Editing Dante Alighieri (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Casa di dante 01.JPG|thumb|left|Dante's house museum in Florence. The house has been significantly altered since Dante's time.{{Sfn|Barbero|2022|p=79}}]]
[[File:Bargello - Kapelle Fresko 2a.jpg|thumb|upright=.75|Alleged Dante portrait attributed to [[Giotto di Bondone|Giotto]], in the chapel of the [[Bargello]] palace, Florence.{{Sfn|Santagata|2016|p=6}} It was painted {{Circa|1335}} and has been restored.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gombrich |first=E. H. |date=1979 |title=Giotto's Portrait of Dante? |url=http://www.jstor.com/stable/879612 |journal=The Burlington Magazine |volume=121 |issue=917 |pages=471–483 |jstor=879612}}</ref>]]
Dante was born in [[Florence]], [[Republic of Florence]], in what is now Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is believed to be around May 1265.<ref name=dbi>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dante-alighieri_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/|title=Alighieri, Dante|encyclopedia=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani|first=Siro A.|last=Chimenz|volume=2|year=1960|publisher=Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana|language=it|access-date=February 22, 2022|archive-date=March 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317041529/https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dante-alighieri_(Dizionario-Biografico)/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|Santagata|2016|p=3}}{{Sfn|Took|2021|p=28}} This can be deduced from [[Autobiographical|autobiographic]] [[allusion]]s in the ''[[Divine Comedy]]''. Its first section, the ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', begins, "{{lang|it|Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita}}" ("Midway upon the journey of our life"), implying that Dante was around 35 years old, since the average lifespan according to the Bible (Psalm 89:10<!-- do not change to Ps. 90; in the Vulgate, as specified, the chapter is 89 -->, Vulgate) is 70 years; and since his imaginary travel to the netherworld took place in 1300, he was most probably born around 1265. Some verses of the ''Paradiso'' section of the ''Divine Comedy'' also provide a possible clue that he was born under the sign of [[Gemini (astrology)|Gemini]]: "As I revolved with the eternal twins, I saw revealed, from hills to river outlets, the threshing-floor that makes us so ferocious" (XXII &nbsp;151–154). In 1265, the sun was in Gemini between approximately May 11 and June 11 ([[Julian calendar]]).<ref name="auto"/>

Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans (''Inferno'', XV, 76), but the earliest relative he could mention by name was his great-great-grandfather [[Cacciaguida]] degli Elisei (''Paradiso'', XV, 135), born no earlier than about 1100. Dante's father was [[Alighiero di Bellincione]], a businessman and moneylender,{{Sfn|Santagata|2016|p=21}} and Dante's mother was Bella, probably a member of the Abati family, a noble Florentine family.<ref name="Trecc" /> She died when Dante was not yet ten years old. Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. It is uncertain whether he really married her, since widowers were socially limited in such matters, but she definitely bore him two children, Dante's half-brother Francesco and half-sister Tana (Gaetana).<ref name="Trecc">{{cite dictionary|dictionary=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani|publisher=[[Enciclopedia Italiana]]|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dante-alighieri_(Dizionario-Biografico)/|title=Alighieri, Dante|first=S.A|last=Chimenz|year=2014|bibcode=2014bea..book...56.|language=it|access-date=March 7, 2016|archive-date=March 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308070357/http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dante-alighieri_(Dizionario-Biografico)/|url-status=live}}</ref>

During Dante's time, most Northern Italian city states were split into two political factions: the [[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Guelphs]], who supported the [[Pope|papacy]], and the [[Guelphs and Ghibellines|Ghibellines]], who supported the [[Holy Roman Empire]].{{Sfn|Shaw|2014|p=14}} Dante's family was loyal to the Guelphs. The Ghibellines took over Florence at the [[Battle of Montaperti]] in 1260, forcing out many of the Guelphs.{{Sfn|Santagata|2016|p=14}} Although Dante's family were Guelphs, they suffered no reprisals after the battle, probably because of Alighiero's low public standing.{{Sfn|Santagata|2016|p=19}} The Guelphs later fought the Ghibellines again in 1266 at the Battle of Benevento, retaking Florence from the Ghibellines.{{Sfn|Santagata|2016|p=14}}{{Sfn|Shaw|2014|p=14}}

[[File:Dante alighieri, Palazzo dei Giudici.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|Portrait of Dante, {{Circa|1375–1406}}, from a fresco in the Palazzo dei Giudici, Florence{{Sfn|Santagata|2016|p=6}}]]
Dante said he first met [[Beatrice Portinari]], daughter of [[Folco Portinari]], when he was nine (she was eight),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.florenceinferno.com/beatrice-portinari/|title=Beatrice and Dante Alighieri > A Love Story|date=December 14, 2016|access-date=January 13, 2022|archive-date=January 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113235750/https://www.florenceinferno.com/beatrice-portinari/|url-status=live}}</ref> and he claimed to have fallen in love with her "[[Love at first sight|at first sight]]", apparently without even talking with her.<ref>{{cite book |title=Delphi Complete Works of Dante Alighieri |edition= Illustrated |volume=6 |first=Dante |last=Alighieri |publisher= Delphi Classics |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-909496-19-4}}</ref> When he was 12, however, he was promised in marriage to [[Gemma Donati|Gemma di Manetto Donati]], daughter of Manetto Donati, member of the powerful Donati family.<ref name=Trecc/> Contracting marriages for children at such an early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a [[civil law notary|notary]].<ref name=Trecc/> Dante claimed to have seen Beatrice again frequently after he turned 18, exchanging greetings with her in the streets of Florence, though he never knew her well.<ref name=jmdent/>

Years after his marriage to Gemma, he claims to have met Beatrice again; he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. He refers to other Donati relations, notably Forese and Piccarda, in his ''Divine Comedy''. The exact date of his marriage is not known; the only certain information is that, before his exile in 1301, he had fathered three children with Gemma (Pietro, [[Jacopo Alighieri|Jacopo]] and Antonia).<ref name=Trecc/>

Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the [[Battle of Campaldino]] (June 11, 1289).<ref name="Davenport2005">{{cite book|last=Davenport|first=John|title=Dante: Poet, Author, and Proud Florentine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWWKW15MjqMC&pg=PA53|year=2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0415-7|page=53|access-date=March 7, 2016}}</ref> This victory brought about a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take part in public life, one had to enroll in one of the city's many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians' and Apothecaries' Guild.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=di Serego Alighieri |first1=Sperello |title=The Sun and the other Stars of Dante Alighieri |last2=Capaccioli |first2=Massimo |publisher=World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. |year=2022 |isbn=9789811246227 |location=Singapore |pages=48}}</ref> His name is occasionally recorded as speaking or voting in the councils of the republic. Many minutes from such meetings between 1298 and 1300 were lost, so the extent of his participation is uncertain.