The Life and Times of Dante

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Historical events introduced by Dante in his poem.?Episode of Francesca of Rimini.?Account of it given by Boccaccio.?Historical facts on the subject.?The subject as treated by Dante.? Dante forms part of the body of the Grandi.?The laws of Giano della Bella.?His banishment.?State of Florence.?Macchiavelli. ? Political position of Dante.?His matriculation in one of the Arts.?His importance in the republic.?His various embassies.? The Taglia (Juelfa.?Civil dissensions at Pistoia.?The Bianchi and the Neri.?Their origin at Pistoia.?They appeal to Florence and form the factions of the Whites and Blacks in the republic.? Intervention of Boniface VIII.?Conduct of the Florentine government.?Sanguinary struggles in Florence.?Dante elected Prior.?Difficulties of his position.?His conduct and energetic measures.?The Jubilee of 1300.?Approach of Charles Valois.?Dante's mission to Rome.?Arrival of the French prince at Florence.?Its consequences.? His treachery.?Massacre and expulsion of the Whites.?Dante's house plundered and burnt.?His wife Gemma.?Decrees of accusation against Dante.?Feigned conspiracy against Charles de Valois.?His extortions and cruelty.?Dante is ruined and exiled. We must pause at the year of Dante's marriage, 1292, and, previous to our following him in his political career, we must cast a retrospective glance on another historical episode, respecting which the popular imagination of the time indulged in the most fanciful additions and embellishments, in accordance with the taste of the age. We have seen that in 1288, the horrible death of Count Ugolino, was a subject of awful interest in the whole of Italy. A few months later, Dante, at the battle of Campaldino, may have seen struck down, Buon Conte di Montefeltro, the general of the army of Arezzo -whos..