Cangrande I Della Scala - Final Triumph Over Padua

Final Triumph Over Padua

In September 1328 Cangrande at last took possession of Padua after 16 years of intermittent yet brutal conflict. The city was ripe for such a takeover, forsaken by its Imperial Vicar Henry of Carinthia and in a state of internal lawlessness as its most powerful autocrat Marsilio Da Carrara struggled to control dissolute noblemen, not least members his own family. Meanwhile Veronese forces under Cangrande's nephew Mastino della Scala in league with Paduan exiles, most prominent amongst them Nicolo da Carrara (a distant cousin of Marsilio) encamped not far away at Este posing a constant threat. Faced with these difficulties Marsilio eventually decided to surrender the city to Cangrande under an arrangement in which he retained some power rather than risk losing everything by fighting him or trying to do a deal behind his back with the exiles. Accordingly Marsilio was made Captain General of the City by a compliant General Council but the overall ruler was now Cangrande, who rode triumphantly into Padua on 10 September 1328 Cangrande was received enthusiastically by the populace who now craved any kind of stability. To cement the new order Jacobo da Carrara's daughter Taddea was betrothed to Cangrande's nephew Mastino della Scala, the wedding itself taking place at a great Curia at Verona in November 1328.

This, Cangrande's most significant triumph, was seen as a huge boost for the Ghibelline cause, weakened as it had been by the death of Castruccio Castracani earlier that year. Even cities under Guelph control such as Florence wrote to congratulate Cangrande and, in March 1329 he was made a citizen of Venice, an honour rarely granted at the time to people from outside that city.