310 



Till. STANDARD DICTIONARY OF. FACTS 



happy turbulence in IVrugi.i l>y announcing 



himself a- MMH by <lod to warn the people of 

 terrible visitations >hown to him in visions. 

 From these influences many joined together 

 and formed themselves into a society to do 

 penances and their songs, connected with the 

 church liturgy and chanted in dialogue form, 

 grew into the'tirst dramas in the Italian Umgue. 



The people of Tu-cany spoke a dialect closely 

 reaembfinc the Latin and it became the lan- 

 guage of literature. I'nder its democratic gov- 

 ernment Tu-t-any was the first province of Italy, 

 politically, and philosophy and science gained 

 a hold in the cities, hut pro-e was scanty during 

 the Thirteenth Century, while poetry in various 

 forms was abundant. 'The first real prose writ- 

 ing in Italian was a scientific hook, a treatise 

 ronomy and geography by Ristoro. A 

 collection of' tales called the "Cento Nbvelle 

 Antiche" belongs to that time, containing short 

 stories from history, ancient tradition, the 

 Bible, and legends. A number of novels were 

 aNo written, but they are of little note compared 

 with the rich legendary lore of other countries. 



(iiiittone d'Arezzo is a name that attracts 

 attention in this period, he wrote many poems 

 and some prose, mostly in the form of letters. 

 His love for antiquity, Roman tradition, and 

 the old language was strong; in his researches 

 he went back more than a thousand years and 

 took Seneca for his model, trying to write Italian 

 in the old Latin style. His subjects were moral 

 or religious and his mixed style most extrava- 

 gint and involved. All this belongs to the age 

 of beginnings. 



During this Thirteenth Century the Re- 

 formers gained greatly in numbers and about 

 the middle of the century one sect, the Paterini, 

 was nearly destroyed by the Guelphs, led by a 

 Dominican friar. Two columns in the city of 

 Florence still mark the place of the fearful mas- 

 sacre. Not many years later the banished Ghi- 

 bellines gathered their forces, became con- 

 querors in their turn and would have burned 

 the city but for the determined opposition of 

 Farenato degli Ubertia, whose name Dante 

 afterward made immortal. In the year 1282 

 the most wealthy guilds of the rich city drew 

 away from all rule and established a government 

 of tneir own, and this year may be considered 

 the data at which a new period of Italian litera- 

 ture began, the period of development. This 

 period saw, also, the beginning of Italian art in 

 n lyric poetry. 



The poet and philosopher, Cavalcanti, became 

 head of the Ghibellines; and when never-ending 

 brawls wearied the people who sought peace, by 

 banishing the leaders of the rival parties, he was 

 cast out among the rest and died in the year 

 1300. He wrote in prose on oratory and philos- 

 ophy, but his poems, especially the love sonnets 

 and short songs, were most noted and were 

 praised by Dante, who was his great friend. 

 Some of these songs were simple and graceful, 

 others were heavy with metaphysical ideas bor- 

 rowed from the Christian Fathers and ancient 

 philosophers. His "Canzone d'Amore" be- 

 came popular and was frequently published. 

 In the most noted songs or ballads, probably 

 written during banishment, his melancholy 



longing for home and his solemn love for the 

 lady of his heart crowded out all subtle philos- 

 ophy. More than two centuries later his com- 

 plete poetical works wen- placed in the libraries 

 of Florence and Venice. 



The works of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), 

 stand as the center of all literature of his time. 

 In his little book of poetry and prose, the "Vita 

 Nuova," are found lyrics, the form and style of 

 which mark all lyrical poetry of that clay. In 

 this he idealizes love, making everything heav- 

 enly through it as he tells the story of his own 

 love for Beatrice, whom he makes almost di- 

 vine. The "In Memoriam" of Tennyson has 

 been likened to this work. Dante was the most 

 illustrious of Florentine citizens as well as poets, 

 and was chosen prior of the republic in the year 

 1300. In his immortal poem, the " Divine Com- 

 edy," he has preserved the names and deeds of 

 the great men who made Florence renowned. 

 The parties contending for power took new 

 names at the beginning of the Fourteenth Cen- 

 tury, the Bianchi representing the remnant of 

 the old Ghibelline faction while the Guelphs, 

 the nobles or aristocracy, took the name of .the 

 Neri. Dante, as one of the Bianchi, was, at last, 

 among the proscribed and his life became a per- 

 petual pilgrimage from one Italian town to 

 another. 



The "Convito" or "Banquet" was the work 

 of Dante's manhood as the " Vita Nuova " was 

 the work of his youth. It is made up of three 

 treatises, each forming a commentary, and he 

 planned to compose eleven more, which would 

 have made it a book of universal knowledge. 

 Another work, "De Monarchia," written in 

 ! Latin in scholastic form, was meant to show 

 | that a universal monarchy is necessary to the 

 well-being of the world, this monarchy was to 

 be centered in the Romans. This has been 

 called the creed of Dante's Ghibellinism. Be- 

 I sides his "Divina Commedia " there are numbers 

 of sonnets, ballads, and short songs bearing the 

 poet's name, some of them undoubtedly spu- 

 rious. The letters of Dante have been counted 

 among the most important material for his 

 biography. He wrote to the government of 

 i Florence to complain of his undeserved exile, 

 ; to Henry VII. urging to some definite plans and 

 j to the Italian cardinals pleading for the election 

 ! of an Italian pope. There are other letters 

 to friends and to people connected with his 

 work. 



The contents and scope of the wonderful 

 poem, the " Divine Comedy," are beyond the space 

 of a short notice. From different authorities 

 we may conclude that it was begun about the 

 year 1300, the "Inferno "was finished in 1314, 

 the "Purgatorio" completed in 1318, and the last 

 cantos of the "Paradise" were probably finished 

 not long before the death of the poet. Dante 

 said of this poem that he called it a comedy be- 

 cause it had a sad beginning and a cheerful end- 

 ing. He hides an allegorical meaning under the 

 literal one and in this it is connected with mediae- 

 val literature, but the merit of the poem lies in 

 the individual art. He took his materials from 

 theology, philosophy, history, and mythology, 

 mingleol this with hatred and love, and under 

 his genius the dead became again alive. This 



