FREE ESSAY ON DANTE ALIGHIERI

DANTE ALIGHIERI

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in May, 1265, of an old family, of noble origin but
no longer wealthy. He studied the triviun and quadrivium, he spent a year of so at the
University of Bologna, and while there he came under the influence of some of the learned
men of his day. The most notable of these men where Ser Brunetto Latini, whose influence
Dante records in his poem (Inferno 15). As Customs of that time period Dante was
betrothed in his youth to Gemma Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati. The betrothals and
marriages were matters of family alliance, and Germma's dowry was fixed as early as 1277,
when he was 12 years old. The great love of Dante's life, and his greatest influence for
his works was his Beatrice. In 1289 Dante began when he fought against Arezzo at
Campaldino. In 1295 he was one of the council for the election of priors of Florence, and
in May, 1300, went as ambassador to San Gemignano to invite that commune to an assembly
of the Guelph cities of Tuscany. Dante spent his last years in Ravenna, under the
protection of Guido Novello da Polenta.