World History
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence to a family of noble lineage. His father made a living through property rental and moneylending. His mother, Bella degli Abati, died when he was seven years old, and his father also died when he was young, before 1283. Dante found father figures in his mentor Bruno Latini, and in Guido Cavalcanti, both of whom shaped Dante’s early cultural development.
Dante was betrothed to his wife, Gemma Donati, when he was 12 years old, although he had fallen in love with another girl named Beatrice Portinari. He married Gemma Donati in 1285 but Beatrice became his muse, even after her death at the age of 24 in 1290. His early 1292 work, La Vita Nuova
, was a tribute to his love for Beatrice.
During his lifetime two powerful supranational institutions that had been prominent features of the medieval world, the Catholic Church and the empire, collapsed. These two entities faced challenges in the developing urban centers, as well as in the autonomous national state.
Dante recognized the importance of these two events and dedicated his works to understanding the ambiguous connections between these two great powers, through the use of metaphor or historical examples in the form of allegory and other literary devices.
In his writing Dante wished to communicate philosophical and theological ideas to as many people as possible, unlike most contemporary scriptures, in which truth is mysteriously encrypted. The Comedy was written in Italian instead of Latin, as Dante intended to exalt the use of this vernacular language in literature. The Comedy successfully proved the ability of the Italian language in the hands of a skilled poet-theologian, for the language managed to express its complex ideas.
Dante’s magnum opus was originally known as the Comedy (Commedia) even though it also contains elements of tragedy and satire. Dante explores the depths of human actions and emotion in this Christian epic. The poem has a ternary structure, which highlights the importance of the number 3, associated with the theological concept of the Trinity. He began writing the epic in 1307 or 1308. In the Venetian edition of 1555, the work became known as the Divine Comedy, as it is commonly referred to today.
This relates to Dante’s view of his work as the “sacred poem.†The poem, with over 14,000 lines of verse, tells of a pilgrim’s fictional journey from hell to purgatory to paradise, in the year 1300. The pilgrim descends to Hell on Good Friday, only to leave it on Easter Sunday to reach Purgatory. Three days later he passes through the Earthly Paradise, before rising up to the limits of the universe to witness ethereal Godly visions.
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Giotto di Bondone The early life, artistic training, and attributed works of Giotto di Bondone (commonly referred to as Giotto) are all shrouded in mystery and legend. In his Lives, Vasari provided the first biography and chronicle of the works of Giotto....
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Petrarch (Francesco Petrarcha) Petrarch regarded his own era as an age of decadence and darkness. He yearned for a better future and turned to the study of classical antiquity for consolation and intellectual enlightenment. His enthusiasm for antiquity...
- Famous People Painting With Zoom-it
This is a cool painting called "Famous People Painting - Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante." If you go here, you can use your mouse and scroll over the people for their names. Kids love figuring who the people are. The other cool thing is the zoom...
World History
Dante Alighieri
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| Dante Alighieri |
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence to a family of noble lineage. His father made a living through property rental and moneylending. His mother, Bella degli Abati, died when he was seven years old, and his father also died when he was young, before 1283. Dante found father figures in his mentor Bruno Latini, and in Guido Cavalcanti, both of whom shaped Dante’s early cultural development.
Dante was betrothed to his wife, Gemma Donati, when he was 12 years old, although he had fallen in love with another girl named Beatrice Portinari. He married Gemma Donati in 1285 but Beatrice became his muse, even after her death at the age of 24 in 1290. His early 1292 work, La Vita Nuova
, was a tribute to his love for Beatrice.During his lifetime two powerful supranational institutions that had been prominent features of the medieval world, the Catholic Church and the empire, collapsed. These two entities faced challenges in the developing urban centers, as well as in the autonomous national state.
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Dante recognized the importance of these two events and dedicated his works to understanding the ambiguous connections between these two great powers, through the use of metaphor or historical examples in the form of allegory and other literary devices.
In his writing Dante wished to communicate philosophical and theological ideas to as many people as possible, unlike most contemporary scriptures, in which truth is mysteriously encrypted. The Comedy was written in Italian instead of Latin, as Dante intended to exalt the use of this vernacular language in literature. The Comedy successfully proved the ability of the Italian language in the hands of a skilled poet-theologian, for the language managed to express its complex ideas.
Dante’s magnum opus was originally known as the Comedy (Commedia) even though it also contains elements of tragedy and satire. Dante explores the depths of human actions and emotion in this Christian epic. The poem has a ternary structure, which highlights the importance of the number 3, associated with the theological concept of the Trinity. He began writing the epic in 1307 or 1308. In the Venetian edition of 1555, the work became known as the Divine Comedy, as it is commonly referred to today.
This relates to Dante’s view of his work as the “sacred poem.†The poem, with over 14,000 lines of verse, tells of a pilgrim’s fictional journey from hell to purgatory to paradise, in the year 1300. The pilgrim descends to Hell on Good Friday, only to leave it on Easter Sunday to reach Purgatory. Three days later he passes through the Earthly Paradise, before rising up to the limits of the universe to witness ethereal Godly visions.
- Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer was the son of John Chaucer, a prosperous wine merchant, and Agnes de Copton. Around 1355 his fairly wealthy parents secured a position for the young Geoffrey as a page in a household of royal rank, that of Prince Lionel,...
- Chivalry
During the Middle Ages chivalry (derived from Latin caballus, “nag,†and closely related to French chevalier, Spanish caballero, and English cavalier) denoted the class of knighthood and the ideals associated with it. The noble knight was...
- Giotto Di Bondone
Giotto di Bondone The early life, artistic training, and attributed works of Giotto di Bondone (commonly referred to as Giotto) are all shrouded in mystery and legend. In his Lives, Vasari provided the first biography and chronicle of the works of Giotto....
- Petrarch (francesco Petrarcha)
Petrarch (Francesco Petrarcha) Petrarch regarded his own era as an age of decadence and darkness. He yearned for a better future and turned to the study of classical antiquity for consolation and intellectual enlightenment. His enthusiasm for antiquity...
- Famous People Painting With Zoom-it
This is a cool painting called "Famous People Painting - Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante." If you go here, you can use your mouse and scroll over the people for their names. Kids love figuring who the people are. The other cool thing is the zoom...