Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence around May 1265 into a family of minor nobility. His birth occurred during a period of intense political conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, factions that would shape his entire life and literary work.

At a May Day celebration, nine-year-old Dante first saw Beatrice Portinari, who would become his lifelong muse and spiritual guide. This meeting, though brief, inspired his greatest poetry and the figure of Beatrice in the Divine Comedy.

Dante was betrothed to Gemma Donati through an arranged marriage contract between their families. The marriage would eventually produce three or four children, though Gemma is notably absent from Dante's literary works.

Dante encountered Beatrice again on a Florence street, and she greeted him for the first time. This brief acknowledgment sent him into raptures and inspired the poems that would form La Vita Nuova.

Dante immersed himself in philosophical and theological studies, attending lectures at Franciscan and Dominican schools in Florence. He studied Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and classical Latin authors, forming the intellectual foundation of his works.

Dante served as a cavalryman in the Battle of Campaldino, where the Florentine Guelphs defeated the Ghibellines of Arezzo. This military experience gave him firsthand knowledge of warfare that enriched his descriptions in the Comedy.

Beatrice Portinari died in June 1290, possibly in childbirth. Her death devastated Dante and plunged him into a period of grief and spiritual crisis. He later transformed his mourning into the sublime poetry of the Paradiso.

Dante completed La Vita Nuova (The New Life), a collection of poems with prose commentary celebrating his love for Beatrice. This work established him as a major poet and pioneered the dolce stil novo movement in Italian literature.

Dante enrolled in the guild of physicians and apothecaries, a requirement for political participation, and began his active involvement in Florentine government. He served on various councils and would rise to the city's highest office.

Dante was elected as one of Florence's six governing priors for a two-month term. During this period, he made the fateful decision to exile leaders of both the Black and White Guelph factions, including his friend Guido Cavalcanti.

After the Black Guelphs seized power with papal support, Dante was condemned to exile, accused of corruption and opposition to the Pope. He was sentenced to death if he ever returned, and he never saw Florence again.

Dante began writing De Vulgari Eloquentia, a treatise on vernacular language that argued for the dignity of Italian as a literary language equal to Latin. This work laid theoretical foundations for Italian literature.

Dante began composing the Divine Comedy, his masterwork depicting a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The poem would take the rest of his life to complete and become the supreme achievement of medieval literature.

Dante completed the Inferno and Purgatorio canticas of the Divine Comedy while under the patronage of Cangrande della Scala in Verona. These works circulated widely and brought him fame throughout Italy.

Dante accepted the invitation of Guido Novello da Polenta to settle in Ravenna, where he spent his final years in relative peace. Here he completed the Paradiso and worked on other writings while enjoying the patronage of the city's ruler.

Dante died on September 14, 1321, shortly after completing the Paradiso, possibly from malaria contracted on a diplomatic mission to Venice. He was buried in Ravenna, where his tomb remains, despite Florence's repeated requests for his remains.