The Donati are the old noble house that leads the Black Guelphs of Florence around 1300, rivals of the Cerchi (White Guelphs). Around that year “the balance is tilted toward the Donati”.
| Chronicle | florenzen |
| Head | Manetto Donati |
| Spanish entry | Donati |
Description
The Donati are “the dark ones”. They claim descent from the first Christians who met Solomon in Sheba, wield power by arms and by “very strange and ancient” alliances, and call themselves great hunters. They dye their faces dark (“the blacks, that is why they dyed themselves”), though their features are Caucasian; their eyes are wide open.
The one exception is Lazara, also called Mater Donatella Donati, “the great lady of this place”, whose skin is truly dark and unpainted, with features that could be Ethiopian. Her title, Zara, is one of prestige.
Members
- Manetto Donati: head of the family and of the Blacks.
- Corso Donati: armed arm and chief political enemy; led the fight against the Uberti and destroyed the Ghibelline force. His lair in Rome is the Castel Sant’Angelo.
- Gema Donati: Manetto’s daughter, wife of Dante Alighieri.
- Bravi Donati: a man-at-arms (“here my cloak is worth something”).
- Buoso Donati: died rich and intestate; Gianni Schicchi forged his will, lying in the dead man’s bed, in favor of Simón Donati.
The Florentine complex
The compound is built in concentric zones: guards, columns, central rooms and a central corridor, with stairs down to a reception hall, and a chapel. The garrison is about a dozen. The Donati Tower, 200 meters away, is a watch post showing a small light at night. A Donati castle serves as a secret lair.
Power and reach
The house acts through land grants under seal, alliance (the Spini are “half with the Donati”), attempts to sway a vote, and documentary fraud. In Venice they hold a higher rank and official recognition, “at least as a diploma”. They had dominated the region of Hombrosa through ancient alliances, “some impious”.
The sick grandchildren
The Donati children are ill with a contagion: one infected the others, and long exposure can drive one “mad forever”. One child is cured; the sick one lies beyond the chapel. “The children’s grandfather did this” — a Donati poisoned his own grandchildren “for political reasons”.
Conflicting accounts
- One version holds that some Donati are White Guelphs and others Black, and even that Corso led the Whites.
- One version speaks of two sick children, another of three.
- The great lady’s title is given as Zara or Sara.
Open questions
- The grandfather’s identity and motives, and the illness’s nature and cure, are unknown.
- The secret castle’s location, and whether it is the compound or the tower, is not fixed.
- Which lands were granted under seal, to whom and why, and which vote they seek to sway, are unknown.
- Whether Lazara’s skin relates to the Solomonic lineage is not stated.