Dante

DanteAlighieri
Alighieri
Edana
Gustinic
& Savannah
Bickley
Edana
Gustinic
& Savannah

Bickley

Early Life
[Circa 1265 - 1321]
Born to a family that had impact over Florentine government
Had an arranged marriage to the daughter
of a family friend named Gemma di Manetto Donati
at the age of 12. However he fell in love with Beatrice
Portinari (who was 9 years old) and courted her.
Beatrice unexpectedly dies at 1290. Upset, Dante spends
his time studying philosophy and literature. He joins the
dolce stil novo, an early literary movement and writes

The New Life (a book describing his love for Beatrice).

Later Life
Dante fought in the Guelph-Ghibelline war from 1289
- 1295. After the Ghibellines defeat, the Guelphs split into 2
factions: the Black Guelphs and the White Guelphs. Dante
joined with the White Guelphs.
In 1301, Pope Boniface VIII wanted to control Florence.
Suspicious, the White Guelphs sent Dante to Rome to investigate.
The Pope commanded Dante to stay in Rome with him as
the Black Guelphs destroyed the White Guelphs in Florence.
Eventually as his friends lost power/favor in the Florence
government, Dante also lost favor.

Exile and Death

After refusing to pay a fine for supposed corruption
and financial wrongdoing, Dante was exiled from Rome.
He withdrew from all political activities and
completely committed himself to writing.
Authored The Eloquent Vernacular (1304), De
Monarchia (1308), and Divine Comedy (1317) during
this time.
Died September 13th, 1321, most likely of
malarial fever.

Divine Comedy
Divine Comedy is his most
known work, its considered one
of the literary classics.
Its an epic poem that goes
through the levels of the Christian afterlife.
Its separated into three parts: Inferno (hell), Purgatorio
(purgatory), and Paradiso (heaven).
The original is lost, but we still have copies of the work.
This book was completed in 1317, 4 years before his death
in 1321.

OtherWorks:
Writings
Other
The New Life
A book written about the tragic love between Beatrice and Dante. Notable due to it being
written in Italian when Latin was used for writing. Dantes first book.
The Eloquent Vernacular
A treatise where Dante states that Italian should be established as a serious literary
language by changing its dialect. Never finished, but it unified divided Italian territories
in the future.
De Monarchia
Three books that stated that the authority of the emperor/king depended on God himself
and not the Pope.

Dante
Danteasasa symbol
a symbol
Renaissance:
Took interest in italian language (explorative, like the Renaissance era)
Used both religious(mainly) and non-religious sources for his writings
He wrote most of his books in Italian, not Latin. This was a big step as most
books written in this time frame were always written in Latin.

Humanism:
He showed the ranks of the afterlife in Divine Comedy & implied that any
human could reach any of those rank regardless of what they did. This relates to
the idea that you get rewards and wealth in life instead of in the afterlife.

Fun Facts
When he and Beatrice courted, they invented a new style of flirting called Courtly
Love. Emphasized nobility, chivalry, and being dedicated to their one lover. France
became known for this in the Medieval Era.
Hes seen as one of the fathers of modern Italian literature and the modern Italian
language.
T.S. Elliot, when ranking famous writers, placed Dante and Shakespeare in the same
class. Elliot believed that there was no room for a third in their rank of greatness.
Seemed to literally want his enemies to go to hell (As seen in Inferno)