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Dante Alighieri

An Italian poet from Florence

Author of The Divine Comedy

He was one of the first to publish a major work in Italian, the spoken language of his day.

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The High Middle Ages

From the 11th to 13th century, the medieval world in Western Europe underwent major change, rising from the dark centuries that followed the fall of Rome. Relative peace allowed for:

Population explosion

Rapid rise of commerce and merchant classes

Expanding cities

Creation of nation-states

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This period of great growth and expansion continued until a series of calamities struck Western Europe in the 14th century.

Chiefly, the bubonic plague...

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Major changes occurred in the High Middle Ages in the realm of science and technology:

Some inventions and innovations: paper manufacture, the windmill, the spinning wheel, the magnetic compass, eyeglasses, the astrolabe, Arabic numerals.

And most importantly, the adoption of a new method of warfare: gunpowder

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Arabic philosophy and literature spread
Aristotle and other Classical writers were rediscovered
Courtly love tradition in poetry was born
The Gothic period in architecture began

Cultural Innovations

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St. Thomas Aquinas

Great work: Summa Theologia

Uses Aristotelian logic to prove God’s existence

Christian Scholasticism

Dante’s Influences

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Troubadour poets of southern France

Inventors of the courtly love tradition

They sang of unrequited love and chivalry...

Dante’s Influences

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“A Florentine by birth, but not by character”

Dante was very affected by politics of his city

Many real Florentines can be found in The Inferno.

Dante’s Influences

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Italy did not exist as a nation during Dante’s lifetime

Only nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire

North Italian city-states were largely independent

There were political tensions between cities and within cities...

Political Turmoil

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Strife in Florence

Florence was caught in a power struggle between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Papacy

Two political parties in Florence: the Guelphs and the Ghibelines

Guelphs supported the pope, while Ghibelines were in favor of the HRE

Guelphs split into two groups, after gaining control of Florence: the Whites and the Blacks

White party wanted to create a balance between the Empire and the Church, while Blacks were more in favor of the Empire

Dante was a member of the White party

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Oldest portrait of Dante

Painted by Giotto

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Born in Florence

1274 Sees Beatrice for the first time

1285 Marries Gemma Donati

First military campaign

1290 Death of Beatrice

1292 Finishes writing La Vita Nuova

1295 Begins to participate in city politics

1300 Elected one of six governors

1302 White party banished. Dante condemned to death by Blacks

1303 Dante roams Tuscany, hoping to return to Florence

1307 Visits Paris. Begins the Commedia

1313 Completes Inferno

1317 Begins living in Ravenna under patronage of the Count of Polenta

1321 Dies (possibly of malaria)

Life of Dante

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Beatrice (“Bice”) Portinari

Dante’s vision of ideal love

La Vita Nuova (which is Dante’s contribution to the “Dolce Stil Nuovo”)

“Beatific”—existing in a state of divine bliss

“The glorious lady of

my mind.”

Connected to the cult of the Virgin Mary

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Dante’s empty tomb in Florence (cenotaph)

il Somma Poeta

“Onorate l'altissimo poeta “

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Dante’s actual tomb in Ravenna

“Here am I, Dante shut, exiled from the ancestral shore,

Whom Florence, the of all-least loving mother, bore.”

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Structure of the Commedia

Three sections:

Hell (Inferno)
Purgatory (Purgatorio)
Heaven (Paradiso)

33 cantos plus one introductory canto add up to 100

The cantos comprise stanzas that are three lines long

Terza rima rhyme scheme is employed: aba bcb cdc

Each canto contains approximately 142 lines

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Three Days in Hell

Three is an extremely important number in the Christian faith

Symbolizes the Trinity: God as father, Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost

Harrowing of Hell: Jesus descends into Hell for three days. He returns with the keys of Hell and Death, as well as a large contingent of “virtuous heathens.”

Dante descends into hell on the night before Good Friday, emerging three days later on Easter Sunday

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Why Comedy?

Medieval works were considered to be either comedies (low art) or tragedies (high art).

Because Dante’s great work concludes with a happy ending—the main character reaching paradise—the work is called a comedy.

Also, the term “comedy” referred to a well-ordered world,

proceeding from the horrors of hell to the

delights of heaven.

Finally, Dante titled his work Commedia

because he wrote it in Italian, not Latin.

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Above, Dante holds a copy of his great work between the city of Florence and the mountain of Purgatory. At the left, a page from The Inferno, c. 1337

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Dante’s hell as depicted by Botticelli

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The Nine Circles of Hell

First Circle: Limbo

Second Circle: Lust

Third Circle: Gluttony

Fourth Circle: Greed

Fifth Circle: Wrath and Sloth

Sixth Circle: Heresy

Seventh Circle: Violence

Eighth Circle: Fraud

Ninth Circle: Treason

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The Seven Deadly Sins �(Saint Thomas Aquinas)

Lust
Gluttony
Avarice
Sloth
Anger
Envy
Pride

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Three Types of Sin

Incontinence (Level 1)

Self-indulgence

Violence (Level 2)

Conscious violation of God’s will

Fraudulent and Traitorous (Level 3)

Using reason and intellect as a weapon

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Allegory: “Otherspeech”

Literary mode with two levels of meaning: One thing is said, but another is understood...

1. Literal (the leopard, the lion, the she-wolf)

2. Metaphorical (self-indulgence, violence, fraud)

Divine Comedy is an allegorical journey...

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Scholars approximate the age of the character to be 35.

He is lost in multiple ways: psychologically, geographically, spiritually.

“Midway in the journey of our life�I came to myself in a dark wood,�for the straight way was lost.”�

Canto One

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Dante encounters three beasts: a lepoard, a lion, and a she-wolf.

These three beasts stand for the types of three sin.

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“Soon as he saw that I was weeping,

he answered..”

The Roman poet Virgil appears, intervening to save Dante from the she-wolf. He then begins to lead him down the road to hell, telling him he will have to take “another road.”

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Virgil was a great Roman poet, the author of the epic The Aeneid, a crucial important model and influence for Dante.

In The Aeneid, the main character, Aeneas, journeys down to hell.

The character represents both Virgil the man, and allegorically, human reason.

Dante’s Guide through Hell

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“I who bid you go am Beatrice...”

Dante’s ideal love

His guide and aid through his journey

Takes him up to heaven

Canto Two

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