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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
To
CA\yylS>ty}K^L^ f^(V2,
DANTE ALIGHIERI
DANTE ALIGHIERI
BY
PAGET TOYNBEE
WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS
METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C
LONDON
1902
Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged
"the grete poete of Ytaille
That highte Dant."
Chaucer, Monk''s Tale.
p^"^
PREFACE
THIS little book lays no claim to originality,
and makes no pretence to learning or
research. It is addressed rather to the so-called
general reader than to the serious Dante student.
The narrative is taken largely from the pages of
Villani, Boccaccio, and from other similar sources.
The reader will find fiction (at any rate from the
critic's point of view) as well as fact in these
pages, but he will, I hope, be at no loss to
distinguish between the two. The legends and
traditions which hang around the name of a great
personality are a not unimportant element in his
biography, and may sometimes serve to place
him as well as, if not better than, the more
sober estimates of the serious historian. I have
not, therefore, thought it outside the scope of
this sketch of Dante's life to include some of
the anecdotes which at an early date began to be
associated with his name, though certain of them
demonstrably belong to a far eai-lier period.
Again, when a thing has been well said by a
previous writer, I have been content to let him
2052138
6 PREFACE
speak, instead of saying the same thing less well
in my own words.
The translations for the most part are my own.
I have, however, been indebted for an occasional
turn or phrase to Selfe and Wicksteed's Selections
from Villani, and to the latter's versions of the
Early Lives of Dante.
The illustrations are reproduced, by permission,
from photographs by Messrs. Alinari and Messrs.
Brogi of Florence.
iWizy 1900
In this second edition a few slips and misprints
have been corrected, and a few omissions
have been rectified. As regards these I am glad
to acknowledge my indebtedness to various
friendly readers and reviewers, and especially to
the writer of an interesting and instructive notice
which appeared in the Pilot, at the beginning of
the present year.
In deference to suggestions from several quarters
I have now supplied an Index, together with an
Appendix, containing a bibliographical note of
the early biographies and biographical notices of
Dante, which it is hoped will add to the interest
and usefulness of the book.
Paget Toynbee
August 1901
CONTENTS
PART I
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
Chapter I. (1215-1250)
PAGE
Origin of the names — Distinguishing principles of the
two parties in Italy — Introduction of the parties
into Florence — The Ghibellines with the aid of
Frederick n. expel the Guelfs from Florence —
Return of the Guelfs after the Emperor's death,
and pacification between the two parties . . 13
Chapter II. (1251-1260)
Renewed hostilities — Adoption of distinctive banners
by the two parties in Florence — The Ghibellines
intrigue with Manfred and are forced to leave
Florence — They retire to Siena and persuade
Manfred to send them help — Great Ghibelline
victory at Montaperti . ... 30
Chapter III. (i 261-1267)
Flight of the Guelfs from Florence — Farinata degli
Uberti saves Florence from destruction — The
Ghibellines supreme in Tuscany — Defeat of
7
8 CONTENTS
PAGB
Manfred at Benevento by Charles of Anjou-
Flight of Guido Novello and the Ghibelline allies
from Florence — Guy de Montfort arrives in
Florence as Charles' vicar — Guelf supremacy
finally re-established ...... 46
PART II
DANTE IN FLORENCE
Chapter I. (i 265-1 290)
Dante's birth and ancestry — His father and mother —
Cacciaguida — Geri del Bello — Beatrice Portinari
— Episodes in the Vita Nuova — Folco Portinari —
Death of Beatrice ...... 59
Chapter II. (1289-1290)
Military service — War with Arezzo — Battle of
Campaldino — Victory of Florentine Guelfs —
Buonconte da Montefeltro — Siege of Caprona —
" Quomodo sedet sola civitas I " . . -73
Chapter III. (1291-1300)
Early studies — Brunetto Latino — Classical acquire-
ments — Marriage — Gemma Donati — Children —
Public life — Embassy to San Gemignano —
Priorate ........ 88
Chapter IV. (1300-1302)
Blacks and Whites in Pistoja — In Florence — Cerchi
and Donati — May Day 1300 — Dante in office — •
CONTENTS
PAGE
Embassy to Rome— Charles of Valois in Florence
Triumph of the Blacks — Condemnation and
exile of Dante ,.....• loi
PART III
DANTE IN EXILE
Chapter T. (1302-1321)
Wanderings — Dante's fellow-exiles — Henry vn. in
Italy — His death — Fresh sentence against Dante
— His retirement to Ravenna — Death and burial . 115
Chapter II
Boccaccio's rebuke to the Florentines — Efforts of
Florence to get possession of Dante's remains —
Leo X. grants permission for their removal —
Disappearance of the remains — Their accidental
discovery during the commemoration of the sixth
centenary of Dante's birth — Public exhibition of
them at Ravenna, and subsequent re-interment . 133
PART IV
CHARACTERISTICS OF DANTE
Chapter I
Boccaccio's account of Dante's person and character —
His love of fame — His failings — Account of him
by his contemporary, Giovanni Villani , . 147
lo CONTENTS
Chapter II
PAGE
Portraits of Dante — The Giotto portrait in the
Bargello — Norton's account of the Bargelio
portrait — Its disappearance and rediscovery —
The death mask — Its relation to the portrait —
The Naples bronze — ^The Riccardi portrait — The
picture by Domenico di Michelino . . . 158
Chapter III
Anecdotes of Dante — Dante and Can Grande della
Scala — Belacqua and Dante — Sacchetti's stories —
Dante and the blacksmith — Dante and the donkey-
driver — Dante's creed — Dante and King Robert of
Naples — Dante's reply to the bore — Dante and the
Doge of Venice . , . . , .176
PART V
DANTE'S WORKS
Chapter I
Italian works — Lyrical Poems — The F'ita Nuova — The
Con-vivio . ...... 193
Chapter II
The Di-vina Commcdia — Its origin, subject, and aim —
Date of composition — Boccaccio's story of the lost
cantos — Why it was written in Italian — Dante and
his rimes — Manuscripts and printed editions . 202
Chapter III
Latin Works — The De Monarchia- — The De Vulgari
Eloquentia — The Letters - The Eclogues — The
Quaestio de Aqua et Terra . . .220
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. Bronze bust of Dante at Naples . Frontispiece
2. Florence and the Arno ... to face p. 13
3. The city of Florence .... to face p. 28
4. Farinata degli Uberti (^staiui by Pazzi in the
Portico of the Uffi-zi at Florence) . to face p. 48
5. Dante's house in Florence ... to face p. 60
6. San Gemignano to face p. 99
7. Cast of Dante's face taken after death to face p. 115
8. Dante's tomb at Ravenna ... to face p. 132
9. Chest in which Dante's remains were found at
Ravenna in 1865 . . . to face p. 142
10. Portrait of Dante by Giotto in the Bar-
gello at Florence {from a draiving by Seymour
Kirkup) to face p. 159
11. Mask of Dante in the Uffizi at Florence
{formerly in the possession oj the Marchesa
Torrigiani') ..... to face p. 1 68
12. Dante and his book (from the picture by Domenico
di Michelino, in the Duomo at Florence . to face p. 193
n
PART I
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
CHAPTER I
1215-1250
Origin of the names — Distinguishing principles of the two
parties in Italy — Introduction of the parties into Florence
The Ghibellines with the aid of Frederick n. expel
the Guelfs from Florence — Return of the Guelfs after
the Emperor's death, and pacification between the two
parties.
NORTHERN ITALY in the middle of the
thirteenth century, at the time of Dante's
birth,^ was divided into two great political parties,
of which the one, known by the name of Guelfs,
looked to the Pope as their head, while the others,
the Ghibellines, looked to the Emperor. The
distinctive titles of these two parties were of
German origin, being merely Italianised forms
1 May 1265.
13
14 GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
(Guelfo and Ghibellino) of the two German names
Welf and Weiblingen. The former of these was
the name of an illustrious family, several members
of which had successively been Dukes of Bavaria
in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The heiress
of the last of these intermarried with a younger
son of the house of Este ; and from them sprang
a second line of Guelfs, from whom the royal
house of Brunswick is descended.
Weiblingen was the name of a castle in Fran-
conia, belonging to Conrad the Salic, who was
Emperor from 1024 to 1039, and was the pro-
genitor, through the female line, of the Swabian
emperors. By the election of Lothair in 1125 in
succession to Henry v. (Emperor from 1106 to
1125) the Swabian family were ousted from what
they had come to regard almost as an hereditary
possession ; and at this time a hostility appears to
have commenced between them and the house of
Welf, who were nearly related to Lothair. In 1 07 1
the Emperor Henry iv. had conferred the Duchy
of Bavaria upon the Welfs ; and in 1080 the
Duchy of Swabia had been conferred upon the
Counts of Hohenstaufen, who represented the
Franconian line.
The accession in 1138 of Conrad in. of Swabia
to the Imperial throne, and the rebellion of Henry
the Proud, the Welf Duke of Bavaria, gave rise to
a bloody struggle between the two houses ; and at
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 15
the battle of Weinsberg, fought on December 21,
1140, in which the Welf Duke was defeated by
Conrad, the names Jf^elf and Weihlingen were for
the first time, it is said, adopted as war-cries.
These names, which in Germany, as we have
seen, distinguished the two sides in the conflict
between the Welfs and the Imperial Swabian or
Hohenstaufen line, in Italy acquired a different
meaning, and became identified respectively with
the supporters of the Church and the suppoi-ters
of the Empire. Their first appearance in Italy
seems to have been quite at the beginning of the
thirteenth century, when they were adopted by
the two leading parties which divided the towns
of Lombardy during the struggle for the Imperial
throne between Philip, Duke of Swabia (brother
of the Emperor Henry vi.), and the Welf Otto
of Brunswick, many important Italian towns sym-
pathising with the latter, who after his rival's
death in 1208 became Emperor as Otto iv.
The division between the opposing factions
rapidly deepened, till not only rival towns, but
also the leading families within the to\vns them-
selves, became involved in party strife, the citizens
ranging themselves, ostensibly at least, under the
chiefs on either side.
The main outlines of the principles which
actuated the two parties in Italy, during the
period covered by this book, have been ably
i6 GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
sketched by the late Dean Church. " The names
of Guelf and GhibelHne/' he writes, "were the
inheritance of a contest which, in its original
meaning, had been long over. The old struggle
between the priesthood and the Empire was still
kept up traditionally, but its ideas and interests
were changed. It had passed over from the
mixed region of the spiritual and temporal into
the purely political. The cause of the Popes
was that of the independence of Italy — the
freedom and alliance of the great cities of the
north, and the dependence of the centre and
south on the Roman See. To keep the Emperor
out of Italy, to create a barrier of powerful cities
against him south of the Alps, to form behind
themselves a compact territoiy, rich, removed
from the first burst of invasion, and maintainino-
a strong body of interested feudatories, had now
become the great object of the Popes. The two
parties did not care to keep in view principles
which their chiefs had lost sight of The
Emperor and the Pope were both real powers,
able to protect and assist ; and they divided
between them those who required protection and
assistance. Geographical position, the rivalry of
neighbourhood, family tradition, private feuds,
and above all private interest, were the main
causes which assigned cities, families, and indi-
viduals to the Ghibelline or Guelf party. One
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 17
party called themselves the Emperor's liegemen,
and their watchword was authority and law ; the
other side were the liegemen of Holy Church, and
their cry was liberty ; and the distinction as a
broad one is true. But a democracy would be-
come Ghibelline, without scruple, if its neighbour
town was Guelf ; and among the Guelf liegemen
of the Church and liberty the pride of blood and
love of power were not a whit inferior to that of
their opponents.
" The Ghibellines as a body reflected the world-
liness, the licence, the irreligion, the reckless
selfishness, the daring insolence, and at the same
time the gaiety and pomp, the princely magnifi-
cence and generosity and largeness of mind of
the house of Swabia ; they were the men of the
court and camp, imperious and haughty from
ancient lineage, or the Imperial cause, yet not
wanting in the frankness and courtesy of nobility ;
careless of public opinion and public rights, but
not dead to the grandeur of public objects and
public services. The Guelfs, on the other hand,
were the party of the middle classes ; they rose
out of and held to the people ; they were strong
by their compactness, their organisation in cities,
their commercial relations and interests, their
command of money. Further, they were pro-
fessedly the party of strictness and religion, a
profession w^hich fettered them as little as their
2
i8 GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
opponents were fettered by the respect they
claimed for Imperial law. But though by personal
unscrupulousness and selfishness, and in instances
of public vengeance, they sinned as deeply as
the Ghibellines, they stood far more committed
as a party to a public meaning and purpose — to
improvement in law and the condition of the poor,
to a protest against the insolence of the sti'ong,
to the encouragement of industry. The genuine
Guelf spirit was austere, frugal, independent,
earnest, religious, fond of its home and Church,
and of those celebrations which bound together
Church and home ; but withal very proud, very
intolerant ; in its higher form intolerant of evil,
but intolerant always to whatever displeased it." ^
" Speaking generally," as another writer ^ puts
it, "the Ghibellines were the party of the Emperor,
and the Guelfs the party of the Pope : the
Ghibellines were on the side of authority, or
sometimes of oppression ; the Guelfs were on the
side of liberty and self-government. Again, the
Ghibellines were the supporters of an universal
Empire, of which Italy was to be the head ; the
Guelfs were on the side of national life and
national individuality."
The introduction of the Guelf and Ghibelline
factions into Florence is said by the old Florentine
1 Dante : An Essay. By R. W. Church.
- O. Browning, in Guelfs and Ghibellines.
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 19
chroniclei's to have taken place in the year 1215,
on the occasion of a blood-feud which arose out
of the murder of one of the Buondelmonti by one
of the Amideij both of them noble Florentine
families, on Easter Sunday in that year. The
story of this murder, and of the incident which
led to it, is related as follows by Giovanni Villani
in his New Chronicle of the City of Florc7ice, which
he began to write in 1300, the year of the first
Jubilee of the Roman Church.
" In the year of Christ 1215," he says, " Messer
Gherardo Orlandi being Fodesta of Florence,^ one
Messer Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti, a noble
citizen of Florence, having promised to take to
wife a damsel of the house of the Amidei, honour-
able and noble citizens ; as the said M. Buondel-
monte, who was a very handsome and fine cavalier,
was riding through the city, a lady of the house
of the Donati called to him, and found fault with
him on account of the lady to whom he had
betrothed himself, as being neither fair enough
nor a fitting match for him, and saying : I had
kept my daughter here for you — whom she
showed to him, and she was very beautiful. And
1 The Podesta was the chief magistrate of the city, who
was appointed for one year. With a view to securing
impartiality in the administration of justice the office of
Podesta was always held by a stranger — never by a native
of Florence.
20 GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
lie straightway^ at the prompting of the Evil One,
becoming enamoured of her, was betrothed to
her and took her to wife ; for which cause the
kinsfolk of the lady to whom he was fii'st be-
trothed, being assembled together and smarting
under the shame which M. Buondelmonte had
put upon them, were filled with the accursed
rage, whereby the city of Florence was laid waste
and divided against herself ; for many families
of the nobles swore together to put shame on the
said M. Buondelmonte in revenge for these
wrongs. And as they were in council among
themselves as to how they should retaliate on
him, either by beating him or by stabbing him,
Mosca de' Lamberti spoke the evil word : A
thing done has an end — that is, that he should
be slain. And so it was done ; for on the morning
of Easter Day they assembled in the house of
the Amidei of Santo Stefano, and M. Buondel-
monte coming from beyond Arno, bravely arrayed
in new garments all white, and on a white palfi-ey,
when he reached the foot of the Fonte Vecchio
on this side, just at the foot of the pillar where
stood the statue of Mars, the said M. Buondel-
monte was thrown froin his horse on to the gi'ound
by Schiatta degli Uberti, and set on and stabbed
by Mosca Lamberti and Lambertuccio degli
Amidei, and his throat cut by Odei'igo Fifanti,
and an end made of him ; and with them was
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 21
one of the Counts of Gangalandi. On these
doings the city rushed to arms in tumult ; and
this death of M. Buondehnonte was the cause and
beffinninfj of the accursed Guelf and GhibelHne
parties in Florence, albeit that before this time
there had been many factions among the nobles
of the city, and parties as aforesaid, by reason
of the quarrels and disputes between the Church
and the Empire ; but on account of the death of
the said M. Buondelmonte all the families of the
nobles and other citizens of Florence took sides,
and some held with the Buondelmonti, who joined
the Guelf party and became its leaders, and
some with the Uberti, who became the leaders
of the Ghibellines. And from this followed
great evil and ruin to our city, which is like
never to have an end, unless God bring it to an
end." ^
Villani then proceeds to give a list of the noble
families in Florence who joined either side, the
Guelfs, as he has already explained, under the
leadership of the Buondelmonti, and the Ghibel-
lines under that of the Uberti. " And this," he
repeats, " is how these accursed parties took their
origin in Florence, albeit at first not very openly,
there being division among the nobles of the
city, in that some loved the rule of the Church,
and some that of the Empire, nevertheless as
1 Villani, bk. v. ch. 38.
22 GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
to the good estate and well-being of the common-
wealth all Avere at one."
The conflict between the Guelfs and Ghibellines
in Florence^ thus commenced by the murder of
Buondelmonte, continued, with varying fortune
to either side, for a period of fifty-two years,
from 1215 to 1267, when the Guelf party finally
remained masters of the situation. In 12-18 the
Emperor Frederick ii., wishing to retaliate upon
the Papacy for the unjust sentence of deposition
pronounced against him by Innocent iv. three
years before at the Council of Lyons, and anxious
to weaken the Church party, made offers to the
Uberti, the leaders of the Florentine Ghibellines,
to lielp them to expel from their city his enemies
and their own. His offer being accepted, he
despatched a force of German horsemen under
his son, Frederich of Antioch, by whose aid, after
a fierce struggle, the Guelfs were driven out.
Villani gives a vivid account of the street-fighting
which took place on this occasion. Being a Guelf,
lie naturally has no sympathy with Frederick and
his allies. " In these times," he writes, " Frederick
being in Lombardy, after his deposition from the
title of Emperor by Pope Innocent, set himself,
so far as he was able, to destroy in Tuscany and
Lombardy the faithful sons of Holy Church in
every city where he had power. And inasmuch
as our city of Florence was not among the least
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 2
J
notable and powerful of Italy, he desired to pour
out his venom upon her, and to breed further
strife between the accursed parties of the Guelfs
and Ghibellines, which had begun some time
before through the murder of Buondelmonte, and
even earlier, as we have already related. But
although since then the said parties had continued
among the nobles of Florence, and they had at
sundry times been at war among themselves on
account of their private enmities, and were divided
by reason of the said parties and held to their
several sides, those who were called Guelfs pre-
ferring the government of the Pope and Holy
Church, and those who were called Ghibellines
favouring the Emperor and his following, never-
theless the people and commonwealth of Florence
were steadfast in unity, to the well-being and
honour and good estate of the republic.
" But now the Emperor sending letters and am-
bassadors to the family of the Uberti, who were the
heads of his party, and to their following who called
themselves Ghibellines, invited them to drive from
the city their enemies the Guelfs, offering some of
his horsemen to help them. And thus he caused
the Uberti to begin dissension and civil warfare in
Florence, whei*eby the city fell into great disorder,
and the nobles and all the people were divided,
some holding to one side and some to the other ;
and in several quarters of the city there was
24 GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES
fighting for a long time. The chief of it Avas
among the houses of the Uberti, where the great
palace of the people now stands ; there they
gathered with their followers and fought against
the Guelfs of San Piero Scheraggio ; and the
Guelfs from beyond Arno crossed over by the
river dams and came and helped to fight the
Uberti. The next place was in Porte San Piero,
where the Tedaldini were the chief Ghibellines,
as having the strongest buildings, palaces, and
towers ; and they and their allies fought against
the Donati, the Adimari, and others. And the
third fight took place in Porte del Duomo, by
the tower of Messer Lancia de' Cattani of Cas-
tifflione, with the Brunelleschi and other Ghibel-
line leaders, and many of the populace on the
same side, against the Tosinghi and others. And
another was in San Brancazio, where the Lamberti
were the Ghibelline leaders, with many of the
people on their side, against the Guelfs of that
quarter. And the Ghibellines in San Brancazio
made their stand at the tower of the Soldanieri,
where a bolt from the tower struck the Guelf
standard-bearer (their standard being a crimson
lily on a white field) in the face, so that he died.
And on the day the Guelfs were driven out they
came in arms and buried him in San Lorenzo ;
and when they were gone the canons of San
Lorenzo removed the body, for fear the Ghibellines
GUELFS AND GHIBELLINES 25
should dig it up and do it violence, inasmuch as
this M. Rustico Marignolli was a great captain
among the Guelfs. And the Ghibellines made
another attack in the Borgo, where the Soldanieri
and Guidi were their leaders, against the Buondel-
monti, Cavalcanti, and others. And there was
fighting between the two sides beyond Arno as
well, but here it was chiefly among the populace.
" So it came about that this warfare went on
for some time, as they fought at the barriers or
barricades, from one quarter to another, and from
one tower to another (for there wei*e many
towers in Florence in those days, a hundred
cubits and more in height), and they used
mangonels and other engines of war, and kept
up the fighting day and night. In the midst of