DOCSLIB.ORG

Dante Alighieri, Consult J

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dante Alighieri, Consult J PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK: 1 DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI ON HEROES, HERO-WORSHIP, AND THE HEROIC IN HISTORY by Thomas Carlyle: I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology. II. The Hero as Prophet. Mohammed: Islam. III. The Hero as Poet. Dante: William Shakespeare. IV. The Hero as Priest. Martin Luther; Reformation: John Knox; Puritanism. V. The Hero as Man of Letters. Samuel Johnson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Robert Burns. VI. The Hero as King. Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon Bonaparte: Modern Revolutionism. 1. For Henry Thoreau’s familiarity with Dante Alighieri, consult J. Chesley Mathews’s “Thoreau’s Reading in Dante,” Italica 27 (1950):77-81. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF A WEEK: DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK Tuscan, that wanderest through the realms of gloom, With thoughtful pace, and sad, majestic eyes, Stern thoughts and awful from thy soul arise, Like Farinata from his fiery tomb. Thy sacred song is like the trump of doom; Yet in thy heart what human sympathies, What soft compassion glows, as in the skies The tender stars their clouded lamps relume! Methinks I see thee stand, with pallid cheeks, By Fra Hilario in his diocese, As up the convent-walls, in golden streaks, The ascending sunbeams mark the day’s decrease; And, as he asks what there the stranger seeks, Thy voice along the cloister whispers, “Peace!” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In his “The Allegash” manuscript, Thoreau offered that there is little prospect that we may be able to indulge in much good mythmaking in our grand future. Instead he complained that as “Anglo Americans” advanced, poetry and mythology seemed to retire. We ignorantly erase the mythological tablets to print mere handbills and town meeting warrants on them. In his late revisions, Thoreau cancelled the two sentences that followed this passage: “This wilderness is a great mythic poem worth a thousand of Spenser’s Faery Queens & Dante’s Divine Comedies. Spenser and Dante Alighieri translated only such sheets[?] of it as came round their grounds.” 1260 CE The Guelf faction of Firenzi, after a period of ascendancy, was defeated in the battle of Montaperti (Dante Alighieri’s INFERNO X, XXXII). LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, I 1265 CE Between May 21 and June 20, most likely on May 29th, Durante degli Alighieri (for us, Dante) was born into the important Alighieri family of Firenzi (for us, Florence). During this late spring, the 17th-year cicadas Magicicada septendecim were swarming in what eventually would become New England. NEW ENGLAND 2 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF A WEEK: DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK 1266 CE As a sequel to the defeat of Manfred at Benevento, Charles of Anjou conquered Naples and Sicily. Until 1442, the Angevin Dynasty at Naples. The Guelf faction of Firenzi, supported by papal and French armies, defeated the Ghibelline faction at Benevento and exiled them forever from their native city. The Guelphs, to whose party Dante Alighieri’s family adhered, at this point became able themselves to return to their homes in Firenzi. (Dante’s father had evidently not been of sufficient influence to have himself been sent into this exile.) Dante would thus grow up as an entitled member of a proud and expanding city-state as it sought to dominate the region of Tuscany. 1274 CE May: Dante Alighieri, at a private feast in Firenzi, was entirely enraptured by a self-possessed little girl, another 9- year-old named Beatrice Portinari. 1277 CE Dante Alighieri became betrothed to Gemma Donati. 1279 CE Dante Alighieri’s mother Bella had died by this point, before he reached the age of 14. 1283 CE Since Dante Alighieri, having as of the age of 18 come into his majority, was able as an orphan to sell a credit owned by his father and to take in marriage Gemma Donati, we can infer that by this point in time Dante’s father was deceased. (They would have four children, Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni, and Antonia.) By this point, he would assert in Chapter III of his LA VITA NUOVA, he had taught himself the art of making verse. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 3 HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF A WEEK: DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK 1289 CE Dante Alighieri fought as a cavalryman against the Ghibellines in the battle of Campaldino in which the Guelf League (Firenzi and Lucca) defeated the Ghibellines of Arezzo. (Dante would recall this battle, in PURGATORIO.) LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, II 1290 CE Beatrice Portinari died. DANTE 1292 CE During this year and the next, Dante Alighieri was putting together his LA VITA NUOVA, the first of two collections of verse and prose he would make in his lifetime. Later, the CONVIVIO would contain the compositions from just prior to 1294 up to the writing of LA COMMEDIA (later named LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, THE DIVINE COMEDY). 4 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF A WEEK: DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK 1294 CE Dante Alighieri met Charles Martel, King of Hungary and heir to the kingdom of Naples and the country of Provence (he would report this meeting in PARADISO VIII). Supremacy of the Visconti at Milan. 1295 CE For the purpose of entering public life, Dante Alighieri joined the guild of the apothecaries. 1300 CE Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed this to be a Jubilee Year. Eastertime of this year would provide the fictional date for the journey which Dante Alighieri would take in THE DIVINE COMEDY. June 15-August 15For two months Dante Alighieri was a Prior of Florence, one of their six highest magistrates. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 5 HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF A WEEK: DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK 1301 CE The army of Charles of Valois was approaching Firenzi, and Dante Alighieri was sent as an envoy to Rome to seek assistance from Pope Boniface VIII. 1302 CE January 27: When the Black Guelphs seized power in Firenzi, they initially banished Dante Alighieri from the city for two years beginning as of this date, and permanently forbade him to occupy any public office. (This 2-year banishment would be reconsidered and made perpetual and he would be condemned to be burned alive should he ever be discovered within the territory of the Florentine Republic.) 1304 CE Dante Alighieri wrote the 1st and part of the 2nd of a planned 4-volume history and rhetoric of vernacular literature, DE VULGARI ELOQUENTIA. During this same period he was writing at the CONVIVIO, only four of a projected fifteen books of which would be completed. 1306 CE It was probably in this year that Dante Alighieri interrupted work on his CONVIVIO and began his DIVINA COMMEDIA. LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, I LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, II LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, III 1310 CE Henry of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor, descended into Italy and Dante Alighieri addressed an Epistle to him. This is also the possible date of DANTE MONARCHIA (we know it originated between 1310 and 1313). 6 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF A WEEK: DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK 1314 CE Dante Alighieri’s INFERNO: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura ché la diritta via era smarrita. which Henry Wadsworth Longfellow would render as:2 MIDWAY upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost. LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, I 1315 CE Dante Alighieri became a guest of Cangrande della Scala in Verona and there would work on his PURGATORIO and PARADISO and compose his QUESTIO DE ACQUE ET TERRA. LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, II LA DIVINA COMMEDIA, III 1319 CE Dante Alighieri became a guest of Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of Ravenna and entered into Latin correspondence with Giovanni del Virgilio. 1321 CE September 13: Dante Alighieri had fallen ill on his return to Ravenna from Venice, where he had been sent as ambassador by his patron Guido Novello da Polenta, and on this day or the next he died. 2. You’ll do considerably better with Robert Pinsky’s THE INFERNO OF DANTE (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994). “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 7 HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF A WEEK: DURANTE DEGLI ALGHIERI PEOPLE MENTIONED IN A WEEK 1485 In London, the Bodyguard of the Yeoman of the Guard was established to provide security during the coronation of Henry VII. This has become now the oldest extent royal bodyguard and the white crossbelts of its traditional uniform had been originally intended to support the weight of an arquebus. At about this point Leonardo da Vinci sketched some wheel-lock firing mechanisms. For the Bereguardo Canal, the Duke of Milan’s engineer Bertola da Novato designed the first modern locks. In Venice, Dante Alighieri’s DIVINA COMMEDIA was being printed by Petrus de Piasio. Between 1480 and 1483, this printer had been in partnership with the A. Torresanus who had taken possession of Jenson’s printing equipment upon Jenson’s death. (The edition of the COMMEDIA printed in Venice in 1491 by Petrus de Piasio of Cremona is better known, but this happens to be the edition of which I have a page image.) Here is what Dante had to say about what he supposed himself to be doing: “The subject of the whole work, taken literally, is the state of souls after death, regarded as fact. Taken allegorically, its subject is man, insofar as by merit or demerit, in the exercise of free will, he is exposed to the reward or punishment of justice.” In the narrative of his journey, which was inspired by a version in 1300, the authorial persona is accompanied by two guides, “Vigil, who stands for human reason, … and Beatrice, who symbolizes divine grace.” Virgil cannot pass beyond Purgatory, but Beatrice lifts him by contemplation through the spheres of Paradise.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Battle of Montaperti: 4 Sept. 1260 Firenze V
    Battle of Montaperti: 4 Sept. 1260 Firenze v. Siena Guelf v. Ghibelline 5 yrs after they had signed an 'eternal peace' 35,000 v. 20,000 Biggest and bloodiest battle of the Italian Middle Ages Banner at Firenze-Siena soccer match, 5 Mar. 2006 Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 His true love, the (married) Beatrice Portinari Duomo of Orvieto (by Henry Holiday, 1883) Divine Comedy, 1308-1321: 100 cantos Michelino's fresco of Dante and his Divine Comedy, nave of the Duomo of Firenze, 1465 Inferno: Canto 1 1 Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita 2 mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, 3 ché la diritta via era smarrita. 4 Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura 5 esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte 6 che nel pensier rinova la paura! 10 Io non so ben ridir com' i' v'intrai, 11 tant' era pien di sonno a quel punto 12 che la verace via abbandonai. http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/ 58 tal mi fece la bestia sanza pace, 59 che, venendomi 'ncontro, a poco a poco 60 mi ripigneva là dove 'l sol tace. Virgil, Roman poet, 70-19 BC, author of The Aeneid 91 “A te convien tenere altro vïaggio,” 92 rispuose, poi che lagrimar mi vide, 93 “se vuo' campar d'esto loco selvaggio; Ingres, "Gianciotto discovers Paolo Inferno: Canto 5 and Francesca" (1819) 106 "Amor condusse noi ad una morte. 127 Noi leggiavamo un giorno per diletto 128 di Lancialotto come amor lo strinse; 129 soli eravamo e sanza alcun sospetto. 130 Per più fïate li occhi ci sospinse 131 quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso; 132 ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix A: Selective Chronology of Historical Events
    APPENDIX A: SELECTIVE CHRONOLOGY OF HIsTORICaL EVENTs 1190 Piero della Vigna born in Capua. 1212 Manente (“Farinata”) degli Uberti born in Florence. 1215 The Buondelmonte (Guelf) and Amidei (Ghibelline) feud begins in Florence. It lasts thirty-three years and stirs parti- san political conflict in Florence for decades thereafter. 1220 Brunetto Latini born in Florence. Piero della Vigna named notary and scribe in the court of Frederick II. 1222 Pisa and Florence wage their first war. 1223 Guido da Montefeltro born in San Leo. 1225 Piero appointed Judex Magnae Curia, judge of the great court of Frederick. 1227 Emperor Frederick II appoints Ezzelino da Romano as commander of forces against the Guelfs in the March of Verona. 1228 Pisa defeats the forces of Florence and Lucca at Barga. 1231 Piero completes the Liber Augustalis, a new legal code for the Kingdom of Sicily. 1233 The cities of the Veronese March, a frontier district of The Holy Roman Empire, transact the peace of Paquara, which lasts only a few days. © The Author(s) 2020 249 R. A. Belliotti, Dante’s Inferno, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40771-1 250 AppeNDiX A: Selective ChrONOlOgY Of HistOrical EveNts 1234 Pisa renews war against Genoa. 1235 Frederick announces his design for a Holy Roman Empire at a general assembly at Piacenza. 1236 Frederick assumes command against the Lombard League (originally including Padua, Vicenza, Venice, Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Vercelli, Lodi, Parma, Ferrara, and a few others). Ezzelino da Romano controls Verona, Vicenza, and Padua.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pious and Political Networks of Catherine of Siena
    Portland State University PDXScholar University Honors Theses University Honors College 5-23-2018 The Pious and Political Networks of Catherine of Siena Aubrie Kent Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Kent, Aubrie, "The Pious and Political Networks of Catherine of Siena" (2018). University Honors Theses. Paper 553. https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.559 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Abstract This project looks at the career of St. Catherine of Siena and argues that without the relationships she had with her closest followers, who provided social connections and knowledge of the operation of political power, she would not have been able to pursue as active or wide-ranging a career. The examination of Catherine’s relationships, the careers of her followers, and the ways she made use of this network of support, relies mainly on Catherine’s extant letters. Most prior research on St. Catherine focuses on her spirituality and work with the papacy, which leaves out the influence of her local, political environment and the activities of her associates. This work examines Catherine’s place on Siena’s political landscape and within the system of Italian politics more generally. THE PIOUS AND POLITICAL NETWORKS OF CATHERINE OF SIENA by AUBRIE KENT A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS WITH HONORS in HISTORY Portland State University 2018 Table of Contents Chronology i Introduction 1 Religious Background 7 Political Background 22 Magnate Families 32 Spiritual Family 50 Conclusion 68 Catherine’s Associates 76 Bibliography 79 Chronology 1347 Catherine is born.
    [Show full text]
  • MONTEPULCIANO's PALAZZO COMUNALE, 1440 – C.1465: RETHINKING CASTELLATED CIVIC PALACES in FLORENTINE ARCHITECTURAL and POLITI
    MONTEPULCIANO’S PALAZZO COMUNALE, 1440 – c.1465: RETHINKING CASTELLATED CIVIC PALACES IN FLORENTINE ARCHITECTURAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXTS Two Volumes Volume I Koching Chao Ph.D. University of York History of Art September 2019 ABSTRACT This thesis argues for the significance of castellated civic palaces in shaping and consolidating Florence’s territorial hegemony during the fifteenth century. Although fortress-like civic palaces were a predominant architectural type in Tuscan communes from the twelfth century onwards, it is an understudied field. In the literature of Italian Renaissance civic and military architecture, the castellated motifs of civic palaces have either been marginalised as an outdated and anti-classical form opposing Quattrocento all’antica taste, or have been oversimplified as a redundant object lacking defensive functionality. By analysing Michelozzo’s Palazzo Comunale in Montepulciano, a fifteenth-century castellated palace resembling Florence’s thirteenth-century Palazzo dei Priori, this thesis seeks to address the ways in which castellated forms substantially legitimised Florence’s political, military and cultural supremacy. Chapter One examines textual and pictorial representations of Florence’s castellation civic palaces and fortifications in order to capture Florentine perceptions of castellation. This investigation offers a conceptual framework, interpreting the profile of castellated civic palaces as an effective architectural affirmation of the contemporary idea of a powerful city-republic rather than being a symbol of despotism as it has been previously understood. Chapters Two and Three examine Montepulciano’s renovation project for the Palazzo Comunale within local and central administrative, socio-political, and military contexts during the first half of the fifteenth century, highlighting the Florentine features of Montepulciano’s town hall despite the town’s peripheral location within the Florentine dominion.
    [Show full text]
  • Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy – Inferno
    DIVINE COMEDY -INFERNO DANTE ALIGHIERI HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND NOTES PAUL GUSTAVE DORE´ ILLUSTRATIONS JOSEF NYGRIN PDF PREPARATION AND TYPESETTING ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND NOTES Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ILLUSTRATIONS Paul Gustave Dor´e Released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial Licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/ You are free: to share – to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work; to remix – to make derivative works. Under the following conditions: attribution – you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work); noncommercial – you may not use this work for commercial purposes. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. English translation and notes by H. W. Longfellow obtained from http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/new/comedy/. Scans of illustrations by P. G. Dor´e obtained from http://www.danshort.com/dc/, scanned by Dan Short, used with permission. MIKTEXLATEX typesetting by Josef Nygrin, in Jan & Feb 2008. http://www.paskvil.com/ Some rights reserved c 2008 Josef Nygrin Contents Canto 1 1 Canto 2 9 Canto 3 16 Canto 4 23 Canto 5 30 Canto 6 38 Canto 7 44 Canto 8 51 Canto 9 58 Canto 10 65 Canto 11 71 Canto 12 77 Canto 13 85 Canto 14 93 Canto 15 99 Canto 16 104 Canto 17 110 Canto 18 116 Canto 19 124 Canto 20 131 Canto 21 136 Canto 22 143 Canto 23 150 Canto 24 158 Canto 25 164 Canto 26 171 Canto 27 177 Canto 28 183 Canto 29 192 Canto 30 200 Canto 31 207 Canto 32 215 Canto 33 222 Canto 34 231 Dante Alighieri 239 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 245 Paul Gustave Dor´e 251 Some rights reserved c 2008 Josef Nygrin http://www.paskvil.com/ Inferno Figure 1: Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark..
    [Show full text]
  • ENG Dante and the Mugello
    Dante and the Mugello I.I.S. «CHINO CHINI» 3ASG M. Santagata, Dante. Il romanzo della sua vita, Mondadori, 2012 G. Ferroni, L’Italia di Dante, La nave di Teseo, 2020 A. Barbero, Dante, Laterza, 2021 Evidences dating back to 934 The Palazzo del Podestà, now prove the existence of the Pieve home to the city library, dates di San Lorenzo in that year. back to the 14th century. On its Probably the church stands on a façade all the noble coats of pre-existing temple of the fourth arms of the Podestàs (who have century, dedicated to Bacchus. governed the town over the The current parish church is the centuries) appear. result of a 12th-13th century Ubaldino della Pila, of the reconstruction. The plant has Ubaldini family, became three naves divided by Podestà of Borgo San Lorenzo quadrangular columns and several times (1238, 1239, 1281) pillars and a semicircular apse. and he is mentioned by Dante in The irregular hexagonal bell the Divine Comedy tower dates back to 1263. Borgo San Lorenzo in the 14th century A. Giovannini, Borgo san Lorenzo, dalle Cento Case alle Cento Strade. Pianta estratta dal piano paesaggistico regionale/scheda d'ambito 007/Mugello (2006) The Book of sentences against rebel families in the Commune of Florence from 1302 to 1379, known as Libro del Chiodo (Book of the Nail) was kept in the Bargello, the prisons of the city and seat of the Podestà and the Council of Justice of Florence. In 1302 the Podestà Cante de’ Gabrielli of Gubbio condemned Dante. Page 4 reads: “Dante Alleghieri de sextu Sancti Petri Maioris” is sentenced to two years of exile on charges of baratteria, 'super baracteriis, iniquis extorsionibus et lucris illicitis'.
    [Show full text]
  • Dante's Hidden
    Dominican Scholar Graduate Master's Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects Student Scholarship 5-2016 Dante’s Hidden Sin - Wrath: How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno Against Contemporaries Michael J. Rupers Dominican University of California https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2016.hum.01 Survey: Let us know how this paper benefits you. Recommended Citation Rupers, Michael J., "Dante’s Hidden Sin - Wrath: How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno Against Contemporaries" (2016). Graduate Master's Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects. 214. https://doi.org/10.33015/dominican.edu/2016.hum.01 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Dominican Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Master's Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects by an authorized administrator of Dominican Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dante’s Hidden Sin: Wrath How Dante Vindictively Used The Inferno Against Contemporaries by Michael Rupers A culminating thesis submitted to the faculty of Dominican University of California in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Humanities San Rafael, California May 2016 This thesis, written under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisor and approved by the department chair, has been presented to and accepted by the Department of Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. The content and research presented in this work represent the work of the candidate alone. Michael Rupers May 2016 Candidate Joan Baranow, Ph.D. May 2016 MAH Program Director Sister Aaron Winkelman, Ph.D., Professor Emerita (English) May 2016 Thesis Advisor Leslie Ross, Ph.D., Professor (Art History) May 2016 Secondary Thesis Advisor "II Copyright @ 2016 by Michael Rupers All Rights Reserved "III Table of Contents Introduction: Contemporaries of Dante in The Inferno ……………….……… 1 Pope Celestine V ……………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Dante and the Florentine Chronicles by Marco Prina a Dissertation
    Dante and the Florentine Chronicles by Marco Prina A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the joint degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Italian Studies and Medieval Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in Charge: Professor Albert Ascoli, Co-Chair Professor Steven Botterill, Co-Chair Professor Frank Bezner Fall 2014 Abstract Dante and the Florentine Chronicles by Marco Prina Doctor of Philosophy in Italian Studies & Medieval Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Albert Ascoli, Co-Chair Professor Steven Botterill, Co-Chair This dissertation examines Dante’s engagement with the traditions regarding collective memory in medieval Florence. In particular, it investigates the ways in which Dante responds to public and private attempts at forging both individual and collective identity in Florence. Selecting key chronicles, inscriptions and visual sources alluded to in the Commedia, the implications of Dante’s representation in terms of his ideological response are then extensively discussed. After introducing the central passages from the Commedia relevant to my project and a review of selected secondary literature on Dante and history, the dissertation introduces the Medieval Latin Chronica de origine civitatis florentiae as Dante’s most important source regarding his city’s foundation. In so doing, the textual readings are informed by the formation and control of memory, history and identity in historical context. Building on Dante’s reliance on the Chronica, the dissertation reveals the continuity of civic historiography up to Dante’s time and argues that Dante’s engagement with the medieval Florentine collective memory tradition can be better understood through a close look at the shifting account of Florence’s foundation from the Chronica to Brunetto Latini’s Tesoro to the Commedia.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Characters in Dante's Divine Comedy
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2019 Uncovering The Sources: Historical Characters In Dante's Divine Comedy Vanessa Dimaggio University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Italian Literature Commons, Medieval History Commons, and the Medieval Studies Commons Recommended Citation Dimaggio, Vanessa, "Uncovering The Sources: Historical Characters In Dante's Divine Comedy" (2019). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 3486. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3486 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3486 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Uncovering The Sources: Historical Characters In Dante's Divine Comedy Abstract A lack of citation of Dante’s specific source material for historical characters who appear in the Divine Comedy is widespread throughout the commentary tradition. I performed a close textual analysis of the Divine Comedy’s historical characters, comparing them with the chronicles, annals and histories of Dante’s time, using both archival research and secondary histories to do so, and interpreted those primary historical texts as potential sources consulted by Dante. The historical characters I focused on fell into three categories: 1) characters involved in the battles of Montaperti and Colle Val d’Elsa, 2) characters belonging to or associated with the Norman, Swabian and Aragonese dynasties of Sicily, 3) characters embroiled in sensational or newsworthy events during Dante’s lifetime. The first two categories analyzed historical events that mostly occurred before Dante was born, and thus focused more heavily on written testimony, while the third category analyzed the news of Dante’s adulthood, and thus focused more on oral tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • Much Ado About Nothing Leonardo's Fight for the Standard*
    Originalveröffentlichung in: Helas, Philine u.a. (Hrsg.): Bild-Geschichte : Festschrift für Horst Bredekamp, Berlin 2007, S. 397-412 Frank Fehrenbach Much ado about nothing Leonardo's Fight for the Standard* The Sala del Consiglio Maggiore, an appendix to the time-honored Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, is the major architectural remnant of Savonarola's theo­ cratic regime. After the prophet's inglorious end, the Great Hall became the parliament of the renewed republic. Decisions to decorate it with a republican program included an altar, the throne of the head of government, the Gonfalo­ niere della Giustizia or banner­bearer of justice, sculptures, and two colossal wall paintings. These paintings should intensify republican feelings through their subjects: two historical battles, glorious victories of the city before the Medici took more and more command. The government was lucky to commis­ sion the first part of the work to the most famous painter of Italy, the Florentine Leonardo da Vinci, who just turned from Milan, where he spent about eighteen years, ultimately expelled by the troops of the French King in 1499. The other battle piece should have been painted by a most promising young artist, Michel­ angelo, whose colossal marble David was at about the same time decided to adorn the facade wall of the town hall, as a republican symbol of fearless youth overcoming the giant. The execution of the battle pieces was staged as a compe­ tition between the two very different artists.' * In many conversations, often over our Saturday lunch „Siippchen" in the Oranienhurger Strafie, Horst Bredekamp aroused my interest in the connections between art and warfare.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Ideas in Sienese Art: the Frescoes by Ambrogio Lorenzetti
    Political Ideas in Sienese Art: The Frescoes by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and Taddeo di Bartolo in the Palazzo Pubblico Author(s): Nicolai Rubinstein Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 21, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Dec., 1958), pp. 179-207 Published by: The Warburg Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750823 . Accessed: 04/06/2012 06:07 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Warburg Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. http://www.jstor.org POLITICAL IDEAS IN SIENESE ART: THE FRESCOES BY AMBROGIO LORENZETTI AND TADDEO DI BARTOLO IN THE PALAZZO PUBBLICO By Nicolai Rubinstein I hen between 1337 and 1340 the government of Siena commissioned W Ambrogio Lorenzetti to adorn their council chamber in the Palazzo Pubblico,1 the frescoing of town halls and palaces had already become fairly widespread in Italy. Few of these early frescoes in secular buildings have sur- vived, but the evidence we possess shows that they were frequently meant to serve political and didactic purposes.2 Inscriptions often helped to press home the message of the paintings.
    [Show full text]
  • A Timeline of the Italian Renaissance
    A TIMELINE OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE year event 800 Charlemagne crowned as the fi rst Holy Roman Emperor 1016 Pisa and Genoa together drive the Saracens from Sardinia 1052 Genoa organized as a self-governing commune 1077 Pisa given authority over Corsica 1095 Preaching of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II at Clermont 1137 Pisa shatters its maritime rival, Amalfi 1167 Siena establishes an independent communal government of nobles 1190 Death of Frederick II Barbarossa, under whom division between Guelf and Ghibelline was crystallized 1195 Pisa offi cially organized as a free, self-governing commune 1204 Europeans in the Fourth Crusade establish the Latin empire at Constantinople 1241 Pisa defeats the Genoese fl eet 1260 The Sienese defeat Florence at the Battle of Montaperti 1264 Obizzo d’Este seizes control of Ferrara 1266 Charles of Anjou establishes the French Angevin dynasty in Naples 1282 The Sicilian Vespers: Sicily revolts against the crown of Naples and attaches itself to the royal house of Aragon 1284 Genoa conclusively defeats Pisa at Meloria 1287 Siena institutes a communal government called The Nine 1293 Florentine Ordinances of Justice promulgated 1297 Closing of the Great Council in Venice (Serrata) 1298 Genoa, under Admiral Doria, defeats the Venetians at sea at Curzola 1309 Pope Clement V takes up residence in Avignon: Beginning of the Babylonian Captivity 1311 The Peace of Constance, a treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Lombard cities 1311 The Visconti establish hereditary control of Milan as signori 1315 Council
    [Show full text]