Under The Green Claws. Ivo Ragazzini

the white Guelphs simply called themselves the "Whites" and joined the cause of the Italian Ghibellines, while the "Black" Guelphs put themselves at the service of the clergy to make common cause against the Ghibellines and the "Whites".

      So to these flags were also added the symbols of the white Guelphs and Florentine black Guelphs, which were nothing more than a white flag with Libertas²⁶ written in silver for the whites, and a black flag with the same word Libertas, in gold, for the Black Guelphs. And incredibly these two coats of arms with the words Libertas belonging to the Whites and the Blacks, are still present today, one, that of the Whites in the municipal coat of arms of Forlì and that of the Blacks is part of the municipal coat of arms of Bologna, which at the time fought each other with no holds barred.

      Thus, anyone today who takes the municipal coats of arms of the city of Bologna and Forlì will see, after careful observation that, even if arranged differently, the meanings and symbols they contain are exactly contrary to and opposite between papacy and empire, or Guelphs and Ghibellines, if you prefer.

      It is possible to see in them not only the symbols of the empire in contrast to those of the papacy, but also that of the white Guelphs allied to the Forlì Ghibellines as opposed to the black Guelphs allied to the Bolognese.

      In practice, in the coat of arms of Bologna the heraldic Anjou Chief²⁷ is repeated twice and beneath are the Guelph crosses of Saint George in red and two bands in midnight blue, probably these were originally black, with the writing Libertas, or the flag of the black Guelphs.

      On the other hand we find the Forlì coat of arms composed of the imperial eagle of Frederick II, which in the right claw holds an oval shield with the Ghibelline cross of Saint John and in the left claw holds a white shield with the writing Libertas, which is the symbol of the White Guelphs who were allied to the Forlì Ghibellines.

      And if someone also wants to take a look at the Cesena coat of arms, a city a few miles from Forlì, they will notice how it is a subsequent symbol of reconciliation between white Guelphs and black Guelphs, being nothing more than a series of half white and half black symbols, gathered under the heraldic Anjou Chief .

      7. The causes of the Guelph and Ghibelline battles in Romagna

      In 1200, after the death of Frederick II, the Guelphs of Bologna, managed to conquer a large part of Romagna under the insignia of the Church, with the exception of the Ghibellines' Forlì, which continued to be a Ghibelline territory surrounded by Guelphs.

      Until that time Bologna had been divided into three factions:

      The Ghibellines led by the Lambertazzi.

      The Guelphs led by the Geremei.

      The populace was in the minority and neutral.

      The Lambertazzi, perhaps to distract the Guelphs from Romagna, urged the people of Modena to attack, while the Geremei urged them to attack Forlì, and the people stood between the two factions to watch.

      Bologna finally decided to try to conquer Forlì. So the Bolognese organized a regular army to march against the Romagna city, besiege it and subjugate the Romagna lands to the church.

      This caused the people of Forlì to become aware of the danger they were in and they called upon Guido da Montefeltro to help them, who was known as "il Feltrano", an unparalleled Ghibelline, who was elected captain of the arms of Forlì and who prepared to fight against the Bolognese.

      In 1273 the Bolognese army, ready to fight, set out along Via Emilia towards Forlì, to besiege it and force it to capitulate, but they found it very organized and equipped with numerous soldiers.

      Furthermore, the Bolognese army was also made up of Ghibellines and Guelphs, and the people of Forlì took advantage of this during the first siege to establish friendships and make agreements with the Ghibelline Lambertazzi, which lead to future military and political alliances against the Geremei.

      The Lambertazzi then pushed for peace, but the Geremei imposed conditions of surrender that were unacceptable to the people of Forlì.

      Not even King Edward I of England, passing through Romagna returning from a crusade in the Holy Land, was able to reconcile Bologna and Forlì. This is because the eternal conflict was not between the two cities, but between Guelphs and Ghibellines.

      So, finally, after two months of useless siege, the Bolognese decided that they needed many more troops to conquer it and withdrew without having caused even one injury to the Forlì people.

      Instead the people of Forlì took advantage of the retreat of the Bolognese to take back Faenza, which after the death of Frederick II had returned to the Guelphs.

      In this case they left the city with the excuse of pursuing the Bolognese army as far as Cosima, a town between Forlì and Faenza. The people of Faenza, seeing the people of Forlì approaching, closed the gates to prevent their entering, but il Feltrano had secretly agreed with some Ghibellines from Faenza and, with the excuse of wanting to continue his march towards Bologna, pretended to want to make camp in the countryside around Faenza without destroying or interfering in that land, so as not to raise suspicion.

      During the night, with the help of the Acciarisi Ghibelline family,²⁸ a door to Faenza was opened for him and Guido da Montefeltro's men, with the Mainardi family and many Ghibelline exiles, introduced themselves into Faenza to pursue the Manfredi Guelphs with all their factions. The next morning they completed the job by sending the Forlì army against the Guelph strongholds of Castel San Pietro and Solarolo, where the Guelphs who had escaped from Faenza were sheltered, and they also took those strongholds by force before they managed to organize themselves.

      Finally, Guido da Montefeltro elected two Forlì imperial podestàs for Faenza²⁹ and became captain of arms of Faenza, which he transformed it into a Ghibelline stronghold that would be very useful in the future in support of the Lambertazzi and the Bolognese Ghibellines.

      8. The Bolognese guerilla war

      Learning of the fall of Faenza into Ghibelline hands, the Bolognese began to fear the Lambertazzi had planned the move so as to bring the Forlì troops closer to Bologna.

      Therefore, the following year, they decided to send another army back to Romagna with the Bolognese carroccio³⁰ and the podestà at the head to free Faenza from the Forlì people.

      When the Bolognese set out with the army, the Lambertazzi, regardless of the consequences of such a gesture, suddenly decided to attack the Bolognese mayor directly inside the city before he left with the army, while the Forlì Ghibellines advanced from Faenza as far as the walls of Bologna to give him their support.

      This immediately, ignited a guerrilla war.

      The gates of Bologna were closed to prevent the entry of the Forlivese, but when a fight broke out between the Lambertazzi and Geremei, the people abandoned all neutrality and sided with the Guelphs to expel the Ghibellines from Bologna and began attacking the Lambertazzi inside the city.

      Somehow the people of Forlì managed to enter,³¹ and they began to help the Lambertazzi, therefore the Geremei and the populace had to retreat to their neighborhoods thanks to the Forlì reinforcements.

      Thus between April and May 1274 a guerrilla war between the two factions began in Bologna that lasted, without respite, almost two months.

      Guelphs and Ghibellines were grouped inside the walls and neighborhoods were divided, which challenged each other to the bitter end.

      In those days anything could happen. There were clashes on both sides at all hours of the day and people were even murdered at night, and later found in ditches or floating in streams the next morning.

      Bologna was in the balance and seemed to have fallen into the hands of the Ghibellines.

      In the end, in order not to capitulate, the Bolognese Guelphs called upon a large reinforcement of Lombard Guelphs to support