biography
pronunciation:
[ezeleenoh]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1194–1259)
|
| biography:
| Italian politician and ruler of Vicenza, Verona, and Padua, born in Onara, Veneto, NE Italy. The son of Ezzelino II da Romano, he strongly supported Frederick II, whose daughter Selvaggia he married in 1238. He conquered Verona and Bassano in 1232, received Vicenza from Frederick (1236), and seized Padua and Treviso (1236–7). Leader of the Ghibellines, in 1254 he was excommunicated by Innocent IV. He was defeated at Cassano d'Adda by the Guelphs and, captured and wounded, let himself die. He is featured in Dante and in other literary works as a cruel tyrant. |
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