Castruccio Castracani

Castruccio Castracani degli Antelminelli (1281–1328) was a Ghibelline condottiero and lord of Lucca. Exiled by the Black Guelphs in 1300, he soldiered in France and Lombardy before serving Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa, helping to take Lucca in 1314 and win the Battle of Montecatini in 1315.

Uguccione imprisoned him, but an uprising in Lucca expelled his master and freed him. Chosen lifelong lord of Lucca in 1316, he defeated the Florentines at Altopascio in 1325.

Emperor Louis the Bavarian made him duke of Lucca and neighbouring lands, and he seized Pisa in 1327. He died in 1328.