Boniface VIII and Benedict XI

Pope Boniface VIII mediated between Orvieto and Todi, which led to the alliance between them in 1301.

Boniface VIII appointed Guido (Guitto or Guittone) Farnese as Bishop of Orvieto (1302-29).  He seems to have been very young at this point, and to have been close the Boniface VIII, who apparently called him by a nickname “"Totot", which suggests that he stammered.  (He seems to have celebrated the first Mass in the Duomo in 1309, during its construction).  [See  also Andrea Franci, “Guido Farnese, Ramo di Paganello e il Capitello dell’ Ave Maria nel Duomo di Orvieto, Arte Cristiana, 89 (2001) 5-16].

When Boniface VIII died in 1303, Orvieto usurped the Aldobrandini lands, and the papal vicar placed the city under interdict.  The new Pope Benedict XI showed his displeasure by refusing an invitation to visit Orvieto on his way from Rome to Perugia in 1304.  The matter was finally resolved in 1313 when Orvieto paid a huge fine, having raised a loan for the purpose from its Jewish community. 

By this time, the Popolo effectively governed Orvieto, although the Monaldeschi and Filippeschi (who had been reinstated in 1294) held many important civic and (in the case of the Monaldeschi) ecclesiastical positions.  The Monaldeschi became adept at taking a low profile during periods of papal disfavour without compromising their standing in the city.

Descent of Emperor Henry VII (1308-13)

The arrival of Henry of Luxembourg (the future Emperor Henry VII) in Italy in 1310 spelled the end of civic harmony in Orvieto.  The city was particularly at risk because of its uncertain title to the Aldobrandini lands.  It quickly joined a Guelf alliance that also included Perugia, Spoleto and Gubbio, along with Lucca and Siena.  It also renewed the ties of friendship with Florence, and allowed the Florentines to maintain a garrison in the city.

However, the Ghibellines reached an understanding with Henry VII that they would raise a rebellion timed to coincide with his march south after his coronation in 1313. 

1. ✴A pre-emptive attack by the Guelfs nearly succeeded, but it was reversed when Imperial troops under Bindo da Baschi, including men from Spoleto, Narni, Amelia, Terni and Todi arrived in the nick of time. 
   

2. ✴However, just as the Guelfs were about to flee, they were reinforced in their turn by a force from Perugia.  Bindo da Baschi was killed in the subsequent fighting, and the Guelfs emerged victorious after 5 days of vicious warfare within the city (August 1313). 
   

This battle marked the end of the power of the Filippeschi, a fate that was reinforced when Henry VII died just days later in a town some 40 miles to the north.

Guelf Rule (1313-5)

The new government that was established to preside over the suppression and expulsion of the Ghibellines was made up of five men, each of whom held office for a month at a time.  The Monaldeschi dominated this committee, although it also had representation from the Popolo. 

Orvieto, which was now an important Guelf city, signed a perpetual alliance with Perugia in 1313.  The prominent Guelf, Cante de’ Gabrielli [who as Podesta of Florence (1301-6) had exiled Dante Aligheri in 1302] was Podesta of Orvieto in 1314.  Orvieto joined the Guelf League that Perugia formed following the disastrous Ghibelline victory at the Battle of Montecatini (August 1315). 

Despite these Guelf credentials, Orvieto’s relations with the papal legate, Bernard de Coucy (whom the Italians called Bernard de Cucuiaco) deteriorated from 1314, largely due to his over-bearing manner and his claims to territorial and fiscal rights in the Val di Lago. 

Orvieto joined a Guelf revolt against Bernard de Coucy in November 1315.  Poncello Orsini, who owned land in the disputed region, participated on his own account.  This army took Montefiascone and laid siege to Bernard de Coucy in the citadel.   However, Manfredi di Vico, whom Bernard de Coucy employed despite his Ghibelline tendencies, lifted the siege and the Guelfs suffered a stunning defeat.  The Orvietans thought it expedient to placate Bernard de Coucy by changing the government (see above) and, in particular, by reducing the overt influence of the Monaldeschi, particularly since the inept generalship of Ermanno Monaldeschi della Cervara had been largely responsible for the defeat.

Government of the Popolo (1315-22)

A shift of power in the direction of the Popolo at this point is evidenced by the fact that it was the leaders of the guilds that elected the new ruling body, which comprised nine men, again on a rotating basis.  The condottieri, Poncello (Napoleone) Orsini was appointed first as Capitano di Guerra (to prosecute the war of revenge against Manfredi di Vico), and then as Capitano del Popolo. 

Poncello Orsini enacted legislation that greatly extended the power and prestige of the Popolo at the expense of the Guelf nobility.  However, his main concern was the defence of Orvieto from the victorious Ghibellines.  [Their defeat of the  Guelfs at Montecatini in Tuscany in August 1315 no less than the more local disaster at Montefiascone in November had heartened the Orvietan exiles and their Ghibelline allies.]  They were able to call on reinforcements from Uguccione della Faggiola, from Sciarra Colonna, from Manfredi di Vico and the other Ghibellines of the Patrimony and even from Bernard de Coucy in order to sack the contado.   Poncello Orsini responded by sacking the contado of Viterbo, and this desultory violence continued until the summer of 1316, when Orvieto and Viterbo finally agreed to peace.  Orvieto finally negotiated a settlement with Bernard de Coucy that led to its absolution in 1317 on payment of a substantial fine. 

Poncello Orsini left Orvieto in the hands of the Popolo in 1317.  Tension eased in that year, when the Commune appointed King Robert of Naples as Podestà and Pope John XXII sent  Guillaume Costa to replace the hated Bernard de Coucy as rector of the Patrimony.  Orvieto aided Perugia against Assisi and Spoleto in 1318-20. 

Orvieto’s relationship with the papacy was finally healed in 1319, when Bishop Guido became rector of the Patrimony, following the death of Guillaume Costa.  (He was one of very few Italians to be appointed as a papal legate during the Avignon papacy).  The reports that Bishop Guido sent to Avignon at this time describe the parlous state of papal authority in the Patrimony. 

In 1320-1, Pietro di Ranuccio Farnese (who was probably a nephew of Bishop Guido) led an army from Orvieto in a war against the Ghibellines of Corneto, Toscanella and Bisenzio.  In 1321, Poncello Orsini was recalled as Capitano del Popolo, apparently to redress the resurgent power of the Monaldeschi.   However, Orsini was too distracted by his military duties in the war against Assisi and Spoleto, and the Monaldeschi were able to arrange for his expulsion in 1322.  A member of the Monaldeschi clan replaced him as Capitano del Popolo, and the days of popular government in Orvieto were effectively over.

Monaldeschi Rule

The Monaldeschi consolidated their position in 1327-8 when seven of them were appointed to the committee of eight that was established during the emergency precipitated by the expedition of Louis of Bavaria (the future Emperor Louis IV).  Viterbo, Todi and a host of smaller Ghibelline cities used the opportunity to threaten Orvieto.  Louis IV left Rome in 1328 and invaded the contado of Orvieto, having agreed with the Filippeschi that they would betray the city into his hands. However, the plot was discovered and since Orvieto was effectively impregnable without treachery, Louis IV withdrew to Todi.

1330 saw a somewhat hysterical atmosphere of reconciliation within the city, with the Ghibellines allowed to return (albeit under sufferance) and rifts within the Monaldeschi clan healed in public.   Meanwhile, events outside Orvieto were much less harmonious, and by 1332, most of the contado was in revolt.

The Perugians had used the instability of Orvieto in 1327 to seize Chiusi, although the Orvietans under Napoleone Monaldeschi del Cane forced them to disgorge it a year later.  In 1332 they struck again, using the excuse that Ghibelline exiles from Orvieto had established a base in the city.  When Napoleone Monaldeschi del Cane rushed to its aid again, the leaders of two other branches of the family:

1. ✴Ermanno Monaldeschi della Cervara; and
   

2. ✴Buonconte Monaldeschi della Vipera;
   

feared that Napoleone would achieve pre-eminence in Orvieto.  They therefore adopted a policy of appeasement, and Chiusi was duly ceded to Perugia. 

The rift within the Monaldeschi clan was now in the open.  In 1334, Napoleone Monaldeschi del Cane was murdered, and within three weeks, Ermanno Monaldeschi della Cervara (with the support of his brother Beltramo, Bishop of Orvieto) was appointed as Gonfaloniere del Popolo for life.  In other words, he was now Lord of Orvieto, a position he held until his death in ca. 1337.

The alliance between the Cervara and Vipera branches of the Monaldeschi did not long survive the death of Ermanno Monaldeschi della Cervara:

1. ✴the Vipera and Cane branches were soon in alliance; and
   

2. ✴the other great family of Orvieto, the Montemarte, were at this time engaged in a blood feud with the Monaldeschi della Vipera, and so they formed an alliance with the della Cervara. 
   

In 1338, the leaders of the factions agreed to go into exile, but the Vipera and Cane factions broke the agreement: 

1. ✴the Guelf Vipera and Cane factions were subsequently known as the "Melcorini" or "Melcorini" (from "di mal core", of bad heart); and
   

2. ✴the Ghibelline Cervara faction became known as the "Beffati" or "Beffati” (from “beffare”, to make a fool of). 
   

Neither faction was strong enough to hold the city for long, with the result that they succeeded each other with bewildering rapidity in the period 1338-52.  In 1340, the Rector of the Patrimony, Guido di San Germano, described Orvieto in a report to Avignon as “desolata et rupta” (desolate and ruined).

Bishop Beltramo seems to have lived unmolested in Orvieto during this period except for a short period of exile in 1341-2 and then again in 1344.  He died a year later at the papal court at Avignon.

Guelfs and Ghibellines (1338-53)

Matteo Orsini, whose niece, Violante was married to Benedetto di Bonconte I Monaldeschi della Vipera, and who was thus an ally of the Melcorini, was appointed as Capitano del Popolo in 1341.  He seized power in the following year.  The Beffati made a concerted attempt to retake the city in 1342, and although they failed, they succeeded in destroying its fortress. 

At this point, the civil war in Orvieto became entangled in the wider war then underway between:

1. ✴the nominally pro-papal Guelfs led by Perugia, who supported the Beffati; and
   

2. ✴the Ghibellines under Giovanni di Vico, Lord of Viterbo, who supported the Melcorini.
   

Matteo Orsini was murdered in 1345 and the city changed hands at least four times in the next two years: 

1. ✴Immediately after the murder of Matteo Orsini, Benedetto Monaldeschi della Vipera aspired to become Lord of Orvieto, but a Ghibelline faction under Corrado Monaldeschi della Cervara and Ugolino I da Montemarte drove him into exile. 
   

2. ✴In early 1346, Perugia summoned representatives of all the cities she controlled (including Spoleto, Foligno, Assisi, Gubbio and Città di Castello) to a Parliament, in order to agree a plan of action against the Ghibellines of Orvieto.  They reinstated Benedetto Monaldeschi della Vipera and forced Corrado Monaldeschi della Cervara and Ugolino da Montemarte into exile (February 1346).
   

3. ✴In May 1346, Corrado Monaldeschi della Cervara and Ugolino da Montemarte managed to return to the city with the help of Giovanni di Vico.  Pope Clement VI urged Perugia to intervene on behalf of the Rector of the Patrimony, Bernardo del Lago, but since he had recently denied her ancient privileges, she declined.  However, Cola di Rienzo, the self-styled and short-lived Tribune of Rome (1347-8) obliged Clement VI, and the ambitions of Giovanni di Vico to carve extend his sphere of influence were temporarily contained. 
   

4. ✴In September 1346, Guido Orsini was made Lord of Orvieto for a year in order to quell the unrest.  [His mother was the daughter of Margherita Aldobrandeschi and Guy de Montfort, and he had inherited substantial lands in the Orvietan contado.]  Guido Orsini was acceptable to both factions: 
   

5. •he had aided the entry into Orvieto of his son-in-law, the Ghibelline Corrado Monaldeschi della Cervara, in May 1346; and
   

6. •he had recently been Captain General of the army of Guelf Perugia. 
   

In 1348, the mercenary Werner von Urslingen ravaged the Papal States, and Orvieto sought the protection of Perugia, voluntarily submitting to that city for a period of 10 years.  However, Perugia could protect her from neither the Black Death that appeared later that year, nor the earthquake that struck a year later.  The flow of pilgrims through the city in the Jubilee Year of 1350 brought some respite, but it must have been very clear that the heyday of Orvieto’s power had passed.

Benedetto Monaldeschi della Vipera retook Orvieto and murdered the leaders of the Monaldeschi dei Cervara (Monaldo di Manno I and Monaldo di Berardo I) in May 1351.  Ugolino da Montemarte, who was lucky to escape from with his life, became the effective leader of the Ghibelline exiles.  He led and army into Orvieto in February 1352 but was repulsed, albeit that Benedetto Monaldeschi della Vipera was killed in the fighting. 

The papal rector, Nicolò della Serra managed to unite the warring factions of Orvieto in 1352. 

Unfortunately, the army of Archbishop Giovanni Visconti of Milan, led by Tanuccio degli Ubaldini della Carda, took Orvieto later in 1352 and ceded it to Giovanni di Vico.

Cardinal Albornoz (1353-67)

Pope Innocent VI sent Cardinal Gil Albornoz into Italy in 1353, in order to re-establish papal authority in the Papal States.  Albornoz began this work in the Patrimony of St Peter: he formed a small army and moved to Montefiascone, which was probably the only place in the province that he could reside in safety.  From this base, he began his project to expel Giovanni di Vico from Viterbo and Orvieto.  Although Giovanni di Vico had lost the overt support of Giovanni Visconti, he remained a formidable adversary.

In  September 1353, Giovanni di Vico attacked Todi, aided by the Chiaravalle exiles and by the French mercenary known in Italy as fra Moriale.  However, when the Capitano del Patrimonio, Giordano del Monte degli Orsini threatened Orvieto, and when Giovanni Visconti declined to send military aid, Giovanni di Vico found it advisable to pay homage to Albornoz at Montefiascone (November 1353).  Once he became aware of the meagre resources available to Albornoz, he returned to the offensive, laying siege to  Montefiascone.  He also relieved the papal siege of Orvieto and established a garrison of some 250 soldiers at San Lorenzo delle Vigne to protect the city. 

Albornoz was able to go onto the offensive early in 1354, when reinforcements arrived from Florence, Siena and Perugia.  Papal forces under Giordano Orsini assembled at Corbara, the castle outside Orvieto that belonged to Ugolino da Montemarte.  (He had entered papal service at Florence in 1353, and remained in papal service for the rest of his life, not only as a soldier but also as an administrator and military architect).

When the papal army seized the garrison at San Lorenzo delle Vigne, Giovanni di Vico led a company of cavalry out of Orvieto to try to retake it.  This action failed, and Giovanni di Vico was lucky to escape with his life.  He finally abandoned Orvieto in May 1354 and took refuge in Viterbo.  Threatened there by insurrection and by the advance of papal forces from Rome, he finally conceded defeat. 

Albornoz entered Orvieto in June 1354, and Giovanni di Vico was forced to beg for absolution.  Albornoz allowed Giovanni di Vico to keep Corneto and Civitavecchia as papal vicar, despite the objections of Innocent VI.  The Commune of Orvieto named Innocent VI and Albornoz as Lords of Orvieto for their respective lifetimes.

The following cities of the Patrimony then submitted voluntarily to him:

1. ✴Amelia (in July 1354);
   

2. ✴Narni (in October); and
   

3. ✴Terni and Rieti (in November).
   

Albornoz laid the foundation stone of the Rocca at Viterbo in July 1354, in order to provide a secure residence for the papal rectors of the Patrimony.  He convened a parliament at Montefiascone in September 1354, at which he began the legislative reforms that would underpin papal control of the Patrimony.

It is likely that the ruined city fortress and the fortifications at San Lorenzo delle Vigne were restored to some extent in 1354.  However they were judged to be inadequate when a freelance mercenary known as Anichino di Baumgarten menaced the city in 1364.  Albornoz sent Giordano del Monte degli Orsini, who held the post of Capitano del Patrimonio, to strengthen the city's defences.  A document in the archives of Orvieto records that work began in September 1364, at the expense of the Commune and under the supervision of Ugolino I di Montemarte.  This work included the construction of the Rocca, the ruins of which survive in are now the public gardens. 

Orvieto now settled down to a period of comparative peace, albeit that it was by this time a shadow of its former self.

Papal Schism (1378-1415)

Pope Urban VI appointed Rinaldo I Orsini of Aquila and Tagliacozzo as governor of Orvieto in 1378, a post he held until his murder in Aquila in 1390. 

However, in 1380, Rinaldo Orsini declared for the anti-Pope Clement VII, and he delivered Orvieto to the exiled Berardo Monaldeschi della Cervara, head of the Beffati, and the Breton mercenaries of Clement VII.  Some 3,000 people died in the subsequent bloodshed.  Clement VII subsequently named Rinaldo Orsini Chancellor of the Patrimony of St Peter. 

In 1387, after his enthusiastic reception in Perugia, Urban VI placed Spoleto and Orvieto under interdict because they refused to receive his envoys.  His troops sacked the contado of Orvieto in 1387.  Rinaldo Orsini was besieged at Spoleto, and his allies, the Beffati, were besieged in Orvieto by the Melcorini.  However, as the fortunes of war moved in favour of Rinaldo Orsini, he was able to negotiate a truce with Perugia.  The other allies of Urban VI melted away as Urban VI left Perugia, full of entirely unrealistic plans to conquer Naples.  The Melcorini abandoned the siege, and the Commune celebrated by ordering that a venerated image known as the Madonna di Santa Maria should be taken in procession from the Duomo to Sant’ Andrea on the Feast of the Assumption, to be returned in another procession on the following day.

The murder of Rinaldo Orsini in 1390 led to Orvieto’s return to the Roman obedience after a terrible siege.  Luca I Monaldeschi della Cervara became Lord of Orvieto, in alliance with Francesco di Montemarte and Petruccio di Pepo Monaldeschi del Cane.

In 1390, Pope Boniface IX negotiated a truce between the Melcorini (Roman obedience) and the Beffati (Avignon obedience). 

The troops of the anti-Pope Clement VII retook Orvieto a year later and installed Biordo Michelotti of Perugia as Lord of Orvieto.  This regime lasted until 1398 when the devastated city once more entered the Roman obedience.  Giovanni Tomacelli, brother of Boniface IX, was lord of Orvieto in the period 1398-1404.