Gherardesca

Who he is

Name

Tedice della Gherardesca, son of Count Ugo (III) of Castagneto and of Contilda; the best-attested member of the house that winter. The heads of the other branches in 1200 are not pinned.

Title

Count (of Castagneto)

Born

not known (first attested February 1186)

Family

della Gherardesca, line of Ugo (I)

Confidence

medium

Treccani DBI: Tedice was podestà of Pisa 29 July 1190 to 30 May 1192 and 9 April 1197 to 10 April 1199; whether he had children is unknown, and the thirteenth-century counts of Donoratico seem to descend from him. The DBI on Ugolino della Gherardesca names Ugolino's grandfather Ottone, of whom only the name is known.

Overlord

The Empire; Pisan citizens and leaders in the commune.

What it holds

• Castagneto, Donoratico, Segalari and Bolgheri on the coastal hills of the Maremma
• Sassetta [Gherardesca in the twelfth century; later the Orlandi's: not pinned for 1200]
• Montescudaio, Guardistallo, Riparbella and Casale above the Cecina [castles listed as theirs in later inventories; holders in 1200 not pinned]
• Rights and patronage over the abbeys they founded (San Giustiniano di Falesia, Serena)
• Earlier lords of Campiglia (half given to the archbishop of Pisa in 1139; Pisan from 1158) and founders of the mining castle of Rocca San Silvestro, held by the Della Rocca in the twelfth century

How it was acquired

Inherited lordship from the tenth century; the castle of Donoratico held in fief already by the founder (it.wikipedia). Their ties with Pisa date from the late eleventh century.

Allies and rivals

Leaders of the counts' side in Pisa against the Visconti; neighbours of the Aldobrandeschi (Suvereto) and of the bishop of Volterra (Val di Cecina).

How things stand that morning

The counts hold their Maremma castles as Pisan citizens; their head in city politics, Tedice, has just left the podesteria (April 1199), and the city cannot agree on a successor. Which branch holds which castle on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Wealth

Rents and dues of the Maremma castles, pasture and woods, salt marsh and the coast; earlier the Campiglia mines.

Military

Castles on the coastal hills; their knights serve in the Pisan host. No numbers.

Threats

• The Visconti party in Pisa
• Pisa's own growing control of the Maremma

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Spring 1200The counts' party and the Visconti block the election of a Pisan podestà.Depends on: The feud continuing. Stopped by: A compromise.
2. Beyond 1200: May 1208Tedice takes part in the embassy that reconciles Pisa with Innocent III; on 26 April 1209 he is at Lerici for a truce with Genoa.

Places of note

• Bolgheri: Castle of the Bolgheri branch
• Donoratico: Castle that gives the thirteenth-century counts of Donoratico their name
• Segalari: Castle of the Segalari branch [coordinates approximate]

Where the sources disagree

• it.wikipedia (Della Gherardesca) says a Tedice of Castagneto was Volterra's first podestà; the DBI on Tedice does not say so. Not used.

Evidence: Tedice is well dated; the branches' heads and the castle-by-castle holdings in 1200 are not.

On the map: The two blocks follow the castles later listed as the family's; branch by branch holdings in 1200 are not pinned.

Primary sources for Pisa

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
• Annals of Pisa, by Bernardo Maragone, with continuation, Bernardo Maragone (1160s to 1175, continued to 1192). Pisa's official annals stop in 1175 and their continuation in 1192, so there is no Pisan narrative for 1200 itself. Read online
• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
• The register of San Pietro di Silki (11th to 13th centuries). A monastic register of lands, serfs, gifts and lawsuits in the giudicato of Torres (Logudoro), written in the vernacular.
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• Greek Acts and Documents of the Middle Ages, Sacred and Secular (documents of the 9th to 15th centuries, edited by F. Miklosich and J. Muller, 6 vols (Vienna, 1860 to 1890)). Volume 3 (Acta et diplomata res Graecas Italasque illustrantia, 1865) prints the imperial chrysobulls to Venice, including Alexios III's of November 1198 with its list of the provinces and towns of the Empire where Venetians traded, the best single picture of the imperial provinces as they stood on 1 January 1200, together with the Pisan and Genoese privileges. Read online
• Documents on the older commercial and political history of the Republic of Venice, part 1, 814 to 1205 (documents of 814 to 1205, edited 1856). Venice's treaties and privileges in full text. Read online