Death of Dante
The "Death of Dante" refers to the final years and passing of the renowned Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who died in exile on January 14, 1321. Born in Florence in 1265, Dante is best known for his epic poem, *La divina commedia* (The Divine Comedy), a profound narrative exploring themes of morality, human experience, and divine justice. His political involvement in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict led to his exile from Florence in 1301, a consequence of his alignment with the Bianchi faction against the more aristocratic Neri. During his exile, he began composing *The Divine Comedy*, writing in vernacular Italian, which helped establish the language as a literary medium. This work recounts a mystical journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, guided first by the Roman poet Virgil and later by Beatrice Portinari, a symbol of divine love and virtue. Despite the offer of a return to Florence in 1316, Dante declined due to disputes over respect and honor, ultimately remaining in Ravenna until his death. His burial site there remains a point of contention, as Florentines continue to seek the return of his remains to their city, where a cenotaph honors him.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Death of Dante
Death of Dante
Born in Florence, Italy, in 1265, Dante Alighieri died in exile on January 14, 1321. He achieved lasting fame for his literary masterpiece La divina commedia (The divine comedy), but his politics would lead to his personal and professional downfall.
Very little is known about Dante's education, but while in Bologna in 1285, possibly attending the university, he became active in the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, supporters, respectively, of the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor in a long-running contest for ascendancy over northern Italy. This superpower struggle touched all the city-states of the region, augmenting local rivalries, both within and between the various towns. The Guelph party had recently resumed control of Florence, and Dante joined them to fight against Arezzo, a Ghibelline city, at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289; with victory, the Florentines (and the Guelphs) achieved hegemony over the entire province of Tuscany. In subsequent years Dante played an active role in the political life of the Florentine republic, speaking publicly at various councils. He married Gemma de Manetto Donati, whose family were prominent in Florentine society, and became the father of four children.
By around 1300, two factions—the Neri and Bianchi—had formed inside the Guelph party. The more aristocratic Neri, or Blacks, aligned with the pope, while the Bianchi, or Whites, supported the Ordinances of Justice, a document that championed the rights of the plebeians over the nobility, and disassociated themselves from both the pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. Dante sided with the latter faction and became a prominent leader of the Bianchi party. Elected a prior of Florence in 1300, he supported the antipapal measures currently in place and the exile of factional leaders to preserve the peace. However, late in 1301, with the help of the pope, the Neri seized control of Florence and Dante was exiled, on pain of death. This blow led him to question his assumptions and allegiances and to think more deeply about the place of political action in the grand scheme of salvation.
It was during his exile, around 1307, that he began the Commedia, choosing to write not in Latin but in vernacular Italian, which many of his contemporaries disdained. The poem itself, composed in fluid, interlocking verses, established Italian as a literary language. A profoundly serious work, not completed until 1321, it recounts a mystical journey taken by the poet through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, a journey of purification that culminates in a vision of God. This mystical pilgrimage is shot through with humanity, for at every level of the afterlife Dante meets people he once knew on Earth or once read about and hears their stories—horrifying, poignant, joyful—as each faces the consequences of actions taken or beliefs adopted in life. Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory is the Roman poet Virgil, but he is conducted through Paradise by the shade of Beatrice Portinari, a woman whom he had adored since childhood and whom he had already mourned and celebrated in the poems of La Vita Nuova (The new life, 1294), written four years after her death. He loses her again at the end of the Commedia, when she turns away to rejoin the blessed spirits, but he is vouchsafed a vision of divine love. One of Dante's purposes in writing the Commedia was to convert a corrupt society to righteousness, and in that respect Beatrice embodes the virtues that all humankind— and especially those in power—must strive to attain.
There is evidence that, during his exile, Dante traveled throughout Italy and France as he withdrew from political life. Eventually, his beliefs in a united Europe governed by an enlightened emperor and the need for a separation of church and state drew him closer to the Ghibellines and led him to abandon the Guelph Party. In 1309 he somewhat returned to the realm of politics by producing De Monarchia, a treatise on government written in tribute to Henry VII, who was elected as the new Holy Roman Emperor in 1308. In 1316 Dante was offered the opportunity to return to Florence as a pardoned criminal, but he demanded that he be accorded greater respect and honor. When his terms were refused, Dante remained in Ravenna, where he died in exile on January 14, 1321. He is still buried there, despite requests by the Florentines that his remains be returned to their city, where a cenotaph is kept for him in the Church of Santa Croce.