Ordelaffi Family

▪ Italian family

      noble Italian family that ruled the town of Forlì and neighbouring places in the Romagna during most of the 14th and 15th centuries. Little is known of their rise; a reference in Dante's Inferno indicates that Forlì had passed effectively under their control by the early 14th century. In 1307 Scarpetta Ordelaffi became head of the city with the title capitano del popolo (“captain of the people”). They were aggressively Ghibelline (pro-imperial) and during the 14th century added Forlimpopoli and Cesena to their dominion. Eventually the Guelf (Guelf and Ghibelline) (papal) faction organized a campaign against them that led to three years of war (1356–59), including the stubborn defense of Cesena by Francesco Ordelaffi and his no less resolute wife, Cia Ubaldini, before they won. Even then, though Francesco lost Forlì, it was recovered in 1376 by his son Sinibaldo. A popular rising in 1405 led to another dispossession of the Ordelaffi by the papal party, followed by another recovery; through the remainder of the century the family alternately seized and lost its dynastic estate, culminating in the reign of Pino III Ordelaffi, distinguished for his patronage of the arts and his murderous violence. Having seized the throne by the murder of his brother Cecco III, he killed his first wife, his mother, and his second wife before being himself murdered by his third wife, Lucrezia Pico, in 1480. Pope Sixtus IV reclaimed Forlì and gave it to his nephew; except for a momentary restoration in 1503–04, the Ordelaffi disappeared from mention.

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