Early Italian Renaissance Textual Sources and Context

What are some of Dante’s motivations for writing the Divine Comedy?

• Personal Reasons-

  • Dante has been exiled from Florence by the Black Guelfs due to his association with the White Guelf faction.

  • His life in exile plays a significant role in the writing of Inferno, as his political allegiances influence his depiction and placements of sinners in hell. As he was unable to get revenge in his life, the Commedia may have acted as a form of Catharsis for the poet.

  • The lessons that inform the poet in his journey often deal with fate, punishment and consequence.

  • His

• Spiritual Reasons-

  • ‘Therefore, on behalf of the world that lives evilly, keep your eyes now on the chariot, and once you have returned over there be sure that you write what you see’ Purgatorio 32.103-5

• Educational Purposes-

Who were the Guelfs and Ghibellines?

Two opposing factions in Italian politics. The Guelfs were sympathetic to the papacy, whilst the Ghibellines were sympathetic to the German emperors. The divisions between these groups caused strife within cities of Northern Italy during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Divisions between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Holy Roman Church. The pope only supported an emperor insofar as he furthered the interests of the Church. By the thirteenth century, the goal of the papacy became to support the independence of the powerful city-states of northern Italy as a buffer against imperial invasion by land, while maintaining a grip on its feudal territories in the south.

What was Dante’s relationship to Guelf and Ghibelline divisions?

Dante was a member of the Guelf faction (wanting the pope to have more power than the emperor), however this faction was divided. The white Guelfs wanted to limit the pope’s power, whilst the Black Guelfs didn’t. Dante was a White Guelf, and when the Black Guelfs took over Florence, he was exiled.

What are the key ideas of Dante’s De Monarchia?

• Three part treatise (1290s-1321)

• Written in Latin as it would reach a wider audience, rather in the vernacular that would only reach those in Italy

• About the relationship between papal and secular (HRE). His position is that both are human, and derive their power directly from God- they should not have power over one another.

• The pope and emperor are two equal swords that should respect one another’s domain and not encroach onto the other.

• We need universal peace to reach our highest intellectual potential - very rarely can two equals share power without clashing.

• We need a single empire and monarch to live up to this. Justice is most effective when the monarch is just, and the worst enemy of justice is greed. A divine ruler would not be greedy (greed is only seen in rulers of individual cities and nations)

• Because of this justice and great love, humanity is most free. He supports local rulers as each nation is different, but the monarch should govern all manners general.

• His Roman ancestors were the noblest people on earth, believes the pope has authority to rule the church, he also believes that he should stay in his lane and not meddle in secular governance- Separation of Church and State

• 1329- Monarchia burnt at the stake as heretical- by French Cardinal 

What was Dante’s relationship to the papacy?

• De Monarchia- the papacy should not overstep into the role of emperor, the spheres of spiritual and political influence should be equal but separate

  • Chapter XIII- Imperial authority derives immediately from the summit of all being, which is God

• Whilst he was a Guelf by family association (believing in more papal control), he fell on the side of the White Guelfs, believing the pope should not have total papal control

• His association with this faction was ultimately what resulted in his exile from Florence.

• Strong Allegiance to Henry VIII

  • Greyhound in Canto 1 of Inferno

  • Following his exile, Henry (HRE) signalled a hope for Dante’s return to his home city until his death in 1313

• Pope Boniface VIII

  • In the 8th circle of Hell (fraud), Dante discovers Pope Nicholas III suspended upside down. He assures that Boniface will follow

  • Dante had led a mission in 1302 to Rome that ultimately led to Black Guelf power in Florence and his banishment at the hands of the Pope

  • ‘The Chord which used to make those who wore it thinner’ - Dvine Comedy

  • Dante’s distrust of the Pope and his observation of the Church’s descent towards poor morals and subsequently, a poor society. T

What does Lino Pertile argue about the Divine Comedy?

Who are the key political figures that appear in Inferno?

• Filipo Argenti (Canto VIII, wrath)- Former political rival of Dante’s (black guelf)

  • The poet revels as the soul is torn apart by those in the river Styx

• Members of the Church appear in the fourth circle (greed) who have become wealthy through church donations

• Farintata (Circle VI, Heresy)- Florentine leader of the Ghibellines, in the same tomb with the father of Dante’s best friend

• Brunetto Latini- (Circle VII)- Dante’s beloved teacher, punished for sodomy

• Regianaldo degli Scrovegni- Circle VII- punished for urusry by wearing a heavy purse with the family crest decorating his neck.

Who wrote the Defensor Pacis?

Marsilius of Padua

What did the Defensor Pacis argue?

• First offers detailed analysis of and explanation of human political communities, before going on to attack what he sees as the obstacles to peaceful human coexistence

• Attacks the contemporary papacy- rejects the papal doctrine of plenitude of power (claim that all temporal rulers should be subject to papal authority)

  • Marsilius describes this erroneous and condemnable view as a “singular cause of strife” which leads to division and factionalism in every political community and must therefore be rejected.

• The work is divided into three discourses. each based on the type of knowledge that will be used to support his main arguments

1- argues against the plenitude of power based on ‘sure methods discovered by human rationality’ (arguments grounded in human reason)

2- he will ‘corroborate what I shall take myself to have demonstrated with testimonies of truth founded upon eternity, and also with authoritative passages of the saints and other approved doctors of the Christian faith, so that this book should stand by itself’ (draws upon the language of revalation)

3-summarises the arguments presented in prev two sections, drawing a number of conclusions or lessons of the utmost utility to all citizens- ‘those in the position of prince as much as those who are subject’

What are the differences between de Monarchia and the Defensor Pacis?

• While Dante argues that the authority of the temporal monarch derives straight from God, Marsilius discusses the primary source of all law and authority as the people.

  • Dante - ‘Imperial authority derives immediately from the summit of all being, which is God’

  • Marsilius- source of law is to be found, not in any divine right of rulers, not in any superior wisdom of any class of society, but in the whole body of citizens.

• Dante sees the Church and State as two separate but equal powers, whilst Marsilius argues that the Church should be subordinate to the civil authority

  • Dante- ‘two suns that illuminate different roads’

  • Marsilius- asserts the role of the clergy is strictly that of "doctors" or experts in divine law who can teach and warn but cannot enforce their judgments

• Dante respects the traditional office of the papacy, just not specific popes that overstep, whilst Marsilius argues that the supreme authority of the church should rest with a general council of clergy and laymen

Who was Marsilius of Padua?

Born 1270s-1280 in Padua, to a family of some prominence. He was later recorded as a rector for the University of Paris. He was involved in the politics of the pro-imperial party in northern Italy: in 1319 he served as an emissary of the signori of Verona and Milan respectively, to offer the French count Charles de la Marche (the future Charles IV) the captaincy of the Ghibelline league.

The Italian ambitions of the German emperors constitute critical background to Marsilius’s life and works. In 1326 he left Paris for Nuremberg. The bull Licet iuxta doctrinam of 1327, pope John XXII condemned the authors of the Defensor pacis for heresy. In the same year he accompanied Ludwig of Bavaria on his Italian expedition, which took him to Rome in 1328. Here Ludwig was crowned emperor and Marsilius reportedly acted as his vicar in spiritual matters. But he withdrew north of the Alps together with Ludwig in 1329, and lived for the remainder of his life as an adviser at the imperial court in Munich.

THE DARK FOREST

• Dante is lost both physically and spiritually

• Glimpses a mountain but his path is blocked by a spotted leopard, mountain lion and she-wolf

• Encounters the poet Virgil- been sent to Dante by Beatrice (his long departed beloved, worried about his soul) to guide him through to paradise

• Virgil guides Dante through the forest

• HELL’S GATES

  Inscribed ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’

  CROSS THE RIVER ACHYRON

CIRCLE ONE

LIMBO

• Quiet meadow shrouded in eternal twilight- peaceful but sad

• Home of the virtuous pagans- virtuous people living before Jesus

• Meets figures from antiquity- Plato, Aristotle, Caesar etc 

CIRCLE TWO

LUST

• Souls of the adulterous, forever buffeted by strong winds

• Just as they were carried away by lust in their lives, they are now forever carried away by winds 

• Dante meets a woman named Francesca, relenting her doomed love affair with her husband’s brother - the lovers are forever untied, but trapped in the hurricane of the second circle

• Dante faints out of pity

CIRCLE THREE

GLUTTONY

• Domain of those who over-indulged. 

• They reside in a cesspit of slime and sludge, bombarded by icy rain. Their punishment is to wallow in filth of their own excess

• Circle is also guarded by Cerberus the dog- Virgil pacifies the creature by stuffing mud in its three heads  

CIRCLE FOUR

GREED

• Specifically refers to an obsession with wealth

• Souls here condemned to an eternal, futile struggle- forced to roll boulders into one another 

• Members of the church appear here- clergymen who used their positions to amass wealth through church donations- those the poet himself disliked

• They have become so filthy that Dante cannot recognise them individually, though Virgil reports the presence of many clerics, including cardinals and popes

CIRCLE FIVE

WRATH

• Souls of the angry are perpetually wrestling of the surface of the River Styx 

• Beneath the surface are those that suppressed their anger across their lives

• Philipo Arghenti- former political rival- appears here. Dante watches and revels as the damned souls tear the man apart 

CIRCLE SIX

HERESY

• The City of Diss- the capital of Hell itself- sprawling metropolis of pain and misery

• The residents are those that rejected the teachings of the church (particularly the denial of the soul’s eternity) - punished by eternal imprisonment in tombs, where the fires of their heresy consume them forever. 

• Rulers, generals, philosophers, priests- no mercy for the unorthodox

• Farintata- Florentine leader of the Ghibellines

• In the same tomb, was the father of Dante’s best friend, Guido. Cavacante is upset his son is not with Dante for his journey. 

• Dante learns that the damned possess the power to see the future, and not the present 

CIRCLE SEVEN

VIOLENCE

• Violence takes many forms, so this realm is divided into three distinct parts

• VIOLENCE AGAINST OTHER PEOPLE

• Submerged in a boiling lake of blood, with demonic centaurs patrolling the shores

• VIOLENCE AGAINST ONESELF

• Transformed into twisted, gnarled trees, forming an eerie forest

• Pier della Vigna - high ranking official brought to ruin by envious rivals at court

• THOSE WHO HARMED GOD THROUGH BLASPHEMY

• Cast into a burning plane, scorched by heated sand. 

• Sodomites also here, in continuous movement, such as Brunetto Latini (dante’s beloved teachers)

• Usurers crouching on the ground with purses with their families coats decorating their necks

CIRCLE EIGHT

FRAUD

• Descends to this level on the back of Geryon (the monster of fraud)

• This area is arranged into 10 ditches, called bulgiers - each contains a specific group on sinner 

• ‘Sorcerers’ doomed to walk with their heads twisted backwards

• Seducers whipped by demons 

• Blackmailers boiling in a pot of tar

• Pope Nicholas III is here, for the crime of selling church pardons - suspended upside down with flames burning his feet 

• Dante assures the pope of his time (Boneface IIX) will surely follow

• Giants are at the base of the circle of Fraud- creatures who rebelled against God and are now forever chained- guard the entrance to the ninth circle 

CIRCLE NINE

TREACHERY 

• Houses those who betray the trust of others 

• Its ice cold- deprived of warmth of God’s presence

• Proceeds across the frozen lake, passing the bodies of traitors and treasoners,

• At the centre, something stirs- the devil himself- the betrayer of God

• He has three heads- each mouth endlessly gnawing history’s greatest traitors- eg Brutus and Cassius 

• Judas Escariot in his mouth 

• The Devil in Inferno is a pathetic sight- he is no king of hell- he is a prisoner frozen in the ice 

• To leave hell, Dante and Virgil climb down the body of Satan, passing through the centre of the Earth, finally emerging though a cave at the base of mount purgatory 

ANTE-PURGATORY

• Dawn of Easter Sunday

• Mt Purgatory on an isolated island, directly opposite Jerusalem 

• Houses the late repentant- who only remembered God at the point of death. They have to wait an entire lifetime before being permitted to ascend

GATE OF THE MOUNTAIN

• Angel with sword guards the gate, Dante pleads humbly

• The angel carves the letter P seven times into his forehead (Pecatum- sin)

• Can only be removed by passing the seven trials 

FIRST TERRACE

FIRST TERRACE- PRIDE

-Souls carrying boulders on their backs, chanting in prayer

-Must humble themselves 

-Dante and Virgil notice carvings showing the virtue of humility on the walls

-Sculptures also appear, depicting the vices of pride- including that of Lucifer

-Gate guarded by the angel of humility, clearing a P from D’s forehead

SECOND TERRACE

SECOND TERRACE- ENVY

• Encounters cloaked figures with their eyes sewn shut

• Sapia Salvani here- rejoiced when Siena fell in battle due to envy 

• Gate guarded by the angel of Charity, removes a P

THIRD TERRACE

THIRD TERRACE- WRATH

• Thick black smoke, guided by sounds of prayer and hymn 

• Souls once clouded by anger must atone

• Met by Marco Lombardo- engages Dante in brief debate on actions vs environment- L believes in free will but strong leaders.

• Angel approaches and removes another mark of sin

FOURTH TERRACE

FOURTH TERRACE- SLOTH

• Forced to live in perpetual motion - all preoccupied and none have time to speak to Dante and Virgil

• Angel of Zeal cleanses the fourth letter

FIFTH TERRACE

FIFTH TERRACE- GREED

• People lying face down, fixated on the ground, strewn across the landscape

• Meditate on the futility of worldly possessions 

• Recognises Pope Adrian V- criticises the immense power and wealth of the medieval church

• Ground trembles- a sign that a soul has completed its trials - soul comes to greet them

• Statius (Roman Poet), after 500 years on the terrace of envy is freed, but decides to join Dante and Virgil for the remainder of their journey

SIXTH TERRACE

SIXTH TERRACE- GLUTTONY

• Tall trees line the path, with tempting fruit

• Emaciated souls gather, fixed on the fruit- suffering in eternal hunger and thirst

• Foreze Denati- friend from his days in Florence, bids farewell

• Angel of Temperance removes another mark

SEVENTH TERRACE

SEVENTH TERRACE- LUST

• A wall of roaring flames stands across them

• Dante must walk through the fire to purge him of any sinful temptations

• It will hurt, but V reminds him he will survive and will see Beatrice

SUMMIT OF PURGATORY

SUMMIT- GARDEN OF EARTHLY PARADISE

• Mirrors Garden of Eden

• Meets a woman named Matilda, leads him to a clearing where he sees a triumphal procession of bizarre figures - wise men, virtuous women, griffin, christian symbols

• Living creatures from God’s throne room in the book of Revelations

• Beatrice is radiant and glowing in a radiant light- glares at him and reminds him of all his past failings and demands he confesses his sins, and he breaks down and weeps

• Virgil and Statius leave 

• B is satisfied and Dante is baptised in the River lefy, where he forgets his sins, and again in the river unoe which replaces them with good memories 

• B takes his hand and flies him up to heaven 

SPHERE ONE

I-THE MOON

• Met by inconstant- those who lived righteously but forced to break their holy vows 

• Piccardia- nun in life pressured into marriage 

• Lonely sphere of paradise 

SPHERE TWO

II- MERCURY 

• Home of the ambitious- those who propelled themselves to greatness

• Meet Justinian here- ruler of Byzantium, restoring Roman Empire, retook Rome 

• Ambition, no matter how noble, is always tainted by a desire for personal glory

SPHERE THREE

III- VENUS

• Home of those guided by love 

• Eros, storge, philia 

• Charles Martel- friend of Dante is here

• Beatrice is glowing brighter than before- as they ascend, they are also getting closer to God

SPHERE FOUR

IV- THE SUN

• Leave behind the spheres touched by Earth’s sinful shadow

• Realm of pure golden light- the home of the wise

• St Thomas Aquinas is here - Summa Theologica - his writings clearly inspired Paradiso- in between each sphere of heaven are dense theological discussions between Dante and Beatrice

SPHERE FIVE

V- MARS

• Inhabited by the souls of Crusaders - those who died and killed for their religion 

• The souls here form into the shape of a cross as Dante approaches 

• Meets his own great great grandfather, a knight who died in the second crusade catches him up on Florence, and its apparent the city has been ruined by corruption and political rivalry 

SPHERE SIX

VI- JUPITER

• The realm of noble rulers who upheld justice - here the souls of the just arrange themselves into the shape of an eagle- living mass of kings of queens fused into a cosmic entity

• D recognises Trajan in this mass (apparently secretly converted)- sparks Q of how it is fair that souls born before Christ are condemned 

• The eagle responds that the lord works in mysterious ways

SPHERE SEVEN

VII- SATURN

• The realm of the contemplatives- encounters monks and hermits 

• Those who devoted their entire lives to prayer and meditation

• Eerie silence- no one disturbs deep meditative peace 

• Golden ladder descends from above and Dante climbs to the higher celestial realms

SPHERE EIGHT

VIII- FIXED STARS

• Realm of the holiest people to have walked the earth- souls of the Saints 

• Dante has to sit an exam in front of the three apostles - Peter, James and John 

• What is faith, 

  • Confidence that what we cannot see is there

• What is hope

  • The expectation of future glory

• Whom do you love

  • God

• Blinded by St John’s holy light, and when his sight returns, sees St Peter engulfed in a red glow- rant against the corruption of the Church- condemning Boniface IIX as a desecrator of the faith 

• Peter commands Dante to record these criticisms in a poem 

SPHERE NINE

IX - Primium Mobile

• Last of the physical realms- the angels are here, arranged according to their rank

• Minor angels, archangels, principalities 

• Dominions, virtues, powers

• Thrones/ Ophanim  - appear as interlocking wheels 

• Cherubim 

• Ceraphim 

• Work to maintain the cosmic order by singing- hymns maintain order of reality itself 

THE EMPYREAM

THE EMPYREAM

• Enters a realm where reality itself dissolves into pure, radiant light 

• Regaining his vision, Dante sees something ahead which defies logic- a colossal white Rose, with angels and saints sat on its petals singing 

• Beatrice assumes her true form- the embodiment of divine wisdom and revelation- she returns to the flower

• Dante is now ready to gaze upon God- perceives three interwoven rings (father, son ,spirit) - this is what God looks like to him 

• He sees the entire universe bound together in perfect harmony