La contea dei Malatesti di Ghiaggiolo (secoli XIII-XV)

By using fourteenth- and fifteenth-centuries archival material, this article aims to retrace the changes in the territorial set-up of the Malatesti of Ghiaggiolo’s county and the relationships built by the family members both with the other branches of the family, in particular with the Malatesti of Rimini and Cesena, and with the municipal power and other lordships of the time. The Lordship of the Malatestis of Ghiaggiolo began in the thirteenth century and played a central role in the Romagna defensive fabric. Located in the Bidente-Savio valley, which is almost at the heart of the Romagna, and because of its proximity to the border of Tuscany, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the county was the target of continuous expansionist aims by the powerful locals and neighbouring states. From the end of the thirteenth century, indeed, the Malatestis of Ghiaggiolo became esteemed and feared figures both at the regional and the supra-regional level, where the family members, starting from Paolo “the Fair” (XIII-XIV centuries) up to Niccolò Cocco (XV century), were often called to serve as podesta, thus making the family a real container of technical and professional knowledge in the art of politics. Furthermore, the Malatestis of Ghiaggiolo had also the support of a very powerful ally - Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesti - who protected and counted them among his adherents and recommended ones, and included them in his personal sphere of influence, thus following their political and military vicissitudes.