secured by the Ordinances of Justice, whereby nobles and magnates are more strictly excluded from office, and subjected to severe penalties for offences against the people.

1294. Abdication of Pope Celestine V. and election of Boniface VIII. Inf. iii., xix., xxvii.

1295. Dante enters public life. On July 6, he speaks in the General Council of the Commune, in support of modifications in the Ordinances of Justice.

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1300. The Jubilee proclaimed (Purg. ii.). A papal conspiracy against the liberties of Florence discovered in April. The Guelfs "Whites having split into Bianchi and Neri, and Blacks, led by Vieri de' Cerchi and Corso Donati respectively, the factions come to blood on May 1 (Inf. vi.). On May 7, Dante goes on an embassy to San Gimignano. From June 15 to August 15, he sits by election in the chief magistracy of the Republic, as one of the Priors. Together with his colleagues, he resists the interference of the papal legate, Cardinal Matteo d'Acquasparta (Par._xii.), and banishes the leaders of both factions, including Guido Cavalcanti. Guido contracts a fatal malady at Sarzana, and, returning to Florence after Dante's term of office is concluded, dies at the end of August (Inf. x.)

1301. The Bianchi hold the government of Florence, and, in May, expel the Neri from Pistoia (Inf. xxiv.). On June 19, Dante, speaking in the Council of the Hundred, opposes the grant of money to the King of Naples and of soldiers to the Pope. On November 1, Charles of Valois, as papal peacemaker, enters Florence, and causes a state of anarchy, in which the Bianchi are overthrown and the Neri return in triumph (Purg. xx., xxiv.; Par. xvii.). Dante is said to have been absent at Rome on an embassy to the Pope-but this is questioned.

1302. Dante, with four others, sentenced to fine and banishment (January 27). Together with fifteen others, he is sentenced to be burned to death (March 10). Cf. V. E. i. 6, Inf. xv., Par. xvii., and Canzone xx. The whole faction of the Bianchi is expelled from Florence (April 4). Dante at first shares their fortunes; but, between June 8, 1302, and June 18, 1303, he breaks away from them in disgust, and takes refuge with Bartolommeo della Scala at Verona. Par. xvii.

1303 (October). Death of Boniface VIII. Purg. xx.

1304. Dante probably goes to Bologna, where he writes, but leaves unfinished, the De Vulgari Eloquentia. Cf. V. E. i. 9, 15; ii. 12.

1305. By the election of Clement V., the Papacy is translated from Rome to Avignon. Inf. xix.; Purg. xxxii.

1306. Expulsion of the Florentine exiles from Bologna (March). Dante at Padua (August), and with the Malaspina in the Lunigiana (October). Cf. Purg. viii. Between 1306 and 1308, he writes, but leaves unfinished, the Convivio. About 1307 or 1308, he is said to have gone to Paris.

1308 (November). Henry of Luxemburg elected Emperor, as Henry VII.

1309. Dante probably writes the De Monarchia.

1310. Dante's Letter to the Princes and Peoples of Italy (Epist. v.). Henry arrives in Italy in September.

1311. Henry takes the iron crown at Milan (January), in which city Dante probably pays him homage. From the Casentino, Dante writes letters to "the most wicked Florentines within " (March 31, Epist. vi.), and to the Emperor himself (April 16, Epist. vii.). On September 2, by the reform of Baldo d'Aguglione, he is for ever excepted from amnesty and excluded from Florence.

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1312. The Emperor crowned in Rome (June 29). He unsuccessfully besieges Florence (September 19 to October 31).

1313 (August 24). The Emperor dies at Buonconvento, near Siena. Par. xxx.

1314. Death of Clement V. (April 20). Inf. xix.; Par. xxx. Dante writes his Letter to the Italian Cardinals (Epist. viii.), urging them to restore the Papacy to Rome.

1315. Dante probably at Lucca, under the protection of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Cf. Purg. xxiv. On August 29, Uguccione defeats the united armies of Naples and Florence at the battle of Montecatini. On November 6, the Florentine government, through the vicar of King Robert, renews the sentence of death against Dante, as a Ghibelline and a rebel; his two sons, Pietro and Jacopo, are included in the condemnation.

1316. Dante, in his Letter to a Florentine friend, refuses to return to Florence on dishonourable conditions (Epist. ix.). Probably towards the close of this year, he goes to Can Grande della Scala at Verona. Par. xvii.; Epist. x. 1.

1317. Dante settles at Ravenna.

1318-1320. Dante writes his Letter to Can Grande, dedicating the Paradiso to him (Epist. x.). He enters into a correspondence with Giovanni del Virgilio (Eclogues I. and II.), refusing the laurel crown at Bologna. At the end of 1319, he perhaps visits Piacenza, Mantua, and Verona, and at the last-named city (January 20, 1320) delivers a discourse concerning the relative position of earth and water on the globe's surface (Quæstio de Aqua et Terra, of which the authenticity is disputed).

1321. In July, Dante undertakes an embassy from Guido da Polenta to Venice. He dies at Ravenna on September 14. The manuscript of the last thirteen cantos of the Divina Commedia, left unpublished at his death, is found by his son Jacopo, and forwarded to Can Grande della Scala.