The
history of Pisa
(clickable images)
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In the meanwhile rivalry with Genoa had broken out in a first naval conflict, victorious, opposite the mouth of the Arno (06.09.1060), while in a larger Mediterranean theatre the Pisan fleet succesfully took part in the first Crusade. These positive results helped the Maritime Republic consolidate its position in the Near Eastern ports of call and in particular in Constantinople. The subsequent conquest of the Balearic Isles, terminated in 1115, and the victory over Amalfi (1136), coincided with the peak of the city's maritime and military power. But the 13th century was to be fatal to Pisa, whose standing in the Western Mediterranean had in the meanwhile equalled that of Venice in the Adriatic and the Eastern Mediterranean. The continuous rivalry on the seas with Genoa and fierce contrasts with the Guelph cities of Tuscany (heated by Florence and Lucca) led to an inexorable downfall. As a result of its unconditioned support of imperial policies, but above all because of the seizing of a group of ecclesiastic dignitaries |
| who were on their way to Rome to take part in a council which could have ended in the removal of Frederick II of Swabia (1241), Pisa was excommunicated by the Pope, and had to wage a bitter struggle on two fronts - against Genoa (which also declared Guelph sympathies) and against the Tuscan cities which had by then become members of the Guelph League. | |
| The disastrous consequences of the war on land against the Guelphs and the burdensome conditions consequently imposed by the Florentines (1254), and in particular the collapse of the Ghibelline ideal, were paralleled by events on sea: in the fateful waters of the Meloria on August 6, 1284, the day of St. Sixtus, a date up to then propitious for the Republic, an astute naval maneuver of the preponderant Genoese fleet, commanded by Oberto Doria, wiped out the Pisan galleys, under the command of the Venetian Alberto Morosini and Andreotto Saracini. It was absolutely impossible forCount Ugolino della Gherardesca, who was defending the port of Pisa, to come to the aid of the fleet, which suffered heavy losses, and at least 10,000 prisoners were taken. The subsequent attempt of Ugolino (who |  |
| in the meanwhile had become podestą) to impose a neo-Guelph restoration in Pisa, ceding possession and castles to the eternal Florentine, Luccan and Genoese rivals, earned him the undisguised ostility of the Ghibelline faction, and this together with that had happened at meloria, led to new accusations of betrayal. In March of 1289 the Ghibelline faction, with Archbishop Ruggeri degli Ubaldini at its head, prevailed, and Ugolino, with his children and grandchildren, was sentenced to die of starvation in the Torre dei Gualandi. In the meanwhile the peace of Fucecchio (12.07.1293) imposed new and onerous conditions in favor of the Florentines, and the hopes aroused in Ghibelline Pisa by the ephimeral episode of Henry VII of Luxenbourg was to no avail. With the advent of the podestą Uguccione della Faggiola, valorous Ghibelline condottiere, Pisa took its revenge, conquering Lucca (1314) and drastically defeating the Florentines and their Sienese and Pistoiese allies at Montecatini (29.08.1315). Subsequently, the prevailing party struggles in the city (in which the philo-Florentine merchant faction headed by Gambacorti was long opposed to the anti-Florentine faction comprised of nobles and entrepreneurs, headed by the Gherardesca) led the Genoese to force the harbor and carry off the chains, which they showed off as a trophy for many years (at present they are once again in Pisa, in the Camposanto). On the land front, the Florentines were once more victorious at Cascina (28.07.1364). | |
