Ghetto
the Jewish quarter in Italian cities, to which they were formerly confined. The ghetto of Rome, instituted in 1556 by Pope Paul IV., was removed in 1885, its demolition having been rendered necessary by the new Tiber embankment. The term is also employed to indicate the Jews' quarters in any city.
GHI. See GHEE, GHIBELLINES (gib'e-linz), a political party of the 12th to the 15th centuries.
On the death of Lothaire II., Emperor of Germany, Dec. 4, 1137, Conrad, Duke of Franconia and Lord of Weiblingen (which by corruption became Ghibelline), was elected his successor. His right to the imperial throne was, however, disputed by Henry the Proud, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, who was in consequence declared an outlaw and shortly afterward died. His adherents transferred their allegiance to his son Henry the Lion, at that time a boy of 10 years old, and the whole empire was divided into the partisans of Conrad, who assumed the name of Ghibellines, and those of Henry, or the Guelphs.
These titles were first used at the battle of Weinsberg in 1140. The strife between the two parties subsided in Germany, but continued in Italy, resulting in war in 1159. The supporters of the Popes were termed Guelphs and those of the emperors Ghibellines. Charles of Anjou expelled the Ghibellines from Italy in 1268; but the contest between the two factions continued until the French invasion in 1495 united them against a common enemy.