Minghino di Mingole

Minghino di Mingole is a suitor whose courtship of Agnesa develops into a rivalry, a violent rescue, and an unexpectedly reconciled marriage. His story turns on the difference between competing to possess a young woman and winning her place in a family: after Agnesa is revealed to be his rival’s sister, the conflict ends not in punishment but in a wedding arranged with the consent of her newly reunited relatives.

Background and Courtship

Agnesa was left in the care of Giacomino da Pavia by Guidotto da Cremona, who entrusted his little daughter and his possessions to his old companion before dying. Giacomino loved and treated the girl as his own child. As she grew up, she became known for her beauty, virtue, and good manners, and at fifteen attracted two suitors of comparable standing: Minghino and Giannole di Severino. Both wished to marry her, but their families would not permit the match, and each began looking for another way to obtain her.

Minghino pursued his suit through Giacomino’s maidservant. She carried messages to Agnesa and had nearly inflamed her affection for Minghino; she also promised to bring him to the girl when Giacomino was away. Minghino’s plan therefore depended on access arranged inside the household, just as Giannole’s competing scheme depended on the help of Crivello, Giacomino’s male servant. Neither suitor knew that the other was preparing to enter the house.

Rivalry and the Nighttime Rescue

When Crivello arranged for Giacomino to dine elsewhere, he signaled Giannole to come in. The maidservant, unaware of Crivello’s arrangement, separately told Minghino that Giacomino would be out and gave him a signal to enter. Each young man suspected his rival’s intentions; both arrived with armed companions. Minghino waited with his party at a neighbor’s house, while Giannole and his companions stood near Agnesa’s home.

The servants’ attempts to send one another away failed. At the appointed signal, Crivello opened the door, and Giannole entered with two companions. Finding Agnesa in the hall, he seized her and tried to carry her off. Her resistance and cries, joined by the maidservant’s, alerted Minghino. He rushed in with his companions and found Agnesa being dragged through the doorway. The two armed groups fought; neighbors came out with lights and weapons, condemned Giannole’s conduct, and supported Minghino. After a prolonged struggle, Minghino freed Agnesa and brought her back into Giacomino’s house.

The town captain’s officers arrested several participants, including Minghino, Giannole, and Crivello. Giacomino returned to a household unsettled by the violence. Once he learned that Agnesa had not been at fault, he resolved to arrange her marriage quickly so that a similar incident would not happen again.

Recognition and Marriage

The next morning, the young men’s relatives approached Giacomino and asked him to consider their goodwill and offer whatever amends he required. Giacomino agreed to take their wishes into account. As the matter was being discussed, Bernabuccio recognized Agnesa as his daughter: he explained that Guidotto had plundered his house, that the girl had been left behind during the sudden alarm, and that the family had believed her dead after the house burned. Agnesa accepted his account and, moved by an instinctive recognition, wept with him. Bernabuccio summoned her mother, siblings, and other relatives, and took her home amid their embraces and rejoicing.

This discovery made Giannole Agnesa’s brother. The town captain therefore overlooked the offense and released him, Minghino, Crivello, and the other implicated men. He also helped make peace between the former rivals. Agnesa was given in marriage to Minghino, to the satisfaction of both families. Minghino celebrated with a wedding and took her to his home; they lived together for many years in peace and prosperity. His ending is thus shaped by a reversal in kinship: the man whose attempted abduction set the household against Minghino becomes his brother-in-law, while the rescued girl becomes his wife.