Cangrande I Della Scala - The Emperor's Right-hand Man

The Emperor's Right-hand Man

Cangrande saw his first military action in the campaigns of his other brother Alboino I della Scala—who succeeded Bartolomeo in 1304—fighting alongside other Ghibelline leaders against the Guelph dynast Azzo VIII of Este, Lord of Ferrara. In 1308, he began to share the rule of Verona with Alboino. This was also the year of his marriage to Giovanna of Antioch, a descendant of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, a union which was to endure for his lifetime but bring no heirs, although he fathered several illegitimate children.

In November 1310, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII arrived in Italy intent on reconciling Guelph and Ghibelline under the banner of a united empire. In reality he soon found himself reliant on the support of Ghibelline magnates to further his aims, prominent among them Cangrande and Alboino, who he made Imperial Vicars of Verona. In April 1311, the two brothers co-led an Imperial Army which swiftly liberated Verona's neighbour Vicenza from the rule of Padua, this city having rebelled against the Emperor's authority.

From May to October in the same year, Cangrande commanded the Italian levies in the siege of Brescia, where the Guelph faction had seized control in defiance of Henry. When the Guelphs surrendered on 16 September 1311, he was chosen to ride at the head of three hundred knights in Henry's triumphal entry into the city. He set out later to accompany the Emperor on his coronation journey to Rome but hastened back to Verona on hearing that his brother had fallen dangerously ill. On 29 November 1311, Alboino died and Cangrande became sole ruler of Verona at the age of twenty.