Dante’s Living Hell
Dante Alighieri was born into a low-aristocracy family of
the guelfo party in Florence, in 1265, to begin his career in politics. Dante
joined a Medical Corporation where he studied to be a pharmacist. He had no
intention to practice as a pharmacist; he only studied to be one because of a
law that required nobles aspiring to be in public office to enroll in Corporazioni
Delle. In the next five years, Dante’s career grew quickly. He took office as a
Priore, a form of governor, in 1300 (Furia, 2008). Dante became a white guelfo.
However, in Florence the differences between white and black
guelfi became greater and more serious which caused Dante to make some
difficult political decisions. He decided to oppose pope Bonifacio VIII’s
expansion policy, which was supported by the black guelfi. Unfortunately for
Dante, the black guelfi teamed up with the prince of France Carlo di Valois and
defeated the white guelfi. When the new Black Guelph government came into
effect Dante was sentenced to exile for two years and was ordered to pay an enormous
fine. He was unable to return to Florence without paying the fine or he would
be burned at the stake (Furia, 2008). However, he refused to pay the fine,
because he did not believe that he did anything wrong. Since, he was unable to
return to Florence he roamed from city-state to city-state. During his exile he
wrote “The Divine Comedy.” He died in 1321 and was buried in the San Peir
Maggiore’s Church.
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I thought this was very interesting, I didn't know Dante was actually a politician, though his writing does suggest he had a political inclination.
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