Della Bella

   Ciascun che della bella insegna porta
del gran barone...............
   da esso ebbe milizia e privilegio;
avvenga che col popol si rauni
oggi colui che la fascia col fregio.

(Paradiso XVI.127-32)

   Every man who bears the fine insignia
of the Great Baron...............
   received from him privilege and military honor,
though the one who now girds the emblem
with his bordure has joined with the people.

---

This is the same passage from Paradiso that we saw commemorated on Via del Proconsolo near the main entrance to the Badia, in which Margrave Hugh of Tuscany (ca. 950-1001) is buried. A margrave was a kind of governor in the imperial administrative system. More than most others, Hugh invested a great deal of energy in Tuscany and moved the capital from Lucca to Florence.

In order to accomplish his goals, he needed the support of the Ghibelline families of Florence, including that of Giano Della Bella who lived here. Hugh, the “Great Baron” of these lines, gave these noble families certain privileges in around 980 that increased their wealth and power. In return, these families (the Della Bella, the Amidei, the Gangalandi, the Pulci, the Giandonati and the Alepri) incorporated the red and white vertical stripes of his coat of arms into their own and promised him their loyalty.

To the status symbols of knighthood (like the golden hilt and pommel on the Galigai Dante plaque to your left), the Della Bella family added the golden bordure, or border, around their coat of arms to denote this special relationship.

The nobles were the ones who started wars and provided the Commune with knights who fought on horseback. Nevertheless, the commoners often paid a greater price in terms of casualties, since they were obliged to provide the foot soldiers, and their resentment was growing.

Cacciaguida had no problem with this arrangement. What he did find distasteful was Giano Della Bella’s decision to turn against his fellow noblemen and to side with the non-noble merchants who were often just as wealthy but lacked noble titles. Giano Della Bella even spearheaded legislation (the Ordinances of Justice, passed in 1293-95) that officially marginalized members of noble magnate families. The new laws were intended to stop the excesses of power, in the city as well as in the countryside, perpetrated by the nobles on the merchants and artisans.

Villani tells us: “One of the leaders [of the people’s party], among others, was a man of worth, an ancient and noble citizen, who aligned himself with the commoners. Both rich and powerful, his name was Giano della Bella [...]. They set up certain laws and statutes, both strong and weighty, against any magnates and men of power who do wrong or violence against the people.” (Nuova cronica 9.1)

But these laws went even further. They prohibited all members of noble families from holding public office. As a result, many families changed their names (e.g., the Tornaquinci became the Tornabuoni), abandoning their aristocratic origins and becoming popolani in order to retain some influence in city government.

Not long afterwards, however, the commoners became fed up with Giano and he fled to France just ahead of his pursuers. In subsequent years, the Ordinances of Justice acquired the status of a sort of manifesto of individual rights. One could even say that it was in these years that the feudal system was replaced by what many have described as nascent capitalism.

Coat of arms of the Della Bella family

Hugh of Tuscany’s coat of arms