The War of the Bucket - OverSimplified

straight down, and your Guelph family cuts the fruit crosswise." "These are arbitrary differences. We must not allow them to separate us. We can be together no matter what our families think." "What wonderful news! Let's toast to our love. I will drink from my smooth Ghibelline cup." "And I will drink from my cup carved in Guelph." (Music cuts out) "Out of my sight, you dirty Pope-loving wench." Two city-states in particular that found themselves caught in a long-standing rivalry were Modena, which supported the emperor, and Bologna, which supported the Pope and loved cubes. These two cities had a grudge against each other, as they had already fought against each other on several occasions. battle of Fossalta, after which the victorious Bolognese threw a live donkey into Modena to humiliate them.

For decades after that, the two sides occasionally made small day trips to each other's territory and messed things up a bit in the fateful year. 1325, the Bolognese undertook one such voyage and devastated some farmland. The ruler of Modena, Passerino dei Bonacolsi, did not agree. The Bolognese had two important forts protecting their city in the southwest, so Passerino, in retaliation. , decided to overthrow an army and besiege one of them. "Hey, you dirty Bolognese idiots! You think you can raid our farmland? Come here and face me like a man!" "Hey man, what's up? I just came out to let you know that there's no need to siege us because- (slap) Whoa!

Hey man! Relax! I'm trying to tell you- (slap) Whoa! Stop doing that "That's it! I'm trying to tell you that I actually secretly sympathize with the imperial cause and that I want to hand over the fort to you willingly." "Oh. Great. Okay." (slap) "Dude! What was that for?" "For betraying your people. And this... is for joining mine. Mwah." The Bolognese were quite unhappy at losing one of their main defensive strengths. But to make matters worse, then this happened. "Hey, wait a minute. Where's the cube?" "Oh no! He's gone!" "Those Modenese must have taken it!" "We'll make them pay!

This is unacceptable! They can take our lives, they can take our fort, but they'll never take our cube! Oh, wait, here it is. I found it guys. It's right here. Ugh. Can you imagine if we started a war over that? That would have been really stupid, and there would probably be a billion videos about it on YouTube one day. Thank God it never actually happened." That's how it is. The famous story you may know about the Bucket War, that the war started because Modena stole the

bucket

from Bologna, actually doesn't seem to be entirely true. I was surprised to discover that the cube was probably not stolen at the beginning of the war.

And at this point, I want to thank and congratulate my fellow historical YouTuber M Laser. He is the only person I found who actually translated a fantastic original Italian source and then kindly allowed me to use his work in my own research. He makes very well researched and in depth videos and definitely deserves many more subscribers. So please come and take a look. The real reason Bologna seems to have declared war on Modena is simply that they both hated each other, supported opposing factions, the Pope had called on the Guelph cities to attack Passerino, and Bologna wanted its fort back.

And they were going to get it back. Bologna had a large force, much larger than Modena could muster, so they felt quite safe. They sent half their forces to besiege and recapture the fort, and the other half took up defensive positions to prevent the Modenese from crossing the river. Modena's smaller force was struggling to find a place to cross, so one night they said, "Hey, guys, be careful. We're attacking here in the north. You better move your troops. Oh, would you look?" . That was easy." And so, the Modenese were on the other side of the river.

The Bolognese were probably hoping that the Modenese would come and break the siege. But instead, the Modenese opted for the second fort at Zappolino. Bologna could not afford the luxury of losing its two defensive forts, so the entire Bolognese force moved to take up defensive positions at Zappolino When the Modenese arrived, it was already late and there were about two hours of sunshine left in this. At this point both sides set up camp, rested for the night, and prepared for the next day's battle. But the outnumbered Modenese decided that the only way to win was to strike a quick and decisive blow while the Bolognese were still unorganized. nor prepared.

And that's exactly what they did. They charged at the Bolognese line and the two sides engaged in fierce combat (swords clashing) Then the cunning Modenese made what must be the most predictable but somehow consistently surprising move ever. medieval war. They sent the cavalry in from the side and attacked them from behind. Bing, bang, bong. The Bolognese fled. With thousands of casualties, Modena had won. (the army applauds) And the Modenese cavalry pursued the Bolognese cavalry into the city. After the Modena victory, they went on a tour of the Bolognese countryside, burning some things along the way. When they reached the city itself, instead of laying siege, they set up camp and basically held a massive party for three days.

The defeated Bolognese could only sit and watch as the Modena force began to pack up and prepare to leave. They noticed something. "Oh my god. Hey! Look at this!" "No way! Are you kidding me? "They still use traditional wells!" "Hey, you silly Bolognese, have you ever heard of an artesian well? You can't even get water out of the ground without using a stupid

bucket

." "It's not a stupid bucket. That's a wonderful bucket!" "Yeah, whatever, bucket boy. We will take this with us." (man screaming) Then Modena stole the cube from Bologna and displayed it in its cathedral, eventually moving it to the town hall, where it remains on display to this day.

The two cities came to a few more months A peace agreement was later reached, Bologna would have to pay heavy war reparations and, in exchange, Modena would return all the conquered territories. Despite being one of the bloodiest battles in medieval Italian history, it was not in reality that way. .change nothing, except that Modena now had the cube of Bologna. As for the broader power struggle between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, which would continue for some time and played a role in many important events in medieval history, like the Crusades, the Protestant Reformation, which ultimately led to the general separation of Church and State that we see today in Europe.

There you have it. the Investitures and, finally, the Bucket War. It's a long day and it's time to turn off the lights and go to sleep. "Okay I love you." "Um, okay. Good night." "Say it again!" (upbeat R&B music)