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Dante (Dictionary of World Biography: The Middle Ages)

Early Life

A welter of legend surrounds the life of Dante, author of the tripartite masterpiece La divina commedia (c. 1320; The Divine Comedy). Still, certain facts are clear. His neighbor Giovanni Villani wrote a brief sketch, and Giovanni Boccaccio wrote a eulogy which appeared sometime after Dante’s death. These accounts agree on a birth date in May of 1265. His family had had noble origins at...

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