Above: Dante as represented in the Hall of Famous Men (Corridoio degli uomini illustri) in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. This depiction, like that on the 2-euro coin, derives from Raphael’s portrayal of Dante in the papal apartments at the Vatican.
The Ordinances of Justice
In 1293, Giano della Bella was at the heart of unprecedented legislation that brought dramatic changes to Florentine life and substantially diminished the clout of the noble elite. The new laws he promoted were called the Ordinances of Justice. Although meant to rein in the excesses of nobles, they never use that word. The old families were instead called magnati, or magnates.
The Ordinances blamed the magnates for their violent abuse of power and their insistence upon perpetuating the blood feuds that had caused chaos in the streets for generations. Anyone considered a magnate (originally only descendants of the blueblood warrior class) was from that point forward banned from the guild-run government.
Magnates
They published a list of about 70 families who were from then on considered magnates and subjected to additional scrutiny. Of course, the immediate impulse to attempt a coup was felt by all these venerable old consorterie, but none dared. Giano’s followers seemed determined to maintain control of the city despite rising tensions. To the previous six priors they added a seventh, called the Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, whose job it was to mete out justice to any of the magnates who stepped out of line. In 1289 they added the Consiglio dei Cento, which was a new department of the government intended to enhance financial oversight.
During the next two years, many more families were officially branded as magnates, so many, in fact, that the term no longer corresponded to any single demographic group. Magnates were rich and poor, noble and non-noble, of old families and new. In the meantime, Corso Donati (the public face of the knightly class) had gotten off with a simple fine for cutting down his cousin’s servant. This lack of accountability caused riots in the streets. Finally, with evidence that Giano was planning to take the city by force, the government exiled him but, in so doing, unintentionally created a distraction that took people’s minds off Corso.
Above: Ezio Anichini’s portrayal of Dante meeting Beatrice
The Vita nova
Corso Donati soon began making it known that he considered himself the leader of the ‘unfairly treated magnates’ (in fact, he had people call him il Barone, the Baron). Meanwhile, Dante was spending months reorganizing his previous poetry and writing new things too. The result was his first book, the Vita nova or The New Life. In its mix of poetry and prose, Dante portrays his complicated love for Beatrice (from their first meeting when he was nine to her death on June 8, 1290) and his very personal interpretation of her meaning in his life.
It was this book’s nineteenth-century readers who transformed the work’s plot into the mournful tale of Dante, a young poet, and beautiful Beatrice, the irresistible yet unattainable daughter of one of the upper class’ best families. According to that Romantic interpretation, their unconsummated affair was ennobled by her premature death. Accurate or not, this charmingly anachronistic version of Dante’s love is preserved at the church of Santa Margherita.
Dante at work
Dante tells us in another work, the Convivio or Banquet, that it was especially in the following years that he began the serious study of philosophy. By 1295, Dante was again participating in the city’s government, having emerged from an intense period of contemplation.
In order to do so, of course, one had to belong to a guild. The one Dante chose was called the Arte dei Medici e Speziali, the Guild of the Physicians and Apothecaries. While that may seem an odd choice from a modern perspective, these were all men who knew philosophy. In fact, in the guild’s 1297 roll, Dante’s professional specialization was simply listed as poeta. So, regarding his poems on the Petrosa, which date from about 1296, that was just him doing his job!
A new political divide
Among the magnates, two contrasting political parties began to form within the Guelph party in the aftermath of the Ordinances of Justice: the Whites and the Blacks. Dante was a member of the White Guelphs. They were led by Vieri de’ Cerchi who, though originally coming from the countryside, had also been declared a magnate because of his significant business successes and wealth. For better or worse, he tended to counsel patience and prudence.
The leader of the Black Guelphs was the same Corso Donati who already enjoyed the support of the old noble elite. According to chroniclers, Corso already despised Vieri de’ Cerchi even before they became political opponents because Vieri seemed to him to embody the threat posed by a vibrant middle class. Corso was vehement that an armed takeover of the city was the only solution to the stalemate.
Corso’s troubles
In 1298-99, Corso somehow found his way back into government, despite having been banned as a magnate, but again found himself in hot water. This time, he took his mother-in-law to court and, having bribed the podestà who handed down the ruling, was awarded all her property.
This event, in conjunction with other sorts of reprehensible behavior, triggered an even more serious backlash than before. The general outrage was so great, in fact, that Corso was sent into exile. While he was away, the Cerchi family grew gradually stronger.
Boniface VIII
The pope at the time was Boniface VIII, the man who is mentioned repeatedly throughout the Comedy as one of the main enemies of righteousness (and even the subject of Beatrice’s last utterance to Dante in Paradiso). Boniface was the man who, upon Celestine V’s decision to step down (the “great refusal” of Inferno 3.60), ended up having the ex-pope kidnapped and tortured to death after himself being elevated to the position of pontiff. (Above: Boniface VIII in the Duomo museum.)
It was around this time that Boniface, with the “fraudulent counsel” of Guido da Montefeltro (Inferno 27), was expanding the papal territories by taking Palestrina. Eager to put his hands into Florentine politics, Boniface agreed to help Corso by giving him a year of work as podestà in Orvieto and then another year as papal legate elsewhere.
Charles of Valois
The Angevins, having lost Sicily to the Aragonese, implored Boniface to assist them in taking the island back. In 1299, the pope invited Charles of Valois (the brother of King Philip the Fair of France) to bring his troops to Italy to serve as the core of a new army to be raised for the defense of Sicily.
Charles accepted, but Boniface had declared 1300 to be the first jubilee year, which meant there would be thousands of pilgrims on the roads (including Dante) headed toward Rome. Any invasion would have to be postponed until the following year. (Above: portrait of Charles of Valois by Arnolfo di Cambio, ca. 1277, Capitoline Museums of Rome.)
May Day
It was clear to the Cerchi at this point that Corso would try to ingratiate himself with Boniface in order to be allowed to return to Florence. By the same token, the Pontiff knew that Corso would do practically anything in exchange for some stake in Tuscany’s future, and found that fact tantalizing. Everyone’s nerves were already raw.
On May Day of the year 1300, a small celebration was held in Piazza Santa Trinita to welcome the arrival of spring. As was common at times like those, partisan groups would form and, warmed by wine, would begin to antagonize one another. Shouting led to pushing, pushing led to violence and, when it was all over, there was a nose lying on the ground. One of the Donati had sliced it off the face of a Cerchi man with a single sword stroke.
Dante’s decision
Having been chosen to serve as one of the priors in the summer of 1300, Dante was faced with a serious dilemma. It was precisely during his six-month stint that the matter of Cerchi-Donati conflicts came before the Priorate. Rather than being focused tightly on one brawl, however, the priors were asked to make rulings that addressed the preceding years as well.
Unfortunately, since Corso Donati had tried to assassinate Guido Cavalcanti while the latter was on pilgrimage, and since Guido also tried to assassinate Corso upon his return, the priors were asked to exile Guido, together with other troublemakers from both sides. Sadly, though Guido was one of Dante’s dearest friends, the poet had to send him away for the good of the patria. Even more sadly, Guido was exiled to a swampy area near the sea where he contracted a fatal case of malaria.
The coup d’état
As a consequence of the May Day disaster, the pope sent his envoy Matteo di Acquasparta to Florence, technically as a peacemaker. In reality, however, he was a pawn in Corso Donati’s plan to take the city by force and everyone knew it. In fact, the good cardinal was assaulted by the Whites on several occasions and even survived an assassination attempt. Realizing the climate wasn’t a good one for peace talks, he eventually left.
In October of 1301, Boniface ordered the cardinal to return to Florence, where he was met by Charles of Valois and numerous allies of the Donati family and Black Guelphs. Scholars agree that Dante must have been in Rome at the time on a state mission to get Boniface to leave Florence alone. Charles was granted entry into the city and swore to be impartial, but a new puppet podestà was brought in from Gubbio only days later. The government had fallen. Despite the automatic death sentence given to all exiles who return without permission, Corso eagerly went home, intent on taking the reins of the city.
Exile
Knowing that the Black Guelphs were performing a purge of Whites (and others), Dante must have thought it unsafe to return. Less than two months later, the first edict of exile was published, and Dante’s name was on it for having served in the Priorate. In March of 1302, the banishment was strengthened to include a sentence of death at the stake. The accusations piled up against the poet included barratry, fraud, perjury, taking bribes, extortion, theft and pederasty. (Below: Giovanni di Paolo, Dante Banished from Firenze, 1445, British Library, London.)
The point of no return
Although Dante did briefly support the bands of exiled White Guelphs who were eager to take up arms in order to return, he soon realized that they were ineffective, and the political situation was simply impenetrable. Unwilling to admit to any wrongdoing whatsoever, Dante was unable to accept any compromise. In exchange, his ban from Florence was never lifted.
Petrarch’s father, who was also exiled, made his way to Arezzo to start a new life. Dante, by contrast, continued his wandering. For almost two decades, our poet moved from place to place, dependent upon the hospitality of others. While he longed to return to the city where he grew up, it wasn’t meant to be. After completing the Comedy and more, Dante passed away at the young age of fifty-six.