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In 1296 Dante Alighieri became a councilor in Florence.

In retrospect, it was the mistake of his life.

Well, who would not have gone into politics around 1300 - in this prosperous republic?

Florence was not only a metropolis under the Medici during the Renaissance, which overtook Rome.

Trade and money had already developed enormously here in the Duecento, from 1252 the gold coin Florentine was minted - also known as the "Dollar of the Middle Ages" (Kurt Flasch).

The poet Dante, born in 1265 and coming from the lower nobility, had a legitimate interest in getting involved politically, because at that time only friends and foes were known.

The centuries-long power struggle between Pope and Emperor, ecclesiastical and secular rule had already shaped the Middle Ages - and hardened brutally in Florence.

There were two parties that fought each other to the brim: the Ghibellines loyal to the emperor (Team Reichsadler) and the Pope-friendly Guelphs (Team Lilie).

The camps were so hostile that they even formed splinter groups within their faction.

The

guelfi

split into more imperial-friendly whites and militant blacks

loyal

to the pope.

Dante, part of the white party, becomes prior in 1300, one of the six most powerful men in Florence.

He represents the guild of doctors and pharmacists.

Important business, even before the plague, which arrived in Venice in 1348 and will plague Europe for centuries.

No, the real plague in Dante's lifetime was the divided society.

You could not

not

caught in the crossfire.

Banished: Dante outside the walls of Florence

Source: Heritage Images / Getty Images

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When Pope Boniface VIII plans to make Tuscany his vicariate, Dante is supposed to avert it.

He was sent to Rome as a negotiator in 1301 - and then coldly maneuvered to the side.

Because at home the rulers change, Florence goes black, the whites are put on trial.

In absentia, Dante is fined heavily and banned from any political activity.

He is canceled by the opposing party.

Because he does not accept this and does not appear in court, judgment 1302 is sharpened: death by burning.

Dante is threatened with the stake

Dante is now threatened with the stake should he ever enter Florence again, and that only because his political stance "more emperor, less pope" in Florence is not opportune.

When Henry VII, who was crowned king in Aachen in 1309, moved with his army to Rome to be crowned emperor, Dante once again had hope: In 1312 Heinrich was finally crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, then he besieged Florence, but he fails.

Emperor Heinrich dies in 1313 and Dante will never see Florence again.

He now lives as an exile in Verona and Ravenna and writes his main work, the "Divine Comedy".

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The poem tells of a man who lets himself be led through the afterlife: hell, purification mountain and paradise.

One has often asked oneself how Dante was able to imagine the inferno in such spatial terms - after all, he didn't know any computer games.

Some say that Dante saw many caves during the years of his exile.

Business-savvy people claim that Dante visited her karst grotto in what is now Slovenia.

But there is no “Dante cave” in which it can be proven.

There is only Dante's gigantic poetry.

The Dante statue in front of the Santa Croce church in Florence

Source: Getty Images

When the poet died in 1321, he was buried in Ravenna.

Florence later builds him a monstrous grave and places his monument on the piazza.

Too late.

The remains of the greatest Italian poet remain in Ravenna - and Florence can still be angry about that in the Dante year 2021.

It is said that all life as a writer is paper.

In this series we provide counter-evidence.