> It's been argued that the Ghibellines as feudal landowners largely
> supported the emperor, while the Guelfs represented mercantile interests
> in the late-medieval towns of N Italy and S Germany.
That's a way oversimplification that...
Waitasecond. This was a joke. We're falling for it.
At any rate, the G&G thing wasn't a debate. It was a struggle for military and political dominance. It ended in any given town once one side pushed the other out and sold all their stuff. In Florence, that was in 1289. After that, no more Guelf Ghibelline conflict.
After which of course the Guelfs almost immediately divided into the White and Black Guelfs and they fought each other.
Don't Ever Antagonize The Horn,
Michael