Dante's Chronology
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1265 | Dante is born, probably May 29, under the sign of Gemini. |
| 1274 | At the age of nine he sees Beatrice, daughter of Folco Portinari, for the first time. He then falls in love with her, according to the Vita nuova. |
| 1275 | He begins his studies at the priories of Santa Croce (Franciscan) and Santa Maria Novella (Dominican). |
| 1277 | February 9: He is formally betrothed to Gemma Donati. |
| 1282 | He completes his studies. |
| 1283 | Dante's father dies. He is married shortly thereafter to Gemma, with whom he has four children (Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni and Antonia). Around this time he writes his first sonnets. |
| 1285 | November 30: He becomes a soldier and takes part in the battle of the Sienese against the Aretines at Poggio Santa Cecilia. |
| 1287 | He probably goes to Bologna. |
| 1288 | Dante writes the song "Ladies who have intelligence of love" and the two sonnets "Love is one with the gentle heart" and "My lady bears love in her eyes." |
| 1289 | Participates as a cavalryman under the command of Vieri de' Cerchi in the battle of Campaldino. The Guelf League (Florence and Lucca) defeats the Ghibellines ofArezzo. Dante recalls this battle in Purgatorio, Canto III, Bonconte da Montefeltro. |
| 1289 | August 16: He participates in the siege of the fortress of Caprona conducted by the Lucchesi against the Pisans. |
| 1290 | June 8: Death of Beatrice. |
| 1292 | Writes the Vita nuova. |
| 1292-1293 | These are years of waywardness. |
| 1294 | Dante meets Charles Martel, son of Charles d'Anjou; Martel becomes King of Hungary, and heir to the kingdom of Naples and the county of Provence. Dante recounts their meeting in Paradiso, VIII. |
| 1295 | July 6: He joins the guild of the Apothecaries (Doctors and Druggists) for the purpose of entering public life. |
| 1295 | December: he is elected to the council of the Heads of the Arts in order to cooperate with the Captain of the People in the selection of new Priors. |
| 1296 | June l5: he takes part in the Council of the Hundred. |
| 1300 | Fictional date (Eastertime) of the journey of the Divine Comedy. |
| 1300 | May Day: This marks the beginning of the factional struggles between the Cerchi and the Donati. |
| 1300 | May 7: He is sent as ambassador to San Gimignano to persuade the commune to join the Guelph party. |
| 1300 | Dante is prior for two months (15 June-15 August), one of the six highest magistrates in Florence. Boniface VIII proclaims the Jubilee Year. |
| 1301 | June 29: He takes the floor in the Council of the Hundred to oppose helping Boniface VIII fight the Santafiora of Maremma. |
| 1301 | October: He is sent to Rome as an ambassador to Boniface VIII to convince him to recall Charles de Valois, whom the Pope has sent to Florence as a mediator. |
| 1301 | November: Corso Donati re-enters Florence and wreaks vengeance on the Whites. |
| 1302 | The Black Guelfs seize power in Florence. |
| 1302 | 1302, January 27: He is accused of barratry (taking bribes); in Siena, he receives news of his sentence: a fine of 5,000 small florins and banishment for two years with permanent exclusion from public office. |
| 1302 |
March l0: For failure to appear
in court, he is condemned to death in absentia.
|
| 1303 | Dante is at Forli as assistant and secretary to Scarpetta Ordelaffi. |
| 1303 | October 12: Boniface VIII dies. |
| 1304 | Dante writes De vulgari eloquentia, his path-breaking history and rhetoric of vernacular literature. Of four books planned, only the first and part of the second were written. During the same period he writes the Convivio. Only four of a projected fifteen books of the Convivio were completed. |
| 1304 | July 20: There is a new defeat of the Whites near the fortress of Lastra a Signa. Dante arrives in Verona, welcomed by Alboino della Scala. |
| 1306 | Probably the year in which Dante interrupts the Convivio and begins the Comedy. |
| 1304 | October 6: moves to Lunigiana, and is appointed procurator to the Marquesses Malaspina. |
| 1310 | Henry of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor, descends into Italy. Possible date of Dante Monarchia (between 1310-1313). |
| 1310 | Dante goes to meet his fellow exiles at Forlí. |
| 1310 |
October: With other exiles,
he goes to Asti to pay homage to Henry VII.
|
| 1311 | January 6: Henry VII is crowned King of Italy in Milan. |
| 1311 |
April 16: Dante writes a letter to the Emperor
inviting him to come into Tuscany and restore peace
to Florence.
|
| 1312 | March-April: Dante joins Henry VII in Pisa. |
| 1312 | June 29: Henry VII is crowned in Rome at St. John Lateran. Rome is occupied by the militia of Robert d'Anjou, king of Naples; Pope Clement V, from Avignon, orders Henry to leave the city, but the emperor refuses. |
| 1312 |
September
19: the emperor camps under the walls of Florence.
|
| 1313 | 1313, August 24: the emperor moves from Pisa toward the Kingdom of Naples. He dies of malaria during the journey. Birth of Giovanni Boccaccio. |
| 1314 | April 20: Clement V dies. |
| 1314 | September 7: the poet is the guest of Cangrande delta Scala in Verona. |
| 1314 | Publication of Inferno. |
| 1315 | Dante, in Verona, works on Purgatorio and Paradiso, and composes the Questio de acque et terra. |
| 1315 | The Signory ("Signoria"--Council of the City) grants an amnesty to the exiles, but Dante refuses to return to Florence under the conditions imposed. |
| 1315 | October: he leaves Verona for Lucca. |
| 1315 | November 6: A new Florentine sentence confirms the sentence against the exiles and extends it to their families. |
| 1315-1319 | Dante travels between Verona, the Marca Trevigiana, Romagna, and Tuscany. |
| 1318 or 1319 | Dante moves to Ravenna, where he is the guest of Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of that city. Latin correspondence with the humanist Giovanni del Virgilio. |
| 1321 | August: Dante is sent as an ambassador to Venice, on a mission for Guido Novello, when he is stricken with fever, probably malaria, and returns to Ravenna. |
| 1321 | September: Dante dies on the night of the 13th or the morning of the 14th. Guido buries him in the Church of St. Francis with full honors. |
A Digest of Dante's Works.
Dante's life was given
direction by his spiritual love for Beatrice Portinari (d.1290), to whom he
dedicated most of his poetry. His great friendship with G. Cavalcanti
shaped his later career as well. La Vita Nuova (1293?; The New Life) celebrates Beatrice
in verse. In his difficult years of exile, he wrote the verse collection
Il convivio (c.1304-6 or ;
The Banquet), De vulgari eloquentia (1304-7; Concerning
Vernacular Eloquence),
the first theoretical discussion of the Italian literary language;
and De monarchia (1310? 1313?; On Monarchy), a major Latin treatise
on medieval political philosophy. He is best known for the monumental epic poem
La commedia(c.1310-21; The Divine Comedy),
a
profoundly Christian vision of human temporal and eternal destiny.
It
is an allegory of universal human destiny in the form of a pilgrim's journey
through hell and purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil, then to
Paradise, guided by Beatrice. By writing it in Italian rather than Latin,
Dante almost singlehandedly made Italian a literary language, and he stands as one of the towering figures of European literature.