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Dante was politically active, part of the physicians, apothacaries, and book dealers guild and later one of the 6 priors of Florence.  Florence was divided into factions, the Papal Guelphs, the “Whites”,  with Pope Boniface VIII,  and the Ghibellines, the Holy Roman Empire party, the “Blacks”, with King Philip of France and later King Henry of Luxembourg. Dante was exiled from Florence about 1302, living with sympathetic patrons for the remainder of his life.  It was during this exile that he traveled, studied philosophy and theology, and wrote several works, including [[The Divine Comedy]].

Dante was politically active, part of the physicians, apothacaries, and book dealers guild and later one of the 6 priors of Florence.  Florence was divided into factions, the Papal Guelphs, the “Whites”,  with Pope Boniface VIII,  and the Ghibellines, the Holy Roman Empire party, the “Blacks”, with King Philip of France and later King Henry of Luxembourg. Dante was exiled from Florence about 1302, living with sympathetic patrons for the remainder of his life.  It was during this exile that he traveled, studied philosophy and theology, and wrote several works, including [[The Divine Comedy]].

Dante wrote his most famous works in the Italian language of the time (the vernacular) rather than [[Latin]], revolutionizing the common language intellectually much the way [[Shakespeare]] would for english several centuries later. The ''[[Vita Nuova]]'' is an early collection of love poems inspired by [[Beatrice]], a woman whom he adopted as his [[muse]]. Dante later described the path of a soul to salvation in "[[The Divine Comedy]]," in which Dante travels through [[Hell]] ([[Inferno]]), [[Purgatory]] ([[Purgatorio]]), and [[Heaven]] ([[Paradiso]]).  In this journey, Dante is first guided by the Roman epic poet [[Virgil]], and then by the soul of Beatrice, who had died young.

Dante wrote his most famous works in the Italian language of the time (the vernacular) rather than [[Latin]], revolutionizing the common language intellectually just as [[Shakespeare]] would for English several centuries later. The ''[[Vita Nuova]]'' is an early collection of love poems inspired by [[Beatrice]], a woman whom he adopted as his [[muse]]. Dante later described the path of a soul to salvation in "[[The Divine Comedy]]," in which Dante travels through [[Hell]] ([[Inferno]]), [[Purgatory]] ([[Purgatorio]]), and [[Heaven]] ([[Paradiso]]).  In this journey, Dante is first guided by the Roman epic poet [[Virgil]], and then by the soul of Beatrice, who had died young.

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