Cangrande I Della Scala - Struggle For Vicenza

Struggle For Vicenza

In February 1312, Cangrande became ruler of Verona's neighbouring city of Vicenza by an act of political opportunism, taking advantage of that city's disputes with its former overlords in Padua. Padua's ruling council decided to wrest their former territory from Cangrande and defy the Emperor who had backed his takeover by electing him Vicenza's Imperial Vicar. In early spring 1312 the Paduan army began to ravage the territories of Vicenza and Verona. For some eighteen months Cangrande was hard pressed to defend Vicenza and even Verona itself from these incursions.

The death of Henry VII in August 1313 freed Cangrande from his duty to provide resources to the Imperial cause and a change of government at Padua gave him time to amass a sizable army. From spring 1314 he pursued the same punitive tactics as his enemies, burning crops and towns in Paduan territory. The devastation of the rural districts tolled heavily on Padua, whose ruling council decided to end the war once and for all by taking Vicenza with overwhelming force. A large army under Padua's warrior Podestà Ponzino de' Ponzini marched through the night and invaded the Vincentine suburb of San Pietro in the early hours of 17 September 1314.

Cangrande was absent at Verona at the time but soon learned of events and rode out instantly for Vicenza, covering the distance in three hours. On arriving in the city he mounted a warhorse and without hesitation led an impromptu attack on the invaders who had still not penetrated beyond the suburbs. The historian and dramatist Albertino Mussato, who was with the Paduan forces, recounts how this sudden assault quickly developed into a rout of the whole Paduan army in which Cangrande, standing up in his stirrups, urged his followers to "slay the cowardly foe" before charging onwards, mace in hand, carrying all before him "as fire fanned by the wind devours stubble".

Cangrande's victory was so comprehensive he was able to conclude a peace treaty in October 1314 in which Padua recognised his supremacy over Vicenza. His military reputation was also much enhanced. Daring feats of arms such as his hell-for-leather ride to Vicenza appealed to the popular imagination, even gaining the reluctant admiration of such men as Mussato, who fervently opposed Cangrande's autocratic style of rule. It typified the qualities for which he was to become increasingly famous: an almost reckless bravery in battle, coupled with magnanimity towards defeated enemies, some of whom he befriended in captivity. Among his prisoners on this occasion were the influential Paduan nobles Jacopo da Carrara and his nephew Marsilio, who became major players in Cangrande's later career.