Second Military Campaign Against Treviso
Cangrande spent the spring and summer of 1318 fighting for the Ghibelline cause in various cities, undeterred by the Pope's excommunication (enforced in April for his persistent refusal to renounce his Imperial Vicariates). In Autumn his attention turned once more to the Trevisan Mark. He was unable to attack Padua because of the peace treaty but had considerable influence there due to his friendship with the Da Carrara family which was now dominant in the city. He cemented his informal alliance with the Da Carrara late in 1318 by betrothing his twelve year old nephew Mastino (the future Mastino II della Scala) with Taddea, Jacopo Da Carrara's baby daughter. Meanwhile in alliance with Uguccione della Faggiuola he had launched another military campaign against Treviso.
The attack on Treviso was made with the promise of help from certain nobles within the city who hoped Cangrande would restore them to power. Although this plot did enable him to take some outlying castles but fell short of taking the city itself for the citizens appealed to Frederick I of Austria who ordered Cangrande to stop his assault in return for the Trevisans accepting his authority and allowing him to appoint an Imperial Vicar.
In the same month a convention of Ghibelline leaders at Soncino headed by Matteo I Visconti of Milan appointed Cangrande "Captain and Rector of the Imperial Party of Lombardy". Cangrande accepted the title without doing much to earn it, being for the moment more concerned with renewed attempts to conquer Treviso. He came close to success but was eventually thwarted in June when the Trevisans reluctantly accepted the protection of the powerful Henry III of Gorizia, Frederick I of Austria's nominated Imperial Vicar. Cangrande immediately turned his attention to Padua, picking a quarrel with his erstwhile ally Jacopo Da Carrara.
Read more about this topic: Cangrande I Della Scala
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