A member of a medieval Italian faction that supported the Holy Roman Emperor against the Pope's authority.
From Italian 'Ghibellino,' derived from Whiblingen (Waiblingen), a castle in Germany belonging to the Hohenstaufen emperors. The word evolved to describe supporters of imperial power in Italian city-states.
The Ghibellines and their rivals the Guelphs (pro-Pope) literally tore Italian cities apart for centuries with their feuds—some historians say it prevented Italy from unifying until the 1800s!
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