ECCELINO [or EzzELINO] DA ROMANO (1194-1259)  , Ghibelline leader, and supporter of the emperor Frederick II., was born on the 25th of April 1194 . He belonged to a family descended from a German knight named Eccelin, who followed the emperor Conrad II. to Italy about 1036, and received the fief of Romano near Padua . Eccelin's grandson was Eccelino III., surnamed the Monk, who divided his lands between his two sons in 1223, and died in 1235 . The elder of these two sons was Eccelino, who in early life began to take part in family and other feuds, and in '226, at the head of a band of Ghibellines, seized Verona and became podestd of the city . He soon lost Verona, but re-gained it in 1230; and about this time came into relations with Frederick II., who in '232 issued a charter confirming him in his possessions . In 1236 when besieged in Verona he was saved by the advance of the emperor, who in November of the same year took Vicenza and entrusted its government to Eccelino . In 1237 he obtained authority over Padua and Treviso; and on the 27th of November in that year he shared in the victory gained by the emperor over the Lombards at Cortenuova . In 1238 he married Frederick's natural daughter, Selvaggia; in 1239 was appointed imperial vicar of the march of Treviso; but in the same year was excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX . He was constantly engaged in increasing his possessions; was present at the siege of Parma in 1247, and after Frederick's death in 1250 he supported his son, the German king Conrad IV . His cruelties had, however, aroused general disgust, and in 1254 he was again excommunicated . In 1256 Pope" Alexander IV. proclaimed a crusade against him, and a powerful league was soon formed under the leadership of Philip, archbishop of Ravenna . Padua was taken from Eccelino, but on the 1st of September 1258 he defeated his enemies at Torricella .

He then made an

attempt on Milan, and the rival forces `met at Cassano on the 27th of September 1259, when Eccelino was wounded and taken prisoner . Enraged at his capture, he tore the bandages from his wounds, refused to take nourishment, and died at Soncino on the 7th of October 1259 . In the following year his brother Albert was put to death, and the Romano family became extinct . Eccelino, who is sometimes called the tyrant, acquired a terrible reputation on account of his cruelties, a reputation that won for him the immortality of inclusion in Dante's Inferno; but his unswerving loyalty to Frederick II. forms a marked contrast to the attitude of many of his contemporaries . Eccelino is the subject of a novel by Cesare Cantu and of a drama by J . Eichendorff . See J . M . Gittermann, Ezzelino da Romano (Freiburg, 1890) ; S . Mitis, Scoria d' Ezzelino IV. da Romano (Maddaloni, 1896); and F . Stieve, Ezzelino von Romano (Leipzig, 1909) .