Cangrande, a young Italian nobleman, is the most celebrated of the della Scala family that from 1277 until 1387 rules Verona.
Today perhaps best known as the leading patron of the poet Dante Alighieri, Cangrande is in his own day chiefly acclaimed as a successful warrior and autocrat.
Born at Verona, the third son of Alberto I della Scala, ruler of Verona, and Verde da Salizzole, and christened Can Francesco, perhaps partly in punning homage to his uncle Mastino ("mastiff") I, the founder of the Scaligeri dynasty, his physical and mental precocity had soon earned him the name Cangrande, namely "big" or "great dog".
The canine theme is enthusiastically embraced and from Cangrande's reign onward the Scaliger lords will use a dog motif on their helmets and also on their tombs and other monuments.
Cangrande had seen his first military action in the campaigns of his other brother Alboino I della Scala—who had succeeded Bartolomeo in 1304—fighting alongside other Ghibelline leaders against the Guelph dynast Azzo VIII of Este, Lord of Ferrara.
He had in 1308 begun to share the rule of Verona with Alboino.
This was also the year of his marriage to Giovanna of Antioch, a descendant of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, a union which is to endure for his lifetime but bring no heirs, although he is to father several illegitimate children.
Henry VII had arrived in Italy in November 1310 intent on reconciling Guelph and Ghibelline under the banner of a united empire.
In reality he had soon found himself reliant on the support of Ghibelline magnates to further his aims, prominent among them Cangrande and Alboino, who he makes Imperial Vicars of Verona.
The two brothers in April 1311 co-lead an imperial army that swiftly liberates Verona's neighbor Vicenza from the rule of Padua, this city having rebelled against the Emperor's authority.
