Date- 2013-08-06
Dante, or Durante deli Alighieri, was born in Florence, Italy,
circa 1265. His family was connected with the Guelph political
alliance, supporters of the Papacy. His mother died before Dante's
tenth birthday. Dante himself was betrothed to Gemma di Manetto
Donati when he was aged only 12. The pair went on to marry, but
Dante's true love was for Beatrice Portinari, who would inspire
much of his poetry. Dante and Gemma had several children.
Dante was a member of Florence's Apothecaries' Guild, though he did
not practice as a pharmacist. Allied to the White Guelphs, with
whom he fought against the vanquishing Black Guelphs, he was
eventually condemned to perpetual exile from Florence. He went
first to Verona and then to Liguria. There is speculation that he
travelled more widely, including to Paris and Oxford, although this
has not been verified.
During his time of exile Dante conceived and wrote the three poems
which form The Divine Comedy. He died in 1321, aged 56, of
suspected malaria. He was buried in Ravenna, Italy, where a tomb
was later erected in his name.
Stephen Wyatt is a playwright and dramatist with extensive
experience in stage, radio and television.
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and belonged to a
noble but impoverished family. He followed a normal course of
studies, possibly attending university in Bologna, and when he was
about twenty he married Gemma Donati, by whom he had several
children. He had first met Bice Portinati, whom he called Beatrice,
in 1274, and when she died in 1290, he sought distraction by
studying philosophy and theology and by writing La Vita Nuova.
During this time he became involved in the strife between the
Guelfs and the Ghibellines; he became a prominent White Guelf, and
when the Black Guelfs came to power in 1302, Dante, during an
absence from Florence, was condemned to exile. He took refuge first
in Verona, and after wandering from place to place - as far as
Paris and even, some have said, to Oxford - he settled in Ravenna.
While there he completed The Divine Comedy, which he began in about
1308. Dante died in Ravenna in 1321.
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