do this he had the Faentine and Forlivese troops build a small fortification³⁶ around the old castle of Cotignola, near Bagnacavallo, which, after fortified and enlarged, then became the town of Cotignola, where settlers from Forlì and Faenza were brought to provide for the capture of the Guelph Bagnacavallo.

      Bagnacavallo also, after twelve days of siege, surrendered to the Forlì people.

      For these actions the Forlì people were subjected to an interdiction by Bonifazio, archbishop of Ravenna.

      12. The Guelph and Ghibelline battles in the Apennines

      Indignant and fed up with all these wars, the Bolognese asked the pope for help to finish with the Romagna Ghibellines once and for all, as they seemed to be unbeatable on the plains and guerrillas in the city.

      Thus, the Guelphs decided to mount a surprise attack and surround the land of Forlì from the mountains of Tuscany, that is to say on the southern border of the Forlì state, which was left unguarded in the Apennines.

      The Bolognese, thanks to the Pope's Guelphs, gathered together troops from Florence, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Ravenna and with the help of some Forlì traitors, decided to conceive and organize a plan to attack the Ghibelline state from the Tuscan mountains and Apennines to surprise the Forlì people, who were almost all concentrated and located on the Romagna plain.

      The Guelphs, under the command of Guido Selvatico, count of Romena, attacked the mountain possessions of Forlì from the mountains, quickly seizing Galeata, Pianetto, Civitella, Montevecchio and other sites in the mountains, while other Guelph troops advanced on the plains again towards the San Procolo bridge in the area of Faenza, to wage war and prevent Faenza from assisting the inhabitants of Forlì.

      At the same time the Guelphs also besieged the castle of Piancaldoli in the Faenza Apennines, a territory that was controlled by the capable commander Maghinardo Pagani.³⁷

      Thanks to the counterattacks of the latter, who summoned the captain of the Lambertazzi to come to him from Faenza and to the Forlì senate, who sent the army to those sites, with a furious battle that lasted a few hours, the Guelphs were vanquished and put to flight from the castle and village of Civitella, which they had recently occupied.

      Il Feltrano decided to pursue them through the mountains and the fugitives attempted to turn towards Tredozio, where there was a Guelph stronghold, but they were caught up with and surrounded by the strategy of Montefeltro, and were forced to stop and fight in a difficult place and were easily defeated and taken prisoner.

      Given the failed attack in the mountains, the Bolognese also retreated from Ponte San Procolo and attempted to escape into Imola, chased by the Faentine Ghibelline troops from Faenza who had entered the city, where the Guelphs were surprised while they were digging moats around the walls to defend themselves.

      A small battle ensued during which another hundred Guelphs died.

      Following this conflict, Guglielmo Ordelaffi, Paganino Orgogliosi and his son Francesco were captured and imprisoned inside the fortress of Cesena, as traitors for having betrayed the Ghibellines and having taken part in the revolt against Guido da Montefeltro.

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