Jacopo I da Carrara

Jacopo or Giacomo I da Carrara (died 1324), called the Great ("Grande"), was the founder of the Carraresi dynasty that ruled Padua from 1318 to 1405. he governed with the advice of the leading citizens during a rule characterised by unity within the city.John Kenneth Hyde (1973), "Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000–1350" (St. Martin's Press), 193.] He is usually considered the first lord ("signore") of Padua, his election marking the transition from commune "ad singularem dominum" (to a single lord), a characteristic regime known as a "signoria" to contemporaries.Gregorio Piaia (2004), "The Shadow of Antenor: On the Relationship between the "Defensor Pacis" and the Institutions of the City of Padua," "Politische Reflexion in der Welt des späten Mittelalters: Political thought in the age of scholasticism: Essays in honour of Jürgen Miethke", Jürgen Miethke and Martin Kaufhold, edd. (BRILL), 200.]

Jacopo, a Guelph, led the Paduans to war against Verona in 1311 over the disputed possession of Vicenza. In response to the threat of the Ghibellines and continuous internal feuding, shortly after 25 July 1318 the Paduan aristocracy elected Jacopo as "defensor", "protector", and "gubernator" in perpetuity.John Kenneth Hyde (1966), "Padua in the age of Dante" (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 3.] Jacopo's election owed something to an alliance between Padua's own Ghibelline and Guelph factions, and after his election many Ghibelline exiles returned. Jacopo sent the poet Albertino Mussato, who objected to the "signoria" and pined for the old commune, into exile that year. In 1319 the Ghibelline Cangrande I della Scala besieged Padua and demanded the abdication of Jacopo in return for peace. Jacopo stepped down temporarily to save the city; the "signoria" was transferred to Frederick the Fair, a contender for the Holy Roman Empire. In the end Jacopo succeeded in preventing Padua from falling to either the Scaligeri or the Scrovegni.

Jacopo was married to Anna, daughter of Pietro Gradenigo, Doge of Venice. Anna gave him one daughter, Taddea, and died in 1321. Taddea moved to Venice on her father's death in 1324 and there married Cangrande's son Mastino I della Scala in the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

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