Dante Alighieri
1265 – 1321 Italian poet
The poet of the Divine Comedy, father of the Italian language.
- Religion
- Catholic; the Divine Comedy is steeped in medieval Christian theology, though it also judged corrupt popes.
- Affiliations
- Active in Florentine politics before exile. No secret society.
Dante wrote the Divine Comedy, an epic journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise that mapped the medieval Christian universe. By writing in Tuscan rather than Latin he helped forge modern Italian. The poem is one of the supreme works of world literature.
Connections
- influenced Virgil — Dante made Virgil his guide in the Divine Comedy.
In the timeline
- 1265 Birth of Dante Alighieri central figure