Dante Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri, better known as Dante Alighieri or simply Dante, (May 14/June 13, 1265 – September 13/14, 1321) was an Italian poet from Florence. His central work, the Commedia (The Divine Comedy), is considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. In Italian he's known as "the Supreme Poet" (il Sommo Poeta).

Dante Alighieri was born in 1265, between May 14 and June 13. As an infant, Dante was originally christened 'Durante' in Florence's Baptistery, and the name Dante could be a shortened version of that name.

He was born into the prominent Alighieri family of Florence, with loyalties to the Guelphs, a political alliance that supported the Papacy, involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines, who were backed by the Holy Roman Emperor.

These factions fashioned their names after those of opposing factions of German Imperial politics, centered around the noble families the Welfs (Guelfs or Guelphs) and Waiblingen (Ghibellines), but adapting their meaning to the Italian political arena. After the defeat of the Ghibellines by the Guelphs in 1289, the Guelphs themselves were divided into White Guelphs, who were wary of Papal influence, and Black Guelphs who continued to support the Papacy. Dante (a White Guelph) pretended that his family descended from the ancient Romans (Inferno, XV, 76), but the earliest relative he can mention by name is Cacciaguida degli Elisei (Paradiso, XV, 135), of no earlier than about 1100.

He fought in the front rank of the Guelph cavalry at the battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289). This victory brought forth a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in public life, one had to be enrolled in one of “the arts”. So Dante entered the guild of physicians and apothecaries. In following years, his name is frequently found recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic.

Dante's father, Alighiero de Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti. This suggests that Alighiero or his family enjoyed some protective prestige and status.

The poet's mother was Bella degli Abati. She died when Dante was 7 years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. (It is uncertain whether he really married her, as widowers had social limitations in these matters.) This woman definitely bore two children, Dante's brother Francesco and sister Tana (Gaetana).

When Dante was 12, in 1277, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Messer Manetto Donati. Contracting marriages at this early age was quite common, and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. Dante had already fallen in love with another girl whom he called Beatrice. Years after Dante's marriage to Gemma he met Beatrice again. He had become interested in writing verse, and although he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice, he never mentioned his wife Gemma in any of his poems.

Dante had several children with Gemma. As often happens with significant figures, many people subsequently claimed to be Dante's offspring; however, it is likely that Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni, Gabrielle Alighieri, and Antonia were truly his children. Antonia became a nun with the name of Sister Beatrice.