Among Italy’s city-states, Florence provided the leading Guelph opposition to the idea of a pan-European state. The Guelphs and the Ghibellines were divided on the political issue of empire.

Dante came from a family of Guelphs, but he himself came to favor the Ghibelline cause, especially their promise to bring Florence within a stable empire. In general, the Guelphs represented ordinary citizens and were aligned with the papacy the Ghibellines sided with the emperors. The civic politics of Florence during Dante’s life were dominated by the strife between two rival factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. The personal vendettas and personality conflicts at the root of most of the trouble emerge clearly in the Inferno, as Dante, a staunch supporter of the Holy Roman Emperors, accuses-and punishes-individuals for the actions they have taken in public life. Competitors included the popes in Rome, who wanted to incorporate the cities of Tuscany (an area of northern Italy) into the “ Papal States” the Holy Roman Emperors, German aristocrats who claimed an ancient right to rule Christendom the local noblemen, who favored rule by a small, select group and the rapidly rising merchant classes, who sought to establish a system of rule that would protect their newly acquired wealth. The cities had a confusing array of choices, each championed by elements of society that were competing for control. In the early fourteenth century, Italian cities were engaged in making important decisions about their methods of government. Events in History at the Time of the Poem Florentine politics The poem reflects the political and social turmoil that plagued the region at the time. Written during Dante’s exile from Florence, Inferno maps Hell, which, according to the narrative, contains many of Dante’s political rivals, as well as wrongdoers from many periods of history.Įvents in History at the Time of the PoemĮxiled from his native town of Florence, Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy, the first part of which is Inferno, as he wandered from city to city in northern Italy between 13. A poem in thirty-four cantos, set in Hell in 1300 written in Italy between 13.

Dante alighieri the inferno