GUELPHS, or GUELFS, and GHIBEL LINES, names of rival political parties in Italy during the Middle Ages. The words are of German origin, derived respectively from Welt the name of a princely family in Bavaria (from which is descended the royal Brunswick line and the line of Este), and Waiblingen, the name of a castle in Wiirtemberg belonging to Conrad of Hohenstaufen, the German emperor. In the great battle of Weinsberg, 1140, the war-cry of the partisans of Conrad was °Hie that of the adherents of the Duke of Saxony (of the house of Welf) was °Hie Well.° Some years after when the effort was made by the popes and various states and princely houses of Italy, among the house of Este, to consolidate opposition to the emperor, the two German words, changed to Guelfo, Guelfi (plus), and Ghibeilino, Ghibellini, were adopted as party designations by the Italians. At first and for a long time after the assumption of these names by the great parties in Italy, Guelf and Ghibel line, did really designate two opposing national policies—the policy of the dependence of the several states of the Peninsula on the empire, and the policy of Italian independence of Ger many, and of resistance to imperial absolutism.
The states of northern and of central Italy were divided in their allegiance and they were con finally passing from one side to the other, but they were predominantly Ghibelline; the states of southern Italy were always Guelf. The popes were the mainstay of the Guelf party and thus were the assertors of the policy of Italian in dependence and home rule. As usual with party designations, °Guelf° and "Ghibelline" con tinued in use as the names of factions in no wise concerned with the question of imperialism. See ITALY - HISTORY OF MIDDLE AGES.