the names of two great Italian political factions in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The names are derived from corruptions of the German Welf and Waiblingen, party designations in Germany in the war between Welf VI of Bavaria and Conrad of Hohenstaufen, to whom belonged the estate of Waiblingen. About the year 1200 the terms Guelph and Ghibelline came to be employed to denote, respectively, the Italian patriotic party, which demanded an Italy freed from German interference, and the imperial party, which supported the domination of the German emperors in Italy. After the fall of the Hohenstaufens, the Ghibellines became the partisans of aristocracy and the Guelphs were the partisans of democracy and liberty; but the designations came in time to denote mere family feuds.