Editing Lucca (section)

=== Republican period (12th to 19th century) ===
{{main|Republic of Lucca}}
After the death of [[Matilda of Tuscany]], the city began to constitute itself an independent [[Medieval commune|commune]] with a charter in 1160. For almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern [[Liguria]] and northern Tuscany dominated by the [[Malaspina family|Malaspina]]; Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe. [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''Divine Comedy'' includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca.

In 1273 and again in 1277, Lucca was ruled by a [[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Guelph]] ''[[capitano del popolo]]'' (captain of the people) named [[Luchetto Gattilusio]]. In 1314, internal discord allowed [[Uguccione della Faggiuola]] of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca. The Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over the city to another ''[[condottiero]]'', [[Castruccio Castracani]], under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy. Lucca rivalled [[Florence]] until Castracani's death in 1328. On 22 and 23 September 1325, in the [[battle of Altopascio]], Castracani defeated [[Florence]]'s Guelphs. For this he was nominated by [[Louis IV the Bavarian]] to become duke of Lucca. Castracani's tomb is in the church of San Francesco. His biography is [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]]'s third famous book on political rule.

Occupied by the troops of Louis of Bavaria, the city was sold to a rich Genoese, Gherardino Spinola, then seized by John, king of Bohemia. Pawned to the Rossi of Parma, by them it was ceded to [[Mastino II della Scala]] of [[Verona]], sold to the Florentines, surrendered to the Pisans, and then nominally liberated by the emperor [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] and governed by his vicar.

In 1408, Lucca hosted a [[convocation]] organized by [[Pope Gregory XII]] with his cardinals intended to end the schism in the papacy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope Gregory XII|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07001a.htm|access-date=2022-01-09|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

Lucca managed, at first as a [[democracy]], and after 1628 as an [[oligarchy]], to maintain its independence alongside of [[Venice]] and [[Genoa]], and painted the word ''Libertas'' on its banner until the French Revolution in 1789.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1911)</ref>