Ghino di Tacco’s Capture and Reconciliation of the Abbot of Cluny turns an ambush into a test of character: the outlaw who seizes a wealthy churchman ultimately entrusts him with the choice of what to take, and the captive repays that restraint by securing Ghino’s restoration. Told by Elisa as an example of magnanimity, the episode reverses the expected roles of robber and prelate without pretending that Ghino’s criminal life began in innocence.

Causes and Background

Ghino is introduced as a man notorious for cruelty and robbery. Expelled from Siena and at feud with the Counts of Santa Fiore, he raises Radicofani against the Church of Rome and makes the roads around it dangerous, sending his men to despoil travelers. The story later gives his own account of this outlawry: he says that being a gentleman driven from his home, poor, and surrounded by powerful enemies—not wickedness of mind—led him to take to the road to defend his life and nobility. This is Ghino’s explanation, offered after his conduct has given the abbot reason to judge him for himself.

The Abbot of Cluny, believed to be one of the richest prelates in the world, travels to the baths of Siena after falling ill with a stomach complaint. He has received the pope’s leave to go and proceeds with an imposing household, baggage, horses, and servants, apparently giving little heed to Ghino’s reputation. Ghino hears of his approach, surrounds the party in a narrow place, and allows no footboy to escape. The contrast is immediate: the abbot’s wealth and ecclesiastical standing cannot protect him once the armed outlaw controls the road.

Capture and the Makeshift Cure

Ghino sends a well-accompanied messenger to invite the abbot to lodge at his castle. The abbot angrily refuses and insists on continuing, but the messenger warns him that in these parts papal excommunications and interdicts offer no protection. With the place already enclosed by armed men, the abbot has no choice but to go with Ghino’s representative. Ghino keeps the horses and possessions safe and untouched, accommodates the rest of the household according to their rank, but confines the abbot alone in a dark, mean little room.

After learning the reason for the journey, Ghino decides to treat the illness without sending his captive to the baths. He keeps a great fire burning in the small room. The next morning, he brings the abbot two slices of toasted bread on a very white napkin and a large beaker of Corniglia vernage, presenting them as the beginning of a remedy he had learned while studying medicine in his youth. The abbot eats and drinks reluctantly, still proud and eager to see Ghino. Ghino answers courteously but does not yet reveal himself to the prelate.

For several days, Ghino brings the same amount of toasted bread and malmsey. He has also secretly placed dried beans in the room. When he learns that the abbot has eaten some, he asks how the stomach is faring. The abbot says he feels he would be well if only he were out of Ghino’s hands, and that beyond that he has no greater desire than to eat: the remedies, he concedes, have cured him. Ghino then ends the confinement as an infirmary. He has the abbot’s own people prepare a fine chamber with the abbot’s belongings and arranges a magnificent banquet for the prelate’s household and many people from the town.

The Release and Reconciliation

The abbot and his attendants are served good dishes and fine wines. Ghino does not immediately identify himself to the prelate; only after the party has spent several days in this manner does he gather the abbot’s belongings in a hall and bring the horses, even the poorest, into the courtyard below. He then tells the abbot that Ghino di Tacco is his captor and explains the circumstances that, in his view, drove him to robbery.

Rather than demand a ransom or take whatever he pleases, Ghino asks the abbot to set aside whatever portion of his goods he thinks appropriate. Everything is present, including the horses, and the abbot is free to take part or all and then go or stay. The offer transforms the meaning of the capture: Ghino has held the abbot in his power, but now yields the decision about the spoils to the man he has detained. The abbot marvels at such generosity from a highway robber. His anger turns to goodwill; he embraces Ghino, condemns the fortune that forced him into such a trade, and leaves with only a few necessary possessions and horses, giving the rest to his former captor.

The Abbot’s Petition and Ghino’s Restoration

Back in Rome, the pope asks the abbot how the baths have served him. Smiling, the abbot says he found a worthy physician nearer than the baths and recounts what happened. Moved by magnanimity, he asks Pope Boniface VIII to restore Ghino to favor. The abbot argues that Ghino is among the most deserving men he has known, and that fortune is more to blame for his wrongdoing than his nature; with support that allows him to live according to his station, the abbot believes, the pope may come to share his judgment.

The pope agrees to receive Ghino if the abbot’s estimate proves sound and promises that he may come to court in safety. At the abbot’s urging, Ghino appears before him. Before long, the pope regards him as a man of worth, makes him a knight of the Knights Hospitaller, and grants him a grand priory. Ghino holds the office for the rest of his life, remaining, the tale says, a loyal friend and servant of the Church and of the Abbot of Cluny.

Elisa introduces the story by contrasting the king’s liberality toward a man who served him with the still more remarkable magnanimity of a churchman toward someone who might have treated him as an enemy. The episode complicates that framing: the abbot’s defining generosity is his appeal on Ghino’s behalf, but the reconciliation is made possible by Ghino’s own choice to return the spoils and let his captive decide what to take. The outlaw’s hospitality and the prelate’s advocacy together turn a seizure into a lasting alliance, while the pope’s appointment gives that change a public and institutional consequence.