by A. N. Wilson
Alighieri, Gaetana (half-sister of Dante) 51
allegory 134
Aeneid as 254
autobiographical 12, 64, 69–70, 84–5, 217, 240, 243
and Courtly Love 88
and Il Fiore 82–4
Ambrose of Milan, St 233
Ampere, Jean-Jacques, Voyage Dantesque 261
Anagni, and Boniface VIII 30–1, 34, 187–9, 306
Angiolieri, Cecco 140
Annales Placentini Gibellini 43
Anselm of Canterbury 161, 309
Anthony of Padua, St 93
anti-Semitism157
Antonia Alighieri (daughter of Dante) 137, 294–5
Aquinas, Thomas (1225–74) Fig. 7
and Aristotelianism 155–9, 161
and ecstasy 159–62
and Five Ways 161–2
and Immaculate Conception 311
and intellect 238–9
and love 9, 12–13
nervous breakdown 157, 161, 235
and objective knowledge 162
in Paradiso 194
and politics 163
and Purgatory 258
and sex 137
Arezzo, and Florence 123–7
Arianism 151, 292, 293
Aristarchus of Samos 147
Aristotle, and Dominicans 155, 158, 161
knowledge of 68, 110, 145, 156, 238
and philosophy 142
and science 144
works, De Caelo 148
Ethics 262
Metaphysics 132, 144
Physics 158
Politics 168
art, and portrayal of Christ 201–2
asceticism, and Catharism 90–1, 95, 96
and monasticism 95
astrology 7, 148–9
astronomy 142–9, Fig. 10
atheism, and Cavalcanti 108
Athens, and Jerusalem 238
Auden, W. H. 6–7
Auerbach, Erich 312, 356 n.13a
Augustine of Hippo, St, and allegorical interpretation 83–4
and ecstasy 160
in Paradiso 234
and plundering the Egyptians 96
and prayer for the dead 255
works, City of God 222, 233,
Confessions 62, 231–6, 238
De Quantitate Animae 312
autobiography 231–42, 251
allegorical 12, 64, 69–70, 84–5, 217, 240, 243
confessional 231–6
as fiction 232
and Il Convivio 230, 234, 236–42, 243, 247–8
mystical 234–42
avarice 216
Averroes (Ibn Rushd), influence 15, 317
and love 165
and mortality of the soul 110, 183, 248
Avicenna (Ibn Sina) 237
Avignon, as seat of Papacy 30, 190, 266, 272, 275, 287, 289
Ayer, A. J. 9–10
Aymeric of Narbonne 124, 125
Bacon, Roger 93, 156
Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople 55
banks, Italian, and Dante’s father 51, 80, 116, 207, 329
emergence 3, 15
and mathematics 143
and political power 173
Bardi, Ridolfo de’ 198
Bardi, Simone de’ 66
Bardi family 173
Bartolini, Agostino 326
Beatrice see Portinari, Beatrice (Bice)
Beatrice Alighieri (daughter of Dante) 137
Becket, St Thomas 22–3
Bemrose, Stephen 354 n.2b
Benedict, St (c.480–c.544) 158
Benedict XI, Pope (Niccolò di Boccasino; 1303–4) 189–90
Benedict XII, Pope (1334–42) 289
Benevento, battle (1266) 47–8, 53, 122
BenvenutoRambaldi da Imola 11, 50, 59, 69, 191, 200, 260, 286
Berkeley, George, Bishop of Cloyne 161, 162
Bernard of Clairvaux, St, De Consideratione 312
as guide in Paradiso 94–5, 303, 308, 311–12, 314
and Immaculate Conception 310–11, 314
and Salve Regina 310
and Second Crusade 308–9, 311
Bible, allegorical interpretation 83–4
Wisdom literature 237
Binyon, Laurence 322
Bloom, Harold 182
Boccaccio, Giovanni 1, 46, 284, 326
Decameron 108
Life of Dante 63–4, 142, 230, 249, 278, 281, 293, 295–6, 301, 350 n.2b, 355 nn.1b,4c
and terza rima 245
Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus (480–524), The Consolation of Philosophy 151–2, 222, 234, 236–7, 292–3
Boileau (Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux) 318
Bologna, and Dante’s studies 119–20
law school 24, 119
Bonaccorsi, Francesco 236
Bonagiunta Orbiccianodegli Overardi 111, 116–17
Bonatti, Guido 125–6
Bonaventure, St 132
Boniface VIII, Pope (Benedetto Caetani; 1294–1303), Antiquorum habet fida relatio 16
and atheism 108
and Black Guelfs 175
as canon lawyer 24, 35, 119
and Celestine V 28–9
and Colonna family 187–8, 213–14, 288
and Dante 13, 23–4, 29, 31–6, 116, 183–4, 188–9, 213, 271–2, 306,
exile from Florence 5, 36–7, 184, 188
death 189
and France 30–1, 172, 183, 186–9
and Guido da Montefeltro 213–14
and Holy Year 15–17, 23–4, 272, Fig. 16
in Inferno 23–4
posthumous trial 26–7, 28, 35
and temporal power 269
Botterill, Steven 221, 356 n.12a
Botticelli, Sandro, portrait of Dante Fig. 29
Brescia, siege (1311) 273
Bruni, Leonardo 67, 195, 278–9
Buffalmacco, Buonamico 208
Bunting, Basil 334
Buonconte da Montefeltro 123, 127–8, 244
Burckhardt, Jacob 103, 328–30, 342
Byron, George Gordon, 6th Baron 299
Cacciaguida 57, 283, 305, 329, Fig. 28
Caetani, Benedetto see Boniface VIII, Pope
calendar, Roman 146–7
Calendimaggio (1st May 1300) 175
Campaldino, battle (1289) 124–8, 129, 176, 185
Can Grande (Francesco della Scala) 270–1, 300–1
Dante’s letter to 240–1, 312, 348 n.6b
as Imperial Vicar 277, 283, 290
in Paradiso 283–4
as patron of Dante 277, 283–6, 290, 291, 300–1
Canetti, Elias 8–9
Cante de’Gabrielli 36
Canterbury Cathedral, and Becket’s shrine 22
capitani of Florence 57, 174
Carducci, Giosuè 295
Cary, Henry Francis 39, 320–2, 327
Casa Portinari (Florence) 64
Casella 19, 235
Casentino valley 123–4, 248, 261, 274
Cathars 26, 88–96, 100, 154, 324
Catherine of Siena, St 234
Catholic Church, and Cathars 26, 91–6, 154
and Courtly Love 85–6
and homosexuality 72–3, 95–6
Index of forbidden books 19, 317
and sacraments 306
see also Papacy
Catto, Jeremy 41, 347 n.4
Cavalcanti, Cavalcante de’ 106, 177, 181, 183
Cavalcanti, Guido 4, 33, 46, 105–10, 193, 249
exile and death 117, 176, 177–83, 298
as freethinker 150
and love 105–10, 113–14, 164–5, 170, 178–80
as modern 108, 114, 163, 164, 179
and New Sweet Style 111
poetry 105–10, 113–14, 178–80, 182–3
and politics 178
and White Guelfs 175
Cavour, CamilloBenso, Count de 219, 330
Celestine V, Pope (1294) 28–9, 175, 186
celibacy of clergy 96, 100
Cerchi, Ricoveri
no de’ 176
Cerchi, Umiliana de’ 41
Cerchi, Vieri de’ 32, 124, 126, 173, 184
Cerchi family 64
and Donati family 174–6, 178
change, economic 3, 15
social 3, 118
technological 3, 15
Chanson de la Croisade 92
Charlemagne, Emperor (742–814) 222, 267
Charles of Anjou (1226–85) 44, 47
and death of Thomas Aquinas 157
defeat of Conradin 54
and Guelphs 48, 51, 53–4, 55, 77–8, 122
and Sicilian Vespers 77–8
Charles II ‘the Lame’ of Anjou, King of Naples (1248–1309) 27–8, 30, 124, 171, 175, 266–7
Charles ‘Lack-land’, Count of Valois (1270–1325) 31–4, 36, 183–4, 186, 265
Charles Martel, King of Hungary (r. 1290–5) 28, 171–3, 175
in Paradiso 78, 171–2, 304
Chaucer, Geoffrey 7, 81, 116, 302–3, 318
childhood, and love 64–5
Christianity, 13th-century revival 15, 304
and afterlife 208, 255–8
Arian 151, 292, 293
and Dark Ages 145–6
East–West schism 15, 25–6, 49–50, 77–8, 88, 202, 256, 289
and pagan wisdom 96
and sexuality 71, 100–1, 114
and threat of Islam 15, 26, 88
and usury 199–200
Church, R. W. 6
Church and State 22–5
Cialuffi, Lapa (stepmother of Dante) 51
Ciardi, John 337
Cicero, Marcus Tullius 159
Somnium Scipionis 151, 153–4
Cimabue (Cena di Pepo), and Giotto 182, 193–4
St Francis of Assisi Fig. 3
Cione di Ser Bernardo 94
Cirigliano, Marc 107
cities, fortification 39–41
city states 3, 40, 227–8, 266
and Papacy 44–5
size 45–6
see also Florence
Clampitt, Amy 336
class, in medieval Florence 41
Clement IV, Pope (Guy Foulques; 1265–8) 48, 53–4
Clement V, Pope (Bertrand de Got; 1305–14) 190, 266, 267, 275, 277, 286–7
Clement VII, Pope (1523–34) 347 n.19
cloth trade 75
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 322
Colonna, Sciarra 187
Colonna family 27, 30, 39, 187–8, 190, 213–14, 288
Comedy xiii
as allegory of Dante’s life 12, 64, 69–70, 233
and astronomy/stars 143–4, 316
commentaries on 318, 331–5, Fig. 12
and Donati family 56
historical and political background 4, 5, 34, 169
illustrations 328, 337, Figs. 5, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 27, 28
and letter to Can Grande 240–1
manuscripts 317–18, Figs.11, 12, 24
origins in exile 246–50, 260–1
philosophical background 5–6
scholarship on 335–6
setting (Easter 1300) 13, 14, 175, 183
as subversive 19, 98, 112
and terza rima 245, 280, 319, 322, 337
translations 11, 320–3, 326–7, 336–7
as unfinished 300–1
Virgil as mentor 251–5, 308
Compagni, Dino 25, 58, 105, 175–6
compendium books 237
condottieri, Donati as 57
Conrad III, Emperor (r. 1125–52) 267, 309
Conradin (son of Manfred; 1252–68) 53–4
contemplation, and reason 165, 180
Counter-Reformation, Index of forbidden books 317
Courtly Love 85–6, 137
and idolatry 96, 100, 108–9
and poetry 81, 86–7, 95–101, 107–10, 170, 180
and troubadours 85, 86–8, 90, 96–7, 107, 110, 249
crusades 54
Albigensian 26, 91–5
and Purgatory 22
Second 308–9, 311
culture, common 330, 340–2
Cunizza da Romano 249–50, 304
Curtius, Ernst 226
cynicism, of Dante 97–8
D’Ailly, Pierre 346 n.10
Daniel de Riberac, Arnaut 96–8, 100, 101, 116–17
Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) 132, 138–41, 144, 164, 227, Fig. 1
appearance 11–12, 18, 35
and Aquinas 157, 159
baptism 48–50
and Beatrice, adolescent dream about 103, 104–7, 111–12, 131
adolescent encounter with 101–3, 131
childhood encounter with 64–6, 73, 103, 131, Fig. 2
cosmic significance 113–14, 236
death of Beatrice 107, 113, 129–35, 136–7, 151, 165
dream of Beatrice’s death 129–30
as guide in Paradiso 303, 305–6, 333, Fig. 28
idealization 96, 107, 136, 170–1, 249, 332
and Boniface VIII 13, 23–4, 29, 31–6, 213, 271–2, 306
character, ambition 4, 62, 116–17
anger 7, 19, 35, 259, 274, 279, 341
contradictions 141, 172, 188–9, 229, 237, 280
and country sports 120–1
fanaticism 278
self-absorption 2, 165, 232
death 298–9, 317
education, in Bologna 119–20;
in Florence 67–72;
in Paris (suggested) 156, 326
exile, and love crisis 243–50, 253, 260–1;
in Lunigiana 229, 244;
and origins of Comedy 246–8;
in Padua 192–207, 216–17;
in Ravenna 291–7, 300, 319;
in Verona 184, 191, 264, 277, 281, 284–90, 291
friendships see Cavalcanti, Guido; Donati, Forese; Giotto di Bondone
as heretic 19
interpretations of 320–31, 338–40
letters, to Can Grande 240–1, 312, 348 n.6b;
to Henry VII 120, 273–4, 289;
to Italian cardinals 287–9
as modernist 11, 12, 163–4, 331, 342
personal life, children 137, 184;
death of father 80–1;
love affairs 1, 242, 243–50, 253;
marriage 4, 55–6, 60, 62–4;
possible homosexuality 70
pilgrimage to Rome (1300) 14, 17–20, 24, 30
and politics 4, 48, 76, 163, 169–91;
as ambassador to Boniface VIII 34–5, 183–4;
and Black Guelfs 216, 228, 278;
and Council of One Hundred 174;
exile from Florence 3, 5, 36–7, 62, 116, 117, 184–5, 188, 190–1, 298;
and Ghibellines 190;
and Henry VII 8, 120, 163, 268–72, 273–5, 278, 281, 330;
and the people 228–9;
as Prior 178;
and White Guelfs 190, 216, 228, 278
and realism 203–4, 206, 251
reputation 317–20, 331
as soldier, at battle of Campaldino 120, 126, 129
works, Alpine Ode 244–9;
De Monarchia 169, 272, 289, 317, 351 n.7;
De Vulgari Eloquentia 218, 220–1, 226–9, 237;
Eclogues 295–6;
Il Fiore 82–3, 97;
Rime 337;
youthful poetry 81, 105–17, 129–30, 164;
see also Comedy; Il Convivio; Inferno; Paradiso; Purgatorio; Vita Nuova
Dante da Maiano 106
Dark Ages 145–6, 152
De Causis 239–40
De Mauro, Tullio 353 n.1b
De Rougement, Denis 86, 88
Del Virgilio, Giovanni 295–6, 298
Della Bella, Giano 173, 174
Della Faggiuola, Uguccione 59, 185
Della Scala, Alberto 282–3
Della Scala, Alboino 283
Della Scala, Bartolomeo 184, 191, 283
Della Scala, Francesco see Can Grande
Della Scala, Giuseppe, Abbot of San Zeno 282
Della
Scala, Mastino 282
Della Scala family 282–4
Della Tosa, Rossellino 61
desire (disio) 209
determinism, and free will 211–14, 280
dialects, Italian 218, 220, 226, 281
‘Dies Irae’ 74
Disraeli, Isaac 324
dogs, in Comedy 121
dolce stil nuove see New Sweet Style
Dolcino, Fra 260
Domenico di Michelino, Dante and his poem the Divine Comedy Fig.23
Dominic, St (1170–1221) 95, 154, 305
Dominicans 154
and asceticism 95
and Cathars 92, 94, 154
and Catholic intellectualism 155–6, 305
in Florence 59, 61, 94, 159, 163, 197
see also Aquinas, Thomas
Donati, Buoso 59
Donati, Cianfa 58–9
Donati, Corso 32–3, 34, 36, 58, 64, 173, 214
and battle of Campaldino 126
and Dante’s exile from Florence 4–5, 116, 175, 184
downfall 59–60, 62, 183, 185–6
Donati, Forese (childhood friend of Dante) 4, 59–60, 62, 64, 114–16
in Purgatory 115
Donati, Gemma (wife of Dante) 4, 41, 55–6, 57–8, 60, 62–4, 73, 170
and Dante’s exile 62, 184, 244, 295, 296
as donna gentile 137–9
Donati, Piccarda 60–2, 64, 209, 303, 332
Donati family 4, 32, 41, 50, 55–7
and Cerchi family 174–6, 178
as Guelfs 124
in Inferno 58–9, 61
donna gentile 135, 136–40, 217, 240, 243
displacement by Beata Beatrice 139–40, 164–5, 236, 240
Gemma Donati as 137–9
as philosophy 138–42, 164–5, 236, 243, 248
Doré, Gustave 328
dualism, in Christianity 100–1
as heresy 88–90, 95, 100
Duccio di Buoninsegna, Maestà 202–3, 302, Fig. 18
Duns Scotus 156
Ebner, Christine 235
Ebner, Margarethe 235
Eckhart, Meister (Eckhart von Hochheim OP) 156
ecstasy 159–62
education, in Florence 67–8
Trivium and Quadrivium 142–4, 158, 352 n.6
see also universities
Edward I of England (r. 1272–1307) 25, 54
Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France 309
Eliade, Mircea 90–1, 349 n.10
Eliot, T. S. 7, 80, 116–17, 331–4, 339–40
Emerson, Ralph Waldo 322
Empyrean 140, 159–60, 333
Enlightenment, and attitudes to Dante 8
Epicureanism 176–7, 238, 248
Eugenius III, Pope (Barnardo Pignatelli 1145–53) 308, 311
Europe, and emergence of nation states 3, 118
and technological advances 3, 15
experience of God, mystical 234–42, 302, 305–6, 314–15
Ezzelino II, Count of Mangona 249
faith, and reason 150–1, 237–8, 305–6
falconry 120–1
Fascism 220, 228, 330, 339
Fibonacci, Leonardo (1170–1240) 142–3
Ficino, Marsilio 108
