The Italian poet, Dante Alighieri,
was born in May or June of 1265. Dante was born in Florence, Italy, and
lived there for the majority of his life. He was born into a poor but noble
family. In 1285 Dante married Gemma di Manetto Donati. Together they had
three or four children.
Dante is considered to be a
Stilnovo poet, and had many friends that attended Stilnovo Poetical School.
It is uncertain where Dante attended school, but throughout his life he
began to study theology and philosophy in depth. Dante decided to join
the medical corporation in 1295. Then in 1300 Dante became a priore, which
is a type of governor. In this position he made a lot of hard political
decisions. He was opposed to Pope Bonifacio VIII expansion policy, and
so Dante took a stand against the pontiff’s temporal interference. The
blacks supported the expansion policy, and the blacks were supported by
Carlos di Vaois. The blacks won against the whites as a result.
Dante was in a lot of trouble
now, and was accused of fraud. He was ordered to pay a fine, and was sentenced
to death. Because of this, he never returned to Florence. Dante stayed
in Verona until 1303. In 1313 Dante moved to Lunigiana, then to Poppi,
and again moved to Lucca. Between 1313 and 1314 he wrote on of his most
famous works, The Divine Comedy (see review). In 1313 he returned to Verona
until 1319. After that he moved to Ravenna where he died in 1321.