Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...
, writer and philosopher. His ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...
'', originally called (modern Italian: ''Commedia'') and later christened by
Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered one of the most important poems of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.
Dante is known for establishing the use of the
vernacular
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
in literature at a time when most poetry was written in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, which was accessible only to the most educated readers. His ''
De vulgari eloquentia
''De vulgari eloquentia'' (; "On eloquence in the vernacular") is the title of a Latin essay by Dante Alighieri. Although meant to consist of four books, it abruptly terminates in the middle of the second book. It was probably composed shortly aft ...
'' (''On Eloquence in the Vernacular'') was one of the first scholarly defenses of the vernacular. His use of the
Florentine dialect
The Florentine dialect or vernacular ( or ) is a variety of Tuscan, a Romance language spoken in the Italian city of Florence and its immediate surroundings.
A received pedagogical variant derived from it historically, once called (literally ...
for works such as ''
The New Life'' (1295) and ''Divine Comedy'' helped establish the modern-day standardized Italian language. His work set a precedent that important Italian writers such as
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...
and
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...
would later follow.
Dante was instrumental in establishing the literature of Italy. His depictions of
Hell,
Purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
and
Heaven provided inspiration for the larger body of
Western art
The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleo ...
and literature. He influenced English writers such as
Geoffrey Chaucer,
John Milton and
Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
, among many others. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, or the ''
terza rima
''Terza rima'' (, also , ; ) is a rhyming verse form, in which the poem, or each poem-section, consists of tercets (three line stanzas) with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: The last word of the second line in one tercet provides the rh ...
'', is attributed to him. He is described as the "father" of the Italian language, and in Italy he is often referred to as ' ("the Supreme Poet"). Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also called the ("three crowns") of Italian literature.
Early life
![Dante Alighieri (Prom)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Dante_Alighieri_%28Prom%29.jpg)
Dante was born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
,
Republic of Florence
The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flo ...
, in what is now Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is generally believed to be around 1265.
This can be deduced from
autobiographic allusion
Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...
s in the ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...
.'' Its first section, the ''
Inferno
Inferno may refer to:
* Hell, an afterlife place of suffering
* Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire
Film
* ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film
* Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker
* Inferno (1973 fi ...
,'' begins, ''"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita"'' ("Midway upon the journey of our life"), implying that Dante was around 35 years old, since the average lifespan according to the Bible (Psalm 89:10, Vulgate) is 70 years; and since his imaginary travel to the netherworld took place in 1300, he was most probably born around 1265. Some verses of the ''Paradiso'' section of the ''Divine Comedy'' also provide a possible clue that he was born under the sign of
Gemini
Gemini may refer to:
Space
* Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
** Gemini in Chinese astronomy
* Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program
* Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...
: "As I revolved with the eternal twins, I saw revealed, from hills to river outlets, the threshing-floor that makes us so ferocious" (XXII 151–154). In 1265, the sun was in Gemini between approximately 11 May and 11 June (
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
).
![Dante-alighieri](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Dante-alighieri.jpg)
Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans (''Inferno'', XV, 76), but the earliest relative he could mention by name was
Cacciaguida degli Elisei (''Paradiso'', XV, 135), born no earlier than about 1100. Dante's father,
Alighiero di Bellincione
Alighiero di Bellincione ( 1210–1283) was the father of Dante Alighieri.
Life
Alighiero was born around 1210, the son of Bellincione di Alighiero. He was a member of the Guelph party and was probably a moneylender. Alighiero's first wife was B ...
,
[ was a White ]Guelph
Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...
who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines (, , ; it, guelfi e ghibellini ) were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in the Italian city-states of Central Italy and Northern Italy.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, ri ...
won the Battle of Montaperti
The Battle of Montaperti was fought on 4 September 1260 between Florence and Siena in Tuscany as part of the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Florentines were routed. It was the bloodiest battle fought in Medieval Italy, wit ...
in the middle of the 13th century. This suggests that Alighiero or his family may have enjoyed some protective prestige and status, although some suggest that the politically inactive Alighiero was of such low standing that he was not considered worth exiling.
Dante's family was loyal to the Guelphs, a political alliance that supported the Papacy
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
and that was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines, who were backed by the Holy Roman Emperor. The poet's mother was Bella, probably a member of the Abati family.[ She died when Dante was not yet ten years old. His father Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. It is uncertain whether he really married her, since widowers were socially limited in such matters, but she definitely bore him two children, Dante's half-brother Francesco and half-sister Tana (Gaetana).]
Dante said he first met Beatrice Portinari
Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari (; 1265 – 8 or 19 June 1290) was an Italian woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's '' Vita Nuova'', and is also identified with the Beatrice who acts as ...
, daughter of Folco Portinari, when he was nine (she was eight), and he claimed to have fallen in love with her " at first sight", apparently without even talking with her. When he was 12, however, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati, member of the powerful Donati family.[ Contracting marriages for children at such an early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a ]notary
A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems.
A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...
.[ Dante claimed to have seen Beatrice again frequently after he turned 18, exchanging greetings with her in the streets of Florence, though he never knew her well.][
Years after his marriage to Gemma, he claims to have met Beatrice again; he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. He refers to other Donati relations, notably Forese and Piccarda, in his ''Divine Comedy.'' The exact date of his marriage is not known; the only certain information is that, before his exile in 1301, he had fathered three children with Gemma (Pietro, ]Jacopo Jacopo (also Iacopo) is a masculine Italian given name, derivant from Latin ''Iacōbus''. It is an Italian variant of Giacomo.
* Jacopo Aconcio (), Italian religious reformer
* Jacopo Bassano (1592), Italian painter
* Iacopo Barsotti (1921–1987 ...
and Antonia).[
Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino (11 June, 1289).] This victory brought about a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take part in public life, one had to enroll in one of the city's many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians' and Apothecaries' Guild. In the following years, his name is occasionally recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. A substantial portion of minutes from such meetings in the years 1298–1300 was lost, however, so the true extent of Dante's participation in the city's councils is uncertain.
Education and poetry
Not much is known about Dante's education; he presumably studied at home or in a chapter school attached to a church or monastery in Florence. It is known that he studied Tuscan poetry and that he admired the compositions of the Bolognese poet Guido Guinizelli
Guido Guinizelli (ca. 1225–1276) was an esteemed Italian love poet and is considered the "father" of the Dolce Stil Novo. He was the first to write in this new style of poetry writing, and thus is held to be the '' ipso facto'' founder. He was bo ...
—in ''Purgatorio'' XXVI he characterized him as his "father"—at a time when the Sicilian School
The Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian and mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his imperial court. Headed by Giacomo da Lentini, they produced more than 300 poems of courtly love betwe ...
(''Scuola poetica Siciliana''), a cultural group from Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, was becoming known in Tuscany. He also discovered the Provençal poetry of the troubadours
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...
, such as Arnaut Daniel
Arnaut Daniel (; fl. 1180–1200) was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as "the best smith" (''miglior fabbro'') and called a "grand master of love" (''gran maestro d'amore'') by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was la ...
, and the Latin writers of classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
, including Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
, Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
and especially Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
.
Dante's interactions with Beatrice set an example of so-called courtly love, a phenomenon developed in French and Provençal poetry of prior centuries. Dante's experience of such love was typical, but his expression of it was unique. It was in the name of this love that Dante left his imprint on the ''dolce stil novo
''Dolce Stil Novo'' (), Italian for "sweet new style," is the name given to a literary movement in 13th and 14th century Italy. Influenced by the Sicilian School and Tuscan poetry, its main theme is Divine Love. The name ''Dolce Stil Novo'' w ...
'' ("sweet new style", a term that Dante himself coined), and he would join other contemporary poets and writers in exploring never-before-emphasized aspects of love (''Amore''). Love for Beatrice (as Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...
would express for Laura somewhat differently) would be his reason for writing poetry and for living, together with political passions. In many of his poems, she is depicted as semi-divine, watching over him constantly and providing spiritual instruction, sometimes harshly. When Beatrice died in 1290, Dante sought refuge in Latin literature. The '' Convivio'' chronicles his having read Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...
's ''De consolatione philosophiae
''On the Consolation of Philosophy'' ('' la, De consolatione philosophiae'')'','' often titled as ''The Consolation of Philosophy'' or simply the ''Consolation,'' is a philosophical work by the Roman statesman Boethius. Written in 523 while he ...
'' and Cicero's '' De Amicitia.''
He next dedicated himself to philosophical studies at religious schools like the Dominican one in Santa Maria Novella
Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church.
The ch ...
. He took part in the disputes that the two principal mendicant orders (Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
and Dominican) publicly or indirectly held in Florence, the former explaining the doctrines of the mystics and of St. Bonaventure
Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher.
The seventh Minister G ...
, the latter expounding on the theories of St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
.
At 18, Dante met Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia and, soon after, Brunetto Latini
Brunetto Latini (who signed his name ''Burnectus Latinus'' in Latin and ''Burnecto Latino'' in Italian; –1294) was an Italian philosopher, scholar, notary, politician and statesman.
Life
Brunetto Latini was born in Florence in 1220 to a Tusc ...
; together they became the leaders of the ''dolce stil novo.'' Brunetto later received special mention in the ''Divine Comedy'' (''Inferno'', XV, 28) for what he had taught Dante: ''Nor speaking less on that account I go With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are his most known and most eminent companions.'' Some fifty poetical commentaries by Dante are known (the so-called ''Rime
Rime may refer to:
*Rime ice, ice that forms when water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, such as trees
Rime is also an alternative spelling of "rhyme" as a noun:
*Syllable rime, term used in the study of phonology in ling ...
,'' rhymes), others being included in the later ''Vita Nuova'' and ''Convivio.'' Other studies are reported, or deduced from ''Vita Nuova'' or the ''Comedy,'' regarding painting and music.
Florence and politics
Dante, like most Florentines of his day, was embroiled in the Guelph–Ghibelline conflict. He fought in the Battle of Campaldino (11 June, 1289), with the Florentine Guelphs against Arezzo Ghibellines; then in 1294 he was among the escorts of Charles Martel of Anjou
Charles Martel ( hu, Martell Károly; 8 September 1271 – 12 August 1295) of the Angevin dynasty was the eldest son of king Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, the daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.
__NOTOC__
The 18-year-old Charles Ma ...
(grandson of Charles I of Anjou) while he was in Florence. To further his political career, he became a pharmacist. He did not intend to practice as one, but a law issued in 1295 required nobles aspiring to public office to be enrolled in one of the Corporazioni delle Arti e dei Mestieri, so Dante obtained admission to the Apothecaries' Guild. This profession was not inappropriate, since at that time books were sold from apothecaries' shops. As a politician, he accomplished little but held various offices over some years in a city rife with political unrest.
After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into two factions: the White Guelphs (''Guelfi Bianchi'')—Dante's party, led by Vieri dei Cerchi—and the Black Guelphs (''Guelfi Neri''), led by Corso Donati Corso Donati was a leader of the Black Guelph faction in 13th- and early 14th- century Florence.
Bologna and Pistoia
In the late thirteenth century, power in Florence and the other Tuscan cities was divided between the Podestà, an outsider who se ...
. Although the split was along family lines at first, ideological differences arose based on opposing views of the papal role in Florentine affairs. The Blacks supported the Pope and the Whites wanted more freedom from Rome. The Whites took power first and expelled the Blacks. In response, Pope Boniface VIII planned a military occupation of Florence. In 1301, Charles of Valois
Charles of Valois (12 March 1270 – 16 December 1325), the fourth son of King Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon, was a member of the House of Capet and founder of the House of Valois, whose rule over France would start in 1 ...
, brother of King Philip IV of France, was expected to visit Florence because the Pope had appointed him as peacemaker for Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Citizenship
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 = Italian
, demogra ...
. But the city's government had treated the Pope's ambassadors badly a few weeks before, seeking independence from papal influence. It was believed that Charles had received other unofficial instructions, so the council sent a delegation that included Dante to Rome to ascertain the Pope's intentions.
Exile from Florence
Pope Boniface quickly dismissed the other delegates and asked Dante alone to remain in Rome. At the same time (1 November, 1301), Charles of Valois entered Florence with the Black Guelphs, who in the next six days destroyed much of the city and killed many of their enemies. A new Black Guelph government was installed, and Cante dei Gabrielli Cante dei Gabrielli di Gubbio (c. 1260 – c. 1335) was an Italian nobleman and condottiero.
Biography
Cante was born in Gubbio to a powerful Guelph feudal family. He held several high offices as Podestà in a number of cities in Tuscany and Umb ...
da Gubbio
Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines.
History
The city's origins are very ancient. ...
was appointed ''podestà
Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city ...
'' of the city. In March 1302, Dante, a White Guelph by affiliation, along with the Gherardini family
The Gherardinis of Montagliari (or Florence) are one of the most prominent historical Noble family from Tuscany, Italy. Through the Amidei, the family was of Roman descent. Between the 9th and 14th centuries, they played an important role in Tus ...
, was condemned to exile for two years and ordered to pay a large fine. Dante was accused of corruption and financial wrongdoing by the Black Guelphs for the time that Dante was serving as city prior (Florence's highest position) for two months in 1300. The poet was still in Rome in 1302, as the Pope, who had backed the Black Guelphs, had "suggested" that Dante stay there. Florence under the Black Guelphs, therefore, considered Dante an absconder.
Dante did not pay the fine, in part because he believed he was not guilty and in part because all his assets in Florence had been seized by the Black Guelphs. He was condemned to perpetual exile; if he had returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could have been burned at the stake. (In June 2008, nearly seven centuries after his death, the city council of Florence passed a motion rescinding Dante's sentence.) In 1306–07, Dante was a guest of in the region of Lunigiana
The Lunigiana () is a historical territory of Italy, which today falls within the provinces of Massa Carrara, Tuscany, and La Spezia, Liguria. Its borders derive from the ancient Roman settlement, later the medieval diocese of Luni, which no long ...
.
Dante took part in several attempts by the White Guelphs to regain power, but these failed due to treachery. Bitter at the treatment he received from his enemies, he grew disgusted with the infighting and ineffectiveness of his erstwhile allies and vowed to become a party of one. He went to Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
as a guest of Bartolomeo I della Scala Bartolomeo I della Scala (died 7 or 8 March 1304) was lord of Verona from 1301, a member of the Scaliger family and protector of Dante during his exile from Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city ...
, then moved to Sarzana
Sarzana (, ; lij, Sarzann-a) is a town, '' comune'' (municipality) and former short-lived Catholic bishopric in the Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. It is east of Spezia, on the railway to Pisa, at the point where the railway to Parm ...
in Liguria. Later he is supposed to have lived in Lucca
Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.
Lucca is known as one ...
with a woman named Gentucca. She apparently made his stay comfortable (and he later gratefully mentioned her in ''Purgatorio'', XXIV, 37). Some speculative sources claim he visited Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
between 1308 and 1310, and other sources even less trustworthy say he went to Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
: these claims, first made in Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...
's book on Dante several decades after his death, seem inspired by readers who were impressed with the poet's wide learning and erudition. Evidently, Dante's command of philosophy and his literary interests deepened in exile and when he was no longer busy with the day-to-day business of Florentine domestic politics, and this is evidenced in his prose writings in this period. There is no real evidence that he ever left Italy. Dante's ''Immensa Dei dilectione testante'' to Henry VII of Luxembourg confirms his residence "beneath the springs of Arno, near Tuscany" in March 1311.
In 1310, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
marched into Italy at the head of 5,000 troops. Dante saw in him a new Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...
who would restore the office of the Holy Roman Emperor to its former glory and also retake Florence from the Black Guelphs. He wrote to Henry and several Italian princes, demanding that they destroy the Black Guelphs. Mixing religion and private concerns in his writings, he invoked the worst anger of God against his city and suggested several particular targets, who were also his personal enemies. It was during this time that he wrote ''De Monarchia
''Monarchia'', often called ''De Monarchia'' (, ; "(On) Monarchy"), is a Latin treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri, who wrote it between 1312 and 1313. With this text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial s ...
'', proposing a universal monarchy
A universal monarchy is a concept and political situation where one monarchy is deemed to have either sole rule over everywhere (or at least the predominant part of a geopolitical area or areas) or to have a special supremacy over all other st ...
under Henry VII.
At some point during his exile, he conceived of the ''Comedy'', but the date is uncertain. The work is much more assured and on a larger scale than anything he had written in Florence; it is likely he would have undertaken such a work only after he realized his political ambitions, which had been central to him up to his banishment, had been halted for some time, possibly forever. It is also noticeable that Beatrice has returned to his imagination with renewed force and with a wider meaning than in the ''Vita Nuova''; in ''Convivio'' (written c. 1304–07) he had declared that the memory of this youthful romance belonged to the past.
An early indication that the poem was underway is a notice by Francesco da Barberino, tucked into his ''Documenti d'Amore'' (''Lessons of Love''), probably written in 1314 or early 1315. Francesco notes that Dante followed the ''Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...
'' in a poem called "Comedy" and that the setting of this poem (or part of it) was the underworld; i.e., hell. The brief note gives no incontestable indication that Barberino had seen or read even the ''Inferno'', or that this part had been published at the time, but it indicates composition was well underway and that the sketching of the poem might have begun some years before. (It has been suggested that a knowledge of Dante's work also underlies some of the illuminations in Francesco da Barberino's earlier ''Officiolum'' . 1305–08 a manuscript that came to light in 2003.) It is known that the ''Inferno'' had been published by 1317; this is established by quoted lines interspersed in the margins of contemporary dated records from Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, but there is no certainty as to whether the three parts of the poem were each published in full or, rather, a few cantos at a time. ''Paradiso'' seems to have been published posthumously.
In 1312 Henry assaulted Florence and defeated the Black Guelphs, but there is no evidence that Dante was involved. Some say he refused to participate in the attack on his city by a foreigner; others suggest that he had become unpopular with the White Guelphs, too, and that any trace of his passage had carefully been removed. Henry VII died (from a fever) in 1313 and with him any hope for Dante to see Florence again. He returned to Verona, where Cangrande I della Scala allowed him to live in certain security and, presumably, in a fair degree of prosperity. Cangrande was admitted to Dante's Paradise (''Paradiso'', XVII, 76).
During the period of his exile, Dante corresponded with Dominican theologian Fr. Nicholas Brunacci OP 240–1322
4 (four) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is tetraphobia, considered unlucky in many East Asian c ...
who had been a student of Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
at the Santa Sabina ''studium'' in Rome, later at Paris, and of Albert the Great
Albertus Magnus (c. 1200 – 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great or Albert of Cologne, was a German Dominican friar, philosopher, scientist, and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his life ...
at the Cologne ''studium''. Brunacci became lector at the Santa Sabina ''studium'', forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas
A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy ...
, and later served in the papal curia.
In 1315, Florence was forced by Uguccione della Faggiuola (the military officer controlling the town) to grant an amnesty to those in exile, including Dante. But for this, Florence required public penance in addition to payment of a high fine. Dante refused, preferring to remain in exile. When Uguccione defeated Florence, Dante's death sentence was commuted to house arrest, on condition that he go to Florence to swear he would never enter the town again. He refused to go, and his death sentence was confirmed and extended to his sons. He still hoped late in life that he might be invited back to Florence on honorable terms.
Death and burial
Dante's final days were spent in Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...
, where he had been invited to stay in the city in 1318 by its prince, Guido II da Polenta
Guido II da Polenta (died 1330), also known as Guido Novello, was an Italian who served as lord of Ravenna from 1316 until 1322.
The nephew of Lamberto I da Polenta, he acquired the lordship of the city after the latter's death. In 1316–1321 h ...
. Dante died in Ravenna on 14 September 1321, aged about 56, of quartan malaria
Quartan fever is one of the four types of malaria which can be contracted by humans.
It is specifically caused by the '' Plasmodium malariae'' species, one of the six species of the protozoan genus ''Plasmodium''. Quartan fever is a form of malari ...
contracted while returning from a diplomatic mission to the Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
. He was attended by his three children, and possibly by Gemma Donati, and by friends and admirers he had in the city. He was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called Basilica di San Francesco). Bernardo Bembo
Bernardo Bembo (19 October 1433 – 28 May 1519) was a Venetian humanist, diplomat and statesman.Angelo Ventura and Marco Pecoraro"Bembo, Bernardo" in ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Volume 8 (Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1 ...
, praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...
of Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, erected a tomb for him in 1483.
On the grave, a verse of Bernardo Canaccio, a friend of Dante, is dedicated to Florence:
In 1329, Bertrand du Pouget
Bertrand du Pouget (Italian ''Bertrando del Poggetto'') (1280 – 3 February 1352) was a French papal diplomat and Cardinal.
Bertrand was born in Castelnau-Montratier. He may have been a nephew of Pope John XXII. As cardinal he was closely ...
, Cardinal and nephew of Pope John XXII, classified Dante's ''Monarchia'' as heretical and sought to have his bones burned at the stake. Ostasio I da Polenta Ostasio I da Polenta (died November 14, 1346) was lord of Ravenna from 1322 until his death.
He was the son of Bernardino da Polenta, lord of Cervia. On September 20, 1322 he profited from the absence of Guido Novello da Polenta to seize power i ...
and Pino della Tosa, allies of Pouget, interceded to prevent the destruction of Dante's remains.
Florence eventually came to regret having exiled Dante. The city made repeated requests for the return of his remains. The custodians of the body in Ravenna refused, at one point going so far as to conceal the bones in a false wall of the monastery. Florence built a tomb for Dante in 1829, in the Basilica of Santa Croce. That tomb has been empty ever since, with Dante's body remaining in Ravenna. The front of his tomb in Florence reads ''Onorate l'altissimo poeta'' — which roughly translates as "Honor the most exalted poet" and is a quote from the fourth canto of the ''Inferno''.
In 1945, the fascist government discussed bringing Dante’s remains to the Valtellina Redoubt, the Alpine valley in which the regime intended to make its last stand against the Allies. The case was made that "the greatest symbol of Italianness" should be present at fascism's "heroic" end.
A copy of Dante's so-called death mask has been displayed since 1911 in the Palazzo Vecchio; scholars today believe it is not a true death mask and was probably carved in 1483, perhaps by Pietro and Tullio Lombardo.
Legacy
The first formal biography of Dante was the ''Vita di Dante'' (also known as ''Trattatello in laude di Dante''), written after 1348 by Giovanni Boccaccio. Although several statements and episodes of it have been deemed unreliable on the basis of modern research, an earlier account of Dante's life and works had been included in the ''Nuova Cronica
The ''Nuova Cronica'' (also: ''Nova Cronica'') or '' New Chronicles'' is a 14th-century history of Florence created in a year-by-year linear format and written by the Italian banker and official Giovanni Villani (c. 1276 or 1280–1348). T ...
'' of the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani
Giovanni Villani (; 1276 or 1280 – 1348)Bartlett (1992), 35. was an Italian banker, official, diplomat and chronicler from Florence who wrote the ''Nuova Cronica'' (''New Chronicles'') on the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of ...
.
Some 16th-century English Protestants, such as John Bale
John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...
and John Foxe, argued that Dante was a proto-Protestant
Proto-Protestantism, also called pre-Protestantism, refers to individuals and movements that propagated ideas similar to Protestantism before 1517, which historians usually regard as the starting year for the Reformation era. The relationship be ...
because of his opposition to the pope.
The 19th century saw a "Dante revival", a product of the medieval revival
Medievalism is a system of belief and practice inspired by the Middle Ages of Europe, or by devotion to elements of that period, which have been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and variou ...
, which was itself an important aspect of Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
. Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy.
Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
profiled him in "The Hero as Poet", the third lecture in ''On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History
''On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History'' is a book by the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, published by James Fraser, London, in 1841. It is a collection of six lectures given in May 1840 about prominent ...
'' (1841): "He is world-great not because he is worldwide, but because he is world-deep. . . . Dante is the spokesman of the Middle Ages; the Thought they lived by stands here, in everlasting music." Leigh Hunt
James Henry Leigh Hunt (19 October 178428 August 1859), best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist and poet.
Hunt co-founded '' The Examiner'', a leading intellectual journal expounding radical principles. He was the centre ...
, Henry Francis Cary and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...
were among Dante's translators of the era.
Italy's first dreadnought battleship was completed in 1913 and named ''Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
'' in honor of him.
On 30 April 1921, in honor of the 600th anniversary of Dante's death, Pope Benedict XV
Pope Benedict XV (Latin: ''Benedictus XV''; it, Benedetto XV), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, name=, group= (; 21 November 185422 January 1922), was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His ...
promulgated an encyclical named '' In praeclara summorum'', naming Dante as one "of the many celebrated geniuses of whom the Catholic faith can boast" and the "pride and glory of humanity".
On 7 December 1965, Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...
promulgated the Latin ''motu proprio
In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept.
In Catholic canon law, it refers to a ...
'' titled ''Altissimi cantus'', which was dedicated to Dante's figure and poetry. In that year, the pope also donated a golden iron Greek Cross
The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...
to Dante's burial site in Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...
, in occasion of the 700th anniversary of his birth. The same cross was blessed by Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
in October 2020.
In 2007, a reconstruction of Dante's face was undertaken in a collaborative project. Artists from Pisa University and forensic engineers at the University of Bologna
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continu ...
at Forlì
Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna.
The city is situated along the Via ...
constructed the model, portraying Dante's features as somewhat different from what was once thought.
In 2008, the Municipality of Florence officially apologized for expelling Dante 700 years earlier.
A celebration was held in 2015 at Italy's Senate of the Republic for the 750th anniversary of Dante's birth. It included a commemoration from Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
, who also issued the apostolic letter ''Cando lucis aeternae
''Cando lucis aeternae'' (''Splendor of Light Eternal'') is an apostolic letter that was issued by Pope Francis on 25 March 2021. The letter was written in honor of the 700th anniversary of the death of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri and is one ...
'' in honor of the anniversary.
In May 2021, a symbolic re-trial of Dante Alighieri was held virtually in Florence to posthumously clear his name.
Works
Overview
Most of Dante's literary work was composed after his exile in 1301. ''La Vita Nuova
''La Vita Nuova'' (; Italian for "The New Life") or ''Vita Nova'' (Latin title) is a text by Dante Alighieri published in 1294. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a combination of both prose and ve ...
'' ("The New Life") is the only major work that predates it; it is a collection of lyric poems (sonnets and songs) with commentary in prose, ostensibly intended to be circulated in manuscript form, as was customary for such poems. It also contains, or constructs, the story of his love for Beatrice Portinari
Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari (; 1265 – 8 or 19 June 1290) was an Italian woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's '' Vita Nuova'', and is also identified with the Beatrice who acts as ...
, who later served as the ultimate symbol of salvation in the ''Comedy'', a function already indicated in the final pages of the ''Vita Nuova''. The work contains many of Dante's love poems in Tuscan, which was not unprecedented; the vernacular had been regularly used for lyric works before, during all the thirteenth century. However, Dante's commentary on his own work is also in the vernacular—both in the ''Vita Nuova'' and in the ''Convivio''—instead of the Latin that was almost universally used.
The ''Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...
'' describes Dante's journey through Hell (''Inferno''), Purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
(''Purgatorio''), and Paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...
(''Paradiso''); he is first guided by the Roman poet Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
and then by Beatrice. Of the books, ''Purgatorio'' is arguably the most lyrical of the three, referring to more contemporary poets and artists than ''Inferno''; ''Paradiso'' is the most heavily theological, and the one in which, many scholars have argued, the ''Divine Comedys most beautiful and mystic passages appear.
With its seriousness of purpose, its literary stature and the range—both stylistic and thematic—of its content, the ''Comedy'' soon became a cornerstone in the evolution of Italian as an established literary language. Dante was more aware than most early Italian writers of the variety of Italian dialects and of the need to create a literature and a unified literary language beyond the limits of Latin writing at the time; in that sense, he is a forerunner of the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
, with its effort to create vernacular literature in competition with earlier classical writers. Dante's in-depth knowledge (within the limits of his time) of Roman antiquity, and his evident admiration for some aspects of pagan Rome, also point forward to the 15th century. Ironically, while he was widely honored in the centuries after his death, the ''Comedy'' slipped out of fashion among men of letters: too medieval, too rough and tragic, and not stylistically refined in the respects that the high and late Renaissance came to demand of literature.
He wrote the ''Comedy'' in a language he called "Italian", in some sense an amalgamated literary language mostly based on the regional dialect of Tuscany, but with some elements of Latin and other regional dialects. He deliberately aimed to reach a readership throughout Italy including laymen, clergymen and other poets. By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression. In French, Italian is sometimes nicknamed ''la langue de Dante''. Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first in Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
Western Europe (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break free from standards of publishing in only Latin (the language of liturgy, history and scholarship in general, but often also of lyric poetry). This break set a precedent and allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience, setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future. However, unlike Boccaccio, Milton or Ariosto
Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...
, Dante did not really become an author read across Europe until the Romantic era. To the Romantics, Dante, like Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
and Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, was a prime example of the "original genius" who set his own rules, created persons of overpowering stature and depth, and went far beyond any imitation of the patterns of earlier masters; and who, in turn, could not truly be imitated. Throughout the 19th century, Dante's reputation grew and solidified; and by 1865, the 600th anniversary of his birth, he had become established as one of the greatest literary icons of the Western world.
New readers often wonder how such a serious work may be called a "comedy". In the classical sense the word ''comedy'' refers to works that reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events tend toward not only a happy or amusing ending but one influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good. By this meaning of the word, as Dante himself allegedly wrote in a letter to Cangrande I della Scala, the progression of the pilgrimage from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.
A number of other works are credited to Dante. '' Convivio'' ("The Banquet") is a collection of his longest poems with an (unfinished) allegorical commentary. ''Monarchia
''Monarchia'', often called ''De Monarchia'' (, ; "(On) Monarchy"), is a Latin treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri, who wrote it between 1312 and 1313. With this text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial s ...
'' ("Monarchy") is a summary treatise of political philosophy in Latin which was condemned and burned after Dante's death by the Papal Legate Bertrando del Poggetto
Bertrand du Pouget (Italian ''Bertrando del Poggetto'') (1280 – 3 February 1352) was a French papal diplomat and Cardinal.
Bertrand was born in Castelnau-Montratier. He may have been a nephew of Pope John XXII. As cardinal he was closely i ...
; it argues for the necessity of a universal or global monarchy to establish universal peace in this life, and this monarchy's relationship to the Roman Catholic Church as guide to eternal peace. ''De vulgari eloquentia
''De vulgari eloquentia'' (; "On eloquence in the vernacular") is the title of a Latin essay by Dante Alighieri. Although meant to consist of four books, it abruptly terminates in the middle of the second book. It was probably composed shortly aft ...
'' ("On the Eloquence in the Vernacular") is a treatise on vernacular literature, partly inspired by the ''Razos de trobar'' of Raimon Vidal de Bezaudun
Raimon Vidal de Bezaudu(n) (Catalan: ''Ramon Vidal de Besalú'') (flourished early 13th century) was a Catalan troubadour from Besalù. He is notable for authoring the first tract in a Romance language (Occitan) on the subject of grammar and poet ...
. ''Quaestio de aqua et terra'' ("A Question of the Water and of the Land") is a theological work discussing the arrangement of Earth's dry land and ocean. The ''Eclogues
The ''Eclogues'' (; ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil.
Background
Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by offer ...
'' are two poems addressed to the poet Giovanni del Virgilio. Dante is also sometimes credited with writing ''Il Fiore'' ("The Flower"), a series of sonnets summarizing ''Le Roman de la Rose
''Le Roman de la Rose'' (''The Romance of the Rose'') is a medieval poem written in Old French and presented as an allegorical dream vision. As poetry, ''The Romance of the Rose'' is a notable instance of courtly literature, purporting to provi ...
'', and ''Detto d'Amore'' ("Tale of Love"), a short narrative poem also based on ''Le Roman de la Rose''. These would be the earliest, and most novice, of his known works. ''Le Rime
''Le Rime'' (''The Rhymes'') are a group of lyric poems by Dante Alighieri written throughout his life and based on the poet's varied existential and stylistic experiences. They were not designed as a collection by Dante himself, but were colle ...
'' is a posthumous collection of miscellaneous poems.
List of works
The major works of Dante's are the following.[Bibliothèque nationale de France .]
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
.
* ''Il Fiore'' and ''Detto d'Amore'' ("The Flower" and "Tale of Love", 1283–7)
* ''La Vita Nuova
''La Vita Nuova'' (; Italian for "The New Life") or ''Vita Nova'' (Latin title) is a text by Dante Alighieri published in 1294. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a combination of both prose and ve ...
'' ("The New Life", 1294)
* ''De vulgari eloquentia
''De vulgari eloquentia'' (; "On eloquence in the vernacular") is the title of a Latin essay by Dante Alighieri. Although meant to consist of four books, it abruptly terminates in the middle of the second book. It was probably composed shortly aft ...
'' ("On the Eloquence in the Vernacular", 1302–5)
* '' Convivio'' ("The Banquet", 1307)
* ''Monarchia
''Monarchia'', often called ''De Monarchia'' (, ; "(On) Monarchy"), is a Latin treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri, who wrote it between 1312 and 1313. With this text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial s ...
'' ("Monarchy", 1313)
* '' Divina Commedia'' ("Divine Comedy", 1320)
* ''Eclogues
The ''Eclogues'' (; ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil.
Background
Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by offer ...
'' (1320)
* ''Quaestio de aqua et terra'' ("A Question of the Water and of the Land", 1320)
* ''Le Rime
''Le Rime'' (''The Rhymes'') are a group of lyric poems by Dante Alighieri written throughout his life and based on the poet's varied existential and stylistic experiences. They were not designed as a collection by Dante himself, but were colle ...
''
File:Purgatory (Purgatorio).jpg, Illustration for ''Purgatorio'' (of ''The Divine Comedy'') by Gustave Doré
Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravin ...
File:Gustave Dore XIV.jpg, Illustration for ''Paradiso'' (of ''The Divine Comedy'') by Gustave Doré
File:Paradise (Paradiso) II.jpg, Illustration for ''Paradiso'' (of ''The Divine Comedy'') by Gustave Doré
Notes
Citations
References
*
*
* Barolini, Teodolinda (ed.). ''Dante's Lyric Poetry: Poems of Youth and of the 'Vita Nuova. University of Toronto Press, 2014.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Guénon, René (1925). ''The Esoterism of Dante'', trans. by C.B. Berhill, in the ''Perennial Wisdom Series''. Ghent, NY: Sophia Perennis et Universalis, 1996. viii, 72 p. ''N.B''.: Originally published in French, entitled L'Esoterisme de Danté, in 1925.
External links
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Works by Dante Alighieri
a
One More Library
(Works in English, Italian, Latin, Arabic, German, French and Spanish)
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* Th
Dante Museum in Florence
his life, his books and a history & literature blog about Dante
* Th
World of Dante
multimedia, texts, maps, gallery, searchable database, music, teacher resources, timeline
* Th
texts and multimedia
* Th
Dartmouth Dante Project
searchable database of commentary
Dante Online
manuscripts of works, images and text transcripts by Società Dantesca Italiana
Digital Dante
– ''Divine Comedy'' with commentary, other works, scholars on Dante
Open Yale Course on Dante
by Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
DanteSources
project about Dante's primary sources developed by ISTI
The "Alessandro Faedo" Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione (''Institute of Information Science and Technologies'') is an institute of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). The institute is located in the CNR research area in ...
- CNR and the University of Pisa
The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
History
The Origins
The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...
Works
Italian and Latin texts, concordances and frequency lists by IntraText
IntraText is a digital library that offers an interface while meeting formal requirements. Texts are displayed in a hypertextual way, based on a Tablet PC interface. By linking words in the text, it provides Concordances, word lists, statistic ...
Dante Today
citings and sightings of Dante in contemporary culture
Bibliotheca Dantesca
journal dedicated to Dante and his reception
*Edmund Garratt Gardner (1908). "Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
*Arthur John Butler (1911). "Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...
". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 7. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 810–817.
Dante Collection
at University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
(c. 3000 volumes of works by and about Dante)
{{Authority control
1265 births
1321 deaths
13th-century Italian poets
13th-century Italian writers
14th-century Italian poets
14th-century Italian writers
14th-century Latin writers
14th-century people of the Republic of Florence
Apothecaries
Catholic poets
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Culture in Florence
Demonologists
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Italian-language poets
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Italian political philosophers
Italian Roman Catholics
Medieval Latin poets
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Writers from Florence