Chronology of Dante Chronology of Dante AlighieriAlighieri

1265-1321

Dante’s LifeDante’s Life

1265 - Dante is born May 29

1274 – Age 9 First meets, and falls in love with Beatrice Portinari, who is also 9; this love drives all his literary works

1283 - Dante's father dies. He is married shortly thereafter to Gemma Donati (black Guelph), with whom he has four children (Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni and Antonia).

Dante’s LifeDante’s LifeTwo political factions: Two political factions: •Guelphs = Guelphs = Pope rules heaven and earthPope rules heaven and earth•Ghibellines = Ghibellines = Pope rules heaven; Pope rules heaven; kings kings rule earthrule earth• Guelphs split in 1300 into Blacks and Whites

– Blacks backed the pope: old wealth; bankers; super rich (Gemma Donati family)

– Whites – merchants who wanted peace so business would prosper -- began to side with the Ghibellines

• Ghibellines: the feudal aristocracy, the land owners; believed in imperial authority

Dante’s LifeDante’s Life

DANTE'S POLITICAL ALLIES

• Dante began a Guelf, later

a White Guelf (after his exile, but he found them crude and violent), then claimed no party affiliation and lived many years in exile with a Ghibelline and best friend, Con Grande della Scala.

Dante’s LifeDante’s Life 1289 – He enlists in the military to fight the battle of Campaldino at age 24 as a White Guelf; defeats the Ghibellines of Arezzo. Dante recalls this battle in Purgatorio.

Dante’s LifeDante’s Life1290 - Death of Beatrice.

1292 - Writes La Vita Nuova.

Dante’s LifeDante’s Life

"...if it be the wish of Him

in whom all things flourish

that my life continue for a

few years, I hope to write

of her that which has never

been written of any lady."

This is what Dante wrote in his notes after La Vita Nuova and before writing the Divine Comedy:

Dante’s LifeDante’s LifeDante was driven by love, politics, and a respect for Christianity. He believed in separation of church and state.

1294 - Dante meets Charles Martel, King of Hungary, a supporter

1295 - Joins the guild of the apothecaries for the purpose of entering public life.

1300 - Dante becomes one of six highest magistrates in Florence.

• 1300, Thursday night before Good Friday

• Fictional beginning of Pilgrim Dante’s journey into the Inferno

• Poet Dante began writing Inferno in 1306

Dante’s LifeDante’s Life

1300 - Boniface VIII proclaims the Jubilee Year.

Grrrrrrr….

Dante’s LifeDante’s Life

1301 - Pope Boniface VIII summons Dante to Rome.

1302 - Charles of Valois invades Florence. The Black Guelfs seize power. Dante is banished and condemned to be burned alive if he ever returns

p.s. 1304 - Birth of Petrarch (another Italian poet as famous as Dante; believed that people could be great thinkers and still believe in God; led to independent thought and Renaissance)

Dante’s Life on the runDante’s Life on the run

1304 - Dante writes De vulgari eloquentia, his praise of vernacular Italian literature. Of four books planned, only the first book and part of the second were written.

• During the same period he begins the Convivio. Only four of a projected fifteen books of the Convivio were completed.

He was searching for his supreme story…

Dante’s Life on the runDante’s Life on the run

1306 - Probably the year in which Dante interrupts the Convivio, begins the Comedy.

1310 - Henry of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor, descends into Italy and Dante addresses an Epistle to him called De Monarchia. Possible date between 1310-1313:

It states the empire in necessary to maintain peace; authority of the emperor comes directly from God. Emperor should revere pope, but answer directly to God. One monarch should rule the entire planet. Only then will we have total peace and harmony.

Dante’s Life on the runDante’s Life on the run

1313 - Death of Henry. Dante’s last chance to see a separation of church and state

Dante’s Life on the runDante’s Life on the run1314 - Publication

of Inferno.

1564

1569

Dante’s Life on the runDante’s Life on the run

1315 - Dante moves to Verona as a guest of Cangrande della Scala. Works on Purgatorio and Paradiso.

1319 - Dante moves to Ravenna, where he is the guest of Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of that city. 1321 – Dante finished The Divine Comedy; he then falls ill dies September 13 or 14.