Dante Alighieri

When Dante was just twelve years old, he was betrothed to Gemma di Manetto Donati, the daughter of Manetto Donati of the powerful Donati family. They got married around in 1285 and had three children; Pietro, Jacopo and Antonia.

Although he married Gemma, the love of his life was Beatrice Portinari. She is believed to be the daughter of well-known banker, Folco Portinari, and the wife of another banker, Simone dei Bardi.

Dante first saw her when he was nine years old and immediately fell in love with her. Thereafter, he met her only once. Yet, she is believed to be the chief inspiration behind his first major work, ‘Vita Nuava’ as well as the character of ‘Beatrice’ in ‘Divine Comedy’.

Dante was born in the middle of the thirteenth century in the City of Florence into a noble family of ancient lineage. Deducing from autobiographical sketches and clues he had provided in the ‘Divine Comedy’, historians believe his year of birth to be 1265.

In the ‘Divine Comedy’, we find that on Good Friday of 1300, “Midway upon the journey of our life", the narrator is lost in a dark wood. Since the Biblical lifespan is seventy years, it has been deduced that he was then thirty-five, making his year of birth 1265.

Some verses in the ‘Divine Comedy’ also suggest that he was born under the sign of Gemini. Looking back into the Julian Calendars, we find that, the sun was in Gemini sometime between May 11 and June 11, 1265. Therefore, it has been deduced he was born around that time.

Dante’s father, Alighiero di Bellincione, was a money lender. Politically, he was a Guleph, whose members supported the Pope. Gulephs were in power till they were routed in 1260 in the Battle of Montapertri by the Ghibellines, the supporters the Holy Roman Emperor.

The fact Alighiero di Bellincione survived the massacre to start a family goes on to show that he enjoyed certain privileges. It is also believed that the incident left the family poorer.

Dante’s father died in early 1280s. Soon after that, Florentine statesman and poet, Brunettoo Latini, took up Dante’s guardianship. Although many biographers believe that Latini was Dante’s teacher, as Secretary to the Council of the Florentine Republic, he was far too an important and busy man to be a teacher.

It is however certain that Dante and Latini shared an intellectual-cum-affectionate bond. It is possible that the elder statesman provided a general direction to the budding poet and Dante in his gratitude had mentioned him as his teacher. This was also the time when he started penning his own poems.

One of his most important works of this early period was ‘La Vita Nuova’ (the New Life), which he started writing in around 1283. Written in Italian rather than Latin, the book took 12 years to complete and was published in 1295.

Also around 1283, Dante’s interest in poetry led him to meet many Florentine poets, such as Lapo Gianni and Guido Cavalcanti. Eventually they formed a new movement called ‘Doice stil novo’ (in Tuscan ‘stilnovisti’), of which Latini was also a member. Gradually, a close friendship developed between Dante and Guido.

Both Dante and Guido were interested in the effects of love on human mind, especially from the philosophical point of view. But already in love with Beatrice Portinari, Dante started developing a notion that love could lead to spiritual perfection while Guido’s interest was confined to natural philosophy.

Although he was immersed in his literally pursuit, Dante was not indifferent to the current political condition. In June 1289, as the Battle og Campaldino broke out, Dante joined the fight, siding with the Gulephs. Subsequently, on winning the battle, the Gulephs formed the government.

In 1290, Beatrice Portinari, whom he loved whole-heartedly, died, leaving Dante heartbroken. At the advice of Latini, he now began to study Cicero and Ovid. Sometime now, he also became acquainted with the Thomistic doctrine of mysticism, studying the subject at Dominican school at Santa Maria Novella.

In spite of the grief and increasing interest in poetry and philosophy, Dante remained active in political sphere. In 1294, he waschosen as one of the escorts of Charles Martel of Anjou, whose grandfather was Charles I of Naples.

In 1295, the Gulephs, who came from wealthy mercantile class, enacted a new law, requiring public servants to belong to any commercial or artisan guild. Dante now entered the Apothecaries' Guild and in the same year, he was elected to the City Council, thereafter holding various offices over next few years.

Florence was then rife with political unrest. The Gulephs were divided into two factions; Whites, who were in power and wanted to be free of Papal interference and Blacks, who supported the Pope. Dante, a White, now spent considerable time, trying to bring together the two rival factions.