a member of the aristocratic party in medieval Italy and Germany that supported the claims of the German emperors against the papacy: politically opposed to the Guelphs.
–adjective
2.
of or pertaining to the Ghibellines.
Origin: 1565–75; < It Ghibellino < MHG *wībeling- (G Waiblingen) a Hohenstaufen estate in Germany
Ghib·el·line (gĭb'ə-lēn', -līn', -lĭn) n. A member of the aristocratic political faction who fought during the Middle Ages for German imperial control of Italy, in opposition to the Guelphs and the papacy.
[Italian Ghibellino, from Middle High German *wībeling, name of a Hohenstaufen estate.]
1573, from Ger. Waiblingen, seat of the Hohenstaufens in Württemberg. The name was said to have been used as a rallying cry by partisans of Conrad III at the Battle of Weinsberg (1140). See Guelph.