Ghibelline

American  

[gib-uh-lin, -leen] / ˈgɪb ə lɪn, -ˌlin /

noun

1. a member of the aristocratic party in medieval Italy and Germany that supported the claims of the German emperors against the papacy: politically opposed to the Guelphs.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Ghibellines.

Ghibelline British  

/ ˈɡɪbɪˌlaɪn, -ˌliːn /

noun

1. a member of the political faction in medieval Italy originally based on support for the German emperor

2. (modifier) of or relating to the Ghibellines Compare Guelph 1

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Other Word Forms

• Ghibellinism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of Ghibelline

1565–75; < Italian Ghibellino < Middle High German *wībeling- ( German Waiblingen ) a Hohenstaufen estate in Germany

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Ghibelline

Guelph comes from hwelp or whelp, meaning a wolf's pup, and Ghibelline is an Italian attempt to pronounce the name of the counts of Waiblingen.

From Time Magazine Archive

But the trend had been beaten down through the centuries when the peninsula served as the cockpit of Guelph and Ghibelline, despot and noble, rival Spaniard, Frenchman and German.

From Time Magazine Archive

Moved by the reasons stated above, I believe, the Venetians encouraged the Guelf and Ghibelline sects in their subject cities.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

Ghibelline, gib′e-lin, n. one of a party in Italy in the Middle Ages which supported the imperial authority, as opposed to the Guelfs.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

It is interesting to note that while Dante was a Ghibelline, Petrarch was a Guelph.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various