GUIDO DA PISA - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. VI, p. 766

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

GUIDO DA PISA. – Carmelite writer from Caprona (Pisa). The year of his birth and death is unknown; a chronological orientation is provided by his dedication of some works on Dante to the Genoese Lucano Spinola, whose name appears in the years 1323–47. Despite the apparent naivety of his writings, G. was a man not ignorant of literary and hermeneutical experience.

Article illustration — (for curiosity of Fr. A. F. Frates)
Guido da Cortona, blessed – Bust – Cortona, Duomo.

GUIDO DA PISA – GUIDO DI SPOLETO

Yet almost entirely original are the angels on the trilobed arch, the Christ between two angels in the pediment, as well as the remaining figures of the two principal ones, for which reason other works have been reasonably attributed to G., such as some panels with stories of the Redeemer in the galleries of Altenburg, Utrecht, Siena, which were once thought to have been originally part of that signed panel; some Madonnas (Siena, Arezzo, S. Gimignano), as well as many works derived from him, reflect that Byzantinism which was to culminate in the more evolved work of Duccio di Buoninsegna.

BIBL.: K. Weigelt, s. V. in Thieme-Becker, XV, pp. 280-84; P. Toesca, s. V. ENOCH. Ital., XVIII (1933), pp. 255-56; A. Venturi, Tavola di G. da S., in L'arte, 36 (1933), pp. 14-17; E. Sandberg- Vavala, The Madonna of G. da S., in The Burlington magazine, 1934, pp. 254-71; C. Brandi, Una Madonna del 1262 ed ancora il problema di G. da S., in L'arte, 36 (1933), pp. 3-12.

Gilberto Ronci

GUIDO II, Duke of SPOLETO, King of ITALY and Emperor. – With the dissolution, through the deposition and death of Charles the Fat (888), of the Carolingian Empire, which fragmented into the new, de facto independent states of Alemannia, France, Provence, Burgundy, and Lorraine, in Italy the figure of Guido II, Duke of Spoleto, came to the fore. He had already gathered into his hands the duchies of Camerino (879, upon the death of his father) and Spoleto (882, upon the death of his elder brother Lamberto). Son of Guido I of Spoleto and Adelaide, daughter of King of Italy Pepin, he married Ageltrude, daughter of Adelchis, Duke of Benevento. A valiant warrior and ambitious, unscrupulous politician, he first usurped lands of the Papal State and gradually made himself independent of the weak Emperor Charles the Fat. To enlarge and consolidate his dominion, he did not hesitate to form alliances with the Greeks and the Saracens, alarming both the Pope and the Emperor, who entrusted Berengar of Friuli with the task of arresting him and seizing his lands. A pestilence among his troops prevented Berengar from carrying out his mandate, and in 885 Guido regained the Emperor’s favor. Even Stephen V, perhaps to secure his support against the Saracens, reconciled with Guido, who in fact fought successfully at the Garigliano; he even went so far as to adopt him as a son.

At the death of Charles the Fat, Guido seemed for a moment to forget Italy: he considered the crown of France, which was offered to him by Archbishop Folc of Reims. But defeated by Odo of Paris, already elected, he returned to Italy to contest the crown with Berengar, who in the meantime had been crowned at Pavia, though recognized only in northern Italy. After a bloody clash at Brescia, an armistice followed until January 889. Hostilities resumed, Berengar was decisively defeated at the Trebbia, and Guido, promising defense and protection, was elected by the bishops King of Italy at Pavia (February 889). Stephen V, perhaps intimidated by this victory, invited Arnulf of Germany, the new Emperor, to descend into Italy. But when Arnulf was prevented, Guido somehow managed to obtain the imperial crown on 21 February 891, which strengthened his position, and on his seal he inscribed the words: «Renovatio Regni Francorum». Thus, for the first time, the tradition reserving the imperial dignity to the Carolingian family was broken. Guido embraced his new task with vigor; to his son Lamberto, already associated in the Kingdom, he gave the title of King of Italy; he established his seat at Pavia, and at the diet of 19 May he issued Capitularies, modeled on those of Charlemagne, intended to restore a measure of order in the country.

But Pope Formosus, elected in 892, initially favorable (he crowned Lamberto), soon turned to negotiate with Arnulf for an expedition into Italy. Arnulf, after an unsuccessful expedition by his son Zwentibold, descended into Italy in 894, occupying Bergamo, Milan, and Pavia, but suddenly halted his march and recrossed the Alps.