Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13, 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), was an Italian poet from Florence. His central work, the Com¬media (Divine Comedy), is considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. In Italian he is known as “the Supreme Poet” (il Sommo Poeta). Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio are also known as “the three fountains” or “the three crowns”. Dante is also called “the Father of the Italian language”. The first biog¬raphy written on him was by his contemporary Giovanni Villani (1276 – 1348).
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265, between May 14 and June 13, under the name “Durante Alighieri.”
His family was prominent in Florence, with loyalties to the Guelphs, a political alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines, who were backed by the Holy Ro¬man Emperor.
Dante pretended that his family descended from the ancient Romans (Inferno, XV, 76), but the earliest relative he can mention by name is Cac¬ciaguida degli Elisei (Paradiso, XV, 135), of no earlier than about 1100. Dante's father, Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph (see Politics section) who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the mid 13th century. This suggests that Alighiero or his family enjoyed some protective prestige and status.
The poet's mother was Bella degli Abati. She died when Dante was 7 years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. It is uncertain whether he really married her, as widowers had social limitations in these matters. This woman definitely bore two chil¬dren, Dante's brother Francesco and sister Tana (Gaetana).
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Dante fought in the front rank of the Guelph cavalry at the battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289). This victory brought forth a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in public life, one had to be enrolled in one of “the arts”. So Dante entered the guild of physicians and apothecaries. In following years, his name is frequently found recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic.
When Dante was 12, in 1277, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Messer Manetto Donati. Contracting mar¬riages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal cere¬mony, including contracts signed before a notary. Dante had already fallen in love with another girl, Beatrice Portinari (known also as Bice). Years af¬ter Dante's marriage to Gemma he met Beatrice again. He had become interested in writing verse, and although he wrote several sonnets to Beat¬rice, he never mentioned his wife Gemma in any of his poems.
Dante had several children with Gemma. As often happens with signif¬icant figures, many people subsequently claimed to be Dante's offspring; however, it is likely that Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni, Gabrielle Alighieri, and Antonia were truly his children. Antonia became a nun with the name of Sister Beatrice.
Not much is known about Dante's education, and it is presumed he stud¬ied at home. It is known that he studied Tuscan poetry, at a time when the Sicilian School (Scuola poetica siciliana), a cultural group from Sicily, was becoming known in Tuscany. His interests brought him to discover the Occitan poetry of the troubadours and the Latin poetry of classical antiq¬uity (with a particular devotion to Virgil).
During the “Secoli Bui” (Dark Ages), Italy had become a mosaic of small states, Sicily being the largest one, at the time under the Angevine dominations, and as far (culturally and politically) from Tuscany as Occi¬tania was: the regions did not share a language, culture, or easy commu-nications. Nevertheless, we can assume that Dante was a keen up-to-date intellectual with international interests.
At 18, Dante met Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia, and soon after Brunetto Latini; together they became the leaders of Dolce Stil Novo (“The Sweet New Style”). Brunetto later received a 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 components by Dante are known (the so-called Rime, 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.
When he was nine years old he met Beatrice Portinari, daughter of Folco Portinari, with whom he fell in love “at first sight”, and apparently without even having spoken to her. He saw her frequently after age 18, often exchanging greetings in the street, but he never knew her well – he effectively set the example for the so-called “courtly love”. It is hard now to understand what this love actually comprised, but something ex¬tremely important for Italian culture was happening. It was in the name of this love that Dante gave his imprint to the Stil Novo and would lead poets and writers to discover the themes of Love (Amore), which had never been so emphasized before. Love for Beatrice (as in a different manner Petrarch would show for his Laura) would apparently be the reason for poetry and for living, together with political passions. In many of his poems, she is depicted as semi-divine, watching over him constantly.
When Beatrice died in 1290, Dante tried to find a refuge in Latin lit¬erature. The Convivio reveals that he had read Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae and Cicero's De amicitia.
He then dedicated himself to philosophical studies at religious schools like the Dominican one in Santa Maria Novella. He took part in the dis¬putes that the two principal mendicant orders (Franciscan and Domini¬can) publicly or indirectly held in Florence, the former explaining the doc-trine of the mystics and of Saint Bonaventure, the latter presenting Saint Thomas Aquinas’ theories.
This “excessive” passion for philosophy would later be criticized by the character Beatrice, in Purgatorio, the second book of the Comedy.
Dante, like most Florentines of his day, was embroiled in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict. He fought in the battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289), with the Florentine Guelphs against Arezzo Ghibellines, then in 1294 he was among the escorts of Charles Martel d'Anjou (son of Charles of An¬jou) while he was in Florence.
To further his political career, he became a pharmacist. He did not in¬tend to actually practice as one, but a law issued in 1295 required that no¬bles who wanted public office had 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 entirely inapt, since at that time books were sold from apothecaries’ shops. As a politician, he accomplished little, but he held various offices over a number of years in a city undergoing politi¬cal 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. Although ini¬tially the split was along family lines, ideological differences rose based on opposing views of the papal role in Florentine affairs, with the Blacks supporting the Pope and the Whites wanting more freedom from Rome. Initially the Whites were in power and kicked out the Blacks.
In response, Pope Boniface VIII planned a military occupation of Flo¬rence. In 1301, Charles de Valois, brother of Philip the Fair king of France, was expected to visit Florence because the Pope had appointed him peace¬maker for Tuscany. But the city's government had treated the Pope's am¬bassadors badly a few weeks before, seeking independence from papal influence. It was believed that Charles de Valois would eventually have received other unofficial instructions. So the council sent a delegation to Rome to ascertain the Pope's intentions. Dante was one of the delegates.
Boniface quickly dismissed the other delegates and asked Dante alone to remain in Rome. At the same time (November 1, 1301), Charles de Valois entered Florence with 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 Messer Cante dei Gabrielli di Gubbio was appointed Podest`a of Florence. Dante was condemned to exile for two years, and ordered to pay a large fine. The poet was still in Rome, where the Pope had “suggested” he stay, and was therefore considered an ab¬sconder. He 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, and if he returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could be burned at the stake.
The poet took part in several attempts by the White Guelphs to regain power, but these failed due to treachery. Dante, bitter at the treatment he received from his enemies, also grew disgusted with the infighting and ineffectiveness of his erstwhile allies, and vowed to become a party of one. At this point, he began sketching the foundation for the Divine Comedy,a work in 100 cantos, divided into three books of thirty-three cantos each, with a single introductory canto.
He went to Verona as a guest of Bartolomeo I della Scala, then moved to Sarzana in Liguria. Later, he is supposed to have lived in Lucca with Madame Gentucca, who made his stay comfortable (and was later grate¬fully mentioned in Purgatorio, XXIV, 37). Some speculative sources say that he was also in Paris between 1308 and 1310. Other sources, even less trustworthy, take him to Oxford.
In 1310, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg, marched 5,000 troops into Italy. Dante saw in him a new Charlemagne who would restore the office of the Holy Roman Emperor to its former glory and also re-take 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, he invoked the worst anger of God against his city, suggesting several particular targets that coincided with his per¬sonal enemies. It was during this time that he wrote the first two books of the Divine Comedy.
In Florence, Baldo d'Aguglione pardoned most of the White Guelphs in exile and allowed them to return; however, Dante had gone too far in his violent letters to Arrigo (Henry VII), and he was not recalled.
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 assault 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. In 1313, Henry VII died, 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 a certain security and, presumably, in a fair amount of prosperity. Cangrande was admitted to Dante's Paradise (Paradiso, XVII, 76).
In 1315, Florence was forced by Uguccione della Faggiuola (the mili¬tary officer controlling the town) to grant an amnesty to people in exile, including Dante. But Florence required that as well as paying a sum of money, these exiles would do public penance. Dante refused, preferring to remain in exile.
When Uguccione defeated Florence, Dante's death sentence was com¬muted to house arrest, on condition that he go to Florence to swear that he would never enter the town again. Dante refused to go. His death sentence was confirmed and extended to his sons.
Dante still hoped late in life that he might be invited back to Florence on honourable terms. For Dante, exile was nearly a form of death, strip¬ping him of much of his identity.
Of course it never happened. Prince Guido Novello da Polenta invited him to Ravenna in 1318, and he accepted. He finished the Paradiso, and died in 1321 (at the age of 56) while returning to Ravenna from a diplo¬matic mission to Venice, perhaps of malaria contracted there. Dante was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called San Francesco). Bernardo Bembo, praetor of Venice in 1483, took care of his remains by building a better tomb.
On the grave, some verses of Bernardo Canaccio, a friend of Dante, dedicated to Florence:
Florence, mother of little love
Eventually, Florence came to regret Dante's exile, and made repeated requests for the return of his remains. The custodians of the body at Ravenna refused to comply, at one point going so far as to conceal the bones in a false wall of the monastery. Nevertheless, in 1829, a tomb was built for him in Florence in the basilica of Santa Croce. That tomb has been empty ever since, with Dante's body remaining in Ravenna, far from the land he loved so dearly. The front of his tomb in Florence reads Onorate l'altissimo poeta – which roughly translates as “Honour the most exalted poet”. The phrase is a quote from the fourth canto of the Inferno, depict¬ing Virgil's welcome as he returns among the great ancient poets spending eternity in Limbo. The continuation of the line, L'ombra sua torna, ch'era di¬partita (“his spirit, which had left us, returns”), is poignantly absent from the empty tomb.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante Alighieri