DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36582#0660
THE TORE GALLERY. 149
election of Henry of Luxemburg to the Imperial crown of Germany raised the hopes of
Dante, as Henry was known to have resolved on visiting Italy, with a view to asserting
his rights as King of the Romans. Dante hereupon changed his beseeching , tone for one
of defiance and menace, and addressed a circular to the ruling powers and people of
Italy, threatening the vengeance of Henry on the “felons” who had opposed him. He
told the Florentines that they had not sufficient power to resist the Emperor, and he
joined heartily with the Ghibellines in supporting the new-comer. About this time he
wrote his work on Monarchy, in which he contends that to the Emperors, as successors
of the Caesars of old time, belonged the supreme temporal power, and that the Popes
were simply the spiritual heads of the Church. It must be admitted that Dante’s conduct,
in first humbling himself to his fellow-citizens, and then fulminating against them when he
thought the way prepared for a triumphant return, was far from dignified, or even creditable.
He has been censured also, and with some reason, for his willingness to- lay Italy open
to the foreigner, in the hope of attaining his private ends, and of serving the interests
of the party to which he was now attached. But he saw, as so many others have seen,
the incalculable evils resulting from the temporal power of the Popes; and it is curious to
find him advocating, more than five centuries and a half ago,, the very settlement of
Italian affairs which is only now being carried into practice.
The hopes of Dante were doomed to disappointment. The Emperor at first made
some progress in the north of Italy, and Dante addressed to him a letter, begging him
to proceed to Florence, and put down the spirit of Guelph sedition, which showed itself
in an unnatural revolt against the parent city, Rome,, the seat of Empire. Henry shortly
afterwards entered Tuscany, and threatened Florence,, but without success; and in August,
1313, he died suddenly near Sienna. This extinguished the sanguine anticipations
of the poet. He resumed his wanderings about Italy, and never again adopted a tone
of entreaty towards his fellow-citizens. Indeed, when, in 1316, it was suggested to him
by a friend that he would be allowed to return if he acknowledged his errors and asked
for absolution, he haughtily replied :—
“ No, this is not the way that shall lead me back to my country. But I shall return
with hasty steps, if you or any other can open me a way that shall not derogate from
the fame and honour of Dante ; but if by no such way Florence can be entered, then to
Florence I shall never return. Shall I not everywhere enjoy the sight of the sun and
stars ? May I not seek and contemplate truth anywhere under heaven, without rendering
myself inglorious—nay, infamous—to the people and commonwealth of Florence ? Bread,
I hope, will not fail me.”
His final home was with Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of Ravenna; “a splendid
protector of learning,” says Cary in his biography; “ himself a poet; and the kinsman of
that unfortunate Francesca whose story had been told by Dante with such unrivalled
pathos.” (See Plates CXCI. and CCXLIII. of the present series, and the descriptions of
K K
election of Henry of Luxemburg to the Imperial crown of Germany raised the hopes of
Dante, as Henry was known to have resolved on visiting Italy, with a view to asserting
his rights as King of the Romans. Dante hereupon changed his beseeching , tone for one
of defiance and menace, and addressed a circular to the ruling powers and people of
Italy, threatening the vengeance of Henry on the “felons” who had opposed him. He
told the Florentines that they had not sufficient power to resist the Emperor, and he
joined heartily with the Ghibellines in supporting the new-comer. About this time he
wrote his work on Monarchy, in which he contends that to the Emperors, as successors
of the Caesars of old time, belonged the supreme temporal power, and that the Popes
were simply the spiritual heads of the Church. It must be admitted that Dante’s conduct,
in first humbling himself to his fellow-citizens, and then fulminating against them when he
thought the way prepared for a triumphant return, was far from dignified, or even creditable.
He has been censured also, and with some reason, for his willingness to- lay Italy open
to the foreigner, in the hope of attaining his private ends, and of serving the interests
of the party to which he was now attached. But he saw, as so many others have seen,
the incalculable evils resulting from the temporal power of the Popes; and it is curious to
find him advocating, more than five centuries and a half ago,, the very settlement of
Italian affairs which is only now being carried into practice.
The hopes of Dante were doomed to disappointment. The Emperor at first made
some progress in the north of Italy, and Dante addressed to him a letter, begging him
to proceed to Florence, and put down the spirit of Guelph sedition, which showed itself
in an unnatural revolt against the parent city, Rome,, the seat of Empire. Henry shortly
afterwards entered Tuscany, and threatened Florence,, but without success; and in August,
1313, he died suddenly near Sienna. This extinguished the sanguine anticipations
of the poet. He resumed his wanderings about Italy, and never again adopted a tone
of entreaty towards his fellow-citizens. Indeed, when, in 1316, it was suggested to him
by a friend that he would be allowed to return if he acknowledged his errors and asked
for absolution, he haughtily replied :—
“ No, this is not the way that shall lead me back to my country. But I shall return
with hasty steps, if you or any other can open me a way that shall not derogate from
the fame and honour of Dante ; but if by no such way Florence can be entered, then to
Florence I shall never return. Shall I not everywhere enjoy the sight of the sun and
stars ? May I not seek and contemplate truth anywhere under heaven, without rendering
myself inglorious—nay, infamous—to the people and commonwealth of Florence ? Bread,
I hope, will not fail me.”
His final home was with Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of Ravenna; “a splendid
protector of learning,” says Cary in his biography; “ himself a poet; and the kinsman of
that unfortunate Francesca whose story had been told by Dante with such unrivalled
pathos.” (See Plates CXCI. and CCXLIII. of the present series, and the descriptions of
K K