Fiuggi ( Central-Northern Latian dialect : Fiuio ) is a comune (municipality) in the province of Frosinone , in the Italian region of Latium . The town of Fiuggi became famous for its Acqua di Fiuggi (Fiuggi Water), which flows from its natural springs and mountains. The water has been used in Italy since as early as the 14th century and is famous for its purported healing properties.
167-448: Fiuggi, originally called Anticoli di Campagna , gained fame as early as the 14th century, when Pope Boniface VIII claimed his kidney stones had been healed by the mineral waters from the nearby Fiuggi spring. Two centuries later Michelangelo also extolled the virtues of the water that cured him of what he called "the only kind of stone I couldn't love". Soon Acqua di Fiuggi was being sent in bottles to all of Europe's royalty. Not until
334-561: A Black Guelph from the prominent Adimari family. Little is known about Argenti, although Giovanni Boccaccio describes an incident in which he lost his temper; early commentators state that Argenti's brother seized some of Dante's property after his exile from Florence. Just as Argenti enabled the seizing of Dante's property, he himself is "seized" by all the other wrathful souls. When Dante responds "In weeping and in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain," Virgil blesses him with words used to describe Christ himself ( Luke 11:27). In
501-484: A Guelph who was the father of Dante's friend and fellow poet, Guido Cavalcanti . The political affiliation of these two men allows for a further discussion of Florentine politics. In response to a question from Dante about the "prophecy" he has received, Farinata explains that what the souls in Hell know of life on earth comes from seeing the future, not from any observation of the present. Consequently, when "the portal of
668-569: A heraldic device emblazoned on a leather purse around his neck ("On these their streaming eyes appeared to feast"). The coats of arms indicate that they came from prominent Florentine families; they indicate the presence of Catello di Rosso Gianfigliazzi , Ciappo Ubriachi , the Paduan Reginaldo degli Scrovegni (who predicts that his fellow Paduan Vitaliano di Iacopo Vitaliani will join him here), and Giovanni di Buiamonte . Dante then rejoins Virgil and, both mounted atop Geryon's back,
835-618: A Christian, Dante adds Circle 1 (Limbo) to Upper Hell and Circle 6 (Heresy) to Lower Hell, making 9 Circles in total; incorporating the Vestibule of the Futile, this leads to Hell containing 10 main divisions. This "9+1=10" structure is also found within the Purgatorio and Paradiso . Lower Hell is further subdivided: Circle 7 (Violence) is divided into three rings, Circle 8 (Fraud) is divided into ten bolge , and Circle 9 (Treachery)
1002-663: A Florentine contemporary identified as Ciacco , which means 'hog'. A character with the same nickname later appears in The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio , where his gluttonous behaviour is clearly portrayed. Ciacco speaks to Dante regarding strife in Florence between the "White" and "Black" Guelphs , which developed after the Guelph/Ghibelline strife ended with the complete defeat of the Ghibellines. In
1169-521: A Franciscan; all three Italians. In his last Consistory for the promotion of Cardinals, on 15 December 1302, Boniface VIII named two more cardinals: Pedro Rodríguez , bishop of Burgos, Spain, became Suburbicarian Bishop of Sabina; and Giovanni Minio da Morrovalle (or da Muro), OFM, Minister General of the Franciscans, was appointed Suburbicarian Bishop of Porto. A Franciscan, a Spaniard, no Benedictines, no French. In fact, there were only two French in
1336-720: A canonry in the Cathedral of Todi in 1260. He also came into possession of the small nearby castello of Sismano , a place with twenty-one fires (hearths, families). In later years Father Vitalis , the Prior of S. Egidio de S. Gemino in Narni testified that he knew him and conversed with him in Todi and that Benedetto was in a school run by Rouchetus , a Doctor of Laws , from that city. Benedetto never forgot his roots in Todi , later describing
1503-567: A city. Among the Giants, Virgil identifies Nimrod (who tried to build the Tower of Babel ; he shouts out the unintelligible Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi ); Ephialtes (who with his brother Otus tried to storm Olympus during the Gigantomachy ; he has his arms chained up) and Briareus (who Dante claimed had challenged the gods); and Tityos and Typhon , who insulted Jupiter. Also here
1670-454: A council... but... the grief which had hardened in the heart of Pope Boniface, by reason of the injury which he had received, produced in him, once he had come to Rome, a strange malady so that he gnawed at himself as if he were mad, and in this state he passed from this life on the twelfth day of October in the year of Christ 1303, and in the Church of St. Peter near the entrance of the doors, in
1837-533: A grand-nephew of Pope Nicholas III, was also appointed, along with Francesco Napoleone Orsini, a nephew of Pope Nicholas III. Three years later, on 4 December 1298, four new cardinals were named: Gonzalo Gudiel (Gundisalvus Rodericus Innojosa), Archbishop of Toledo, was appointed Bishop of Albano; Teodorico Ranieri, Archbishop-elect of Pisa and papal Chamberlain, became Cardinal Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme; Niccolò Boccasini, OP, of Treviso, Master General of
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#17328011141072004-953: A heretical criminal to the French clergy. On 15 August 1303, the Pope suspended the right of all persons in the Kingdom of France to name anyone as Regent or Doctor, including the King. And in another document of the same day, he reserved to the Holy See the provision of all present and future vacancies in cathedral churches and monasteries, until King Philip should come to the Papal Court and make explanations of his behavior. On 7 September 1303, an army led by King Philip's minister Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna attacked Boniface at his palace in Anagni next to
2171-524: A literal sense, this reflects the fact that souls in Hell are eternally fixed in the state they have chosen, but allegorically, it reflects Dante's beginning awareness of his own sin. In the distance, Dante perceives high towers that resemble fiery red mosques . Virgil informs him that they are approaching the City of Dis . Dis, itself surrounded by the Stygian marsh, contains Lower Hell within its walls. Dis
2338-571: A member of a baronial family of the Papal States , the Caetani or Gaetani dell'Aquila . Through his mother, Emilia Patrasso di Guarcino, a niece of Pope Alexander IV (Rinaldo dei Conti di Segni—who was himself a nephew of Pope Gregory IX ), he was not far distant from the seat of ecclesiastical power and patronage. His father's younger brother, Atenolfo, was Podestà di Orvieto . Benedetto took his first steps into religious life when he
2505-483: A mission to France. Cardinal Simon had been appointed by Pope Urban IV (Jacques Pantaléon), between 25 and 27 April 1264, to engage in negotiations with Charles of Anjou , Comte de Provence , over the Crown of Naples and Sicily . On 1 May 1264 he was given permission to appoint two or three tabelliones (secretaries) for his mission, one of whom was Benedetto. On 26 February 1265, only eleven days after his coronation,
2672-519: A peace gesture toward the French, Clement V pardoned Guillaume Nogaret for his offences committed at Anagni against Boniface VIII and the Church, for which he had been excommunicated, with the condition that Nogaret personally go to the Holy Land in the next wave of soldiers and serve there in the military. By the end of Spring 1310, Clement was feeling the embarrassment and the pressure over the material being produced by Boniface's accusers. His patience
2839-403: A reflection of the spiritual stagnation in which they lived. After passing through the vestibule, Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across the river Acheron and to Hell proper. The ferry is piloted by Charon , who does not want to let Dante enter, for he is a living being. Virgil forces Charon to take him by declaring, Vuolsi così colà dove si puote / ciò che si vuole ("It
3006-482: A rich chapel which was built in his lifetime, he was honorably buried. He died of a violent fever on 11 October, in full possession of his senses and in the presence of eight cardinals and the chief members of the papal household, after receiving the sacraments and making the usual profession of faith. The body of Boniface VIII was buried in 1303 in a special chapel that also housed the remains of Pope Boniface IV (A.D. 608–615), which had been moved by Boniface VIII from
3173-544: A sixth part (or Book) these various papal decisions, including some 88 of his own legal decisions, as well as a collection of legal principles known as the Regulæ Juris . His contribution came to be known as the Liber Sextus . This material is still of importance to canon lawyers or canonists today, to interpret and analyze the canons and other forms of ecclesiastical law properly. The " Regulae Iuris " appear at
3340-516: A small mountain, but his way is blocked by three beasts he cannot evade: a lonza (usually rendered as ' leopard ' or ' leopon '), a leone ( lion ), and a lupa ( she-wolf ). The three beasts, taken from Jeremiah 5:6, are thought to symbolize the three kinds of sin that bring the unrepentant soul into one of the three major divisions of Hell. According to John Ciardi , these are incontinence (the she-wolf); violence and bestiality (the lion); and fraud and malice (the leopard). It
3507-538: A tomb outside the Vatican Basilica in the portico. The body was accidentally exhumed in 1605, and the results of the excavation recorded by Giacomo Grimaldi (1568–1623), Apostolic Notary and Archivist of the Vatican Basilica, and others. The body lay within three coffins, the outermost of wood, the middle of lead, and the innermost of pine . The corporal remains were described as being "unusually tall" measuring seven palms when examined by doctors. The body
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#17328011141073674-406: A wand, and rebukes those who opposed Dante. Allegorically, this reveals the fact that the poem is beginning to deal with sins that philosophy and humanism cannot fully understand. Virgil also mentions to Dante how Erichtho sent him to the lowest circle of Hell to bring back a spirit from there. In the sixth circle, heretics , such as Epicurus and his followers (who say "the soul dies with
3841-611: Is Antaeus , who did not join in the rebellion against the Olympian gods and therefore is not chained. At Virgil's persuasion, Antaeus takes the poets in his large palm and lowers them gently to the final level of Hell. At the base of the well, Dante finds himself within a large frozen lake: Cocytus , the Ninth Circle of Hell. Trapped in the ice, each according to his guilt, are punished sinners guilty of treachery against those with whom they had special relationships. The lake of ice
4008-503: Is twinned with: Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII ( Latin : Bonifatius PP. VIII ; born Benedetto Caetani ; c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 until his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial origin, with connections to the papacy. He succeeded Pope Celestine V , who had abdicated from
4175-465: Is 760 metres (2,500 ft) above sea level. The natives call it "Fiuggi Citta". Fiuggi Città is a medieval fortified village, which was around even before Roman times Main attractions include: Fiuggi is home to several spas that incorporate the Fiuggi water as part of their hydrotherapy treatment. The town is linked with the legend of the stuzze , in which St. Blaise, in order to save the town from
4342-491: Is a "monster with the general shape of a wyvern but with the tail of a scorpion , hairy arms, a gaudily-marked reptilian body, and the face of a just and honest man". The pleasant human face on this grotesque body evokes the insincere fraudster whose intentions "behind the face" are all monstrous, cold-blooded, and stinging with poison. Dante now finds himself in the Eighth Circle, called Malebolge ("Evil ditches"):
4509-487: Is an eight-year period in which nothing is known about his life. This period, however, included the long vacancy of the papal throne from 29 November 1268 to February 1272, when Pope Gregory X accepted the papal throne. It also includes the time span when Pope Gregory and his cardinals went to France in 1273 for the second Council of Lyon, as well as the Eighth Crusade , led by Louis IX, in 1270. The Pope and some of
4676-500: Is classified as an oligomineral water, and has been proven to contain certain components of the "humic substance" group which, it is claimed, gives the water its health benefits. Fiuggi is a divided into two parts, the upper and lower. The area where the springs are located is called new Fiuggi, or Fiuggi Fonte at the base of the hill (it was developed during the Middle Ages so it is not all that new). The upper part, or old Fiuggi,
4843-410: Is divided into four concentric rings (or "rounds") of traitors corresponding, in order of seriousness, to betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of lords . This is in contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery; as Ciardi writes, "The treacheries of these souls were denials of love (which is God) and of all human warmth. Only the remorseless dead center of
5010-685: Is divided into four regions. Thus, Hell contains 24 divisions in total. Dante awakens to find that he has crossed the Acheron, and Virgil leads him to the first circle of the abyss, Limbo , where Virgil himself resides. The first circle contains the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans , who, although not sinful enough to warrant damnation, did not accept Christ. Dorothy L. Sayers writes, "After those who refused choice come those without opportunity of choice. They could not, that is, choose Christ; they could, and did, choose human virtue, and for that they have their reward." Limbo shares many characteristics with
5177-442: Is guarded by a figure Dante names as Pluto : this is Plutus , the deity of wealth in classical mythology. Although the two are often conflated, he is a distinct figure from Pluto (Dis), the classical ruler of the underworld. At the start of Canto VII, he menaces Virgil and Dante with the cryptic phrase Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe , but Virgil protects Dante from him. Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from
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5344-409: Is intending to commit it. Suddenly, two spirits – Gianni Schicchi de' Cavalcanti and Myrrha , both punished as Imposters (Falsifiers of Persons) – run rabid through the pit. Schicchi sinks his teeth into the neck of an alchemist, Capocchio, and drags him away like prey. Griffolino explains how Myrrha disguised herself to commit incest with her father King Cinyras , while Schicchi impersonated
5511-531: Is less condemnable than malice or bestiality, and therefore these sinners are located in four circles of Upper Hell (Circles 2–5). These sinners endure lesser torments than do those consigned to Lower Hell, located within the walls of the City of Dis , for committing acts of violence and fraud – the latter of which involves, as Dorothy L. Sayers writes, "abuse of the specifically human faculty of reason". The deeper levels are organized into one circle for violence (Circle 7) and two circles for fraud (Circles 8 and 9). As
5678-569: Is no evidence that the Pope was beaten or physically harmed. He died a month afterwards. King Philip IV pressured Pope Clement V of the Avignon Papacy into staging a posthumous trial of Boniface. He was accused of heresy and sodomy but no verdict against him was delivered. Benedetto Caetani was born in Anagni , some 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of Rome . He was a younger son of Roffredo Caetani (Podestà of Todi in 1274–1275),
5845-523: Is now dawn of Good Friday , April 8, with the sun rising in Aries . The beasts drive him back despairing into the darkness of error, a "lower place" ( basso loco ) where the sun is silent ( l sol tace ). However, Dante is rescued by a figure who announces that he was born sub Iulio (i.e., in the time of Julius Caesar ) and lived under Augustus : it is the shade of the Roman poet Virgil , author of
6012-475: Is one of the names of Pluto , the classical king of the underworld, in addition to being the name of the realm. The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels . Virgil is unable to convince them to let Dante and him enter. Dante is threatened by the Furies (consisting of Alecto , Megaera , and Tisiphone ) and Medusa . An angel sent from Heaven secures entry for the poets, opening the gate by touching it with
6179-449: Is rebuked by Virgil. As a result of his shame and repentance, Dante is forgiven by his guide. Sayers remarks that the descent through Malebolge "began with the sale of the sexual relationship, and went on to the sale of Church and State; now, the very money is itself corrupted, every affirmation has become perjury, and every identity a lie" so that every aspect of social interaction has been progressively destroyed. Dante and Virgil approach
6346-402: Is required to confess all of their sins to Minos, after which Minos sentences each soul to its torment by wrapping his tail around himself a number of times corresponding to the circle of Hell to which the soul must go. The role of Minos here is a combination of his classical role as condemner and unjust judge of the underworld and the role of classical Rhadamanthus , interrogator and confessor of
6513-430: Is said that on one particular day some 30,000 people were counted. Giovanni Villani estimated that some 200,000 pilgrims came to Rome. Boniface and his aides managed the affair well, food was plentiful, and it was sold at moderate prices. It was an advantage to the pope that the great sums of money he collected could be used according to Boniface's own judgment. After King Edward I of England invaded Scotland and forced
6680-471: Is so willed there where is power to do / That which is willed"), referring to the fact that Dante is on his journey on divine grounds. The wailing and blasphemy of the damned souls entering Charon's boat contrast with the joyful singing of the blessed souls arriving by ferry in the Purgatorio . The passage across the Acheron, however, is undescribed, since Dante faints and does not awaken until they reach
6847-669: Is structurally based on the ideas of Aristotle , but with "certain Christian symbolisms, exceptions, and misconstructions of Aristotle's text", and a further supplement from Cicero's De Officiis . Virgil reminds Dante (the character) of "Those pages where the Ethics tells of three / Conditions contrary to Heaven's will and rule / Incontinence, vice, and brute bestiality". Cicero, for his part, had divided sins between violence and fraud . By conflating Cicero's violence with Aristotle's bestiality, and his fraud with malice or vice, Dante
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7014-572: Is the "realm [...] of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen". As an allegory , the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God , with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin. The poem begins on the night of Maundy Thursday on March 24 (or April 7), 1300, shortly before
7181-455: Is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri 's 14th-century narrative poem The Divine Comedy . It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso . The Inferno describes the journey of a fictionalised version of Dante himself through Hell , guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil . In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it
7348-544: The Aeneid , a Latin epic which also featured a journey through the underworld . On the evening of Good Friday, Dante hesitates as he follows Virgil; Virgil explains that he has been sent by Beatrice , the symbol of Divine Love. Beatrice had been moved to aid Dante by the Virgin Mary (symbolic of compassion) and Saint Lucia (symbolic of illuminating Grace). Rachel , symbolic of the contemplative life, also appears in
7515-586: The Nicomachean Ethics and the Physics of Aristotle , with medieval interpretations. Virgil asserts that there are only two legitimate sources of wealth: natural resources ("Nature") and human labor and activity ("Art"). Usury , to be punished in the next circle, is therefore an offence against both; it is a kind of blasphemy, since it is an act of violence against Art, which is the child of Nature, and Nature derives from God. Virgil then indicates
7682-693: The Amazons ), King Latinus and his daughter, Lavinia , Lucius Junius Brutus (who overthrew Tarquin to found the Roman Republic ), Lucretia , Julia , Marcia , and Cornelia Africana . Dante also sees Saladin , a Muslim military leader known for his battle against the Crusaders , as well as his generous, chivalrous, and merciful conduct. Dante next encounters a group of philosophers, including Aristotle with Socrates and Plato at his side, as well as Democritus , "Diogenes" (either Diogenes
7849-529: The Asphodel Meadows , and thus, the guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of Heaven. Without baptism ("the portal of the faith that you embrace") they lacked the hope for something greater than rational minds can conceive. When Dante asked if anyone has ever left Limbo, Virgil states that he saw Jesus ("a Mighty One") descend into Limbo and take Adam , Abel , Noah , Moses , Abraham , David , Rachel , and others (see Limbo of
8016-525: The Inferno. Dante and Virgil leave Limbo and enter the Second Circle – the first of the circles of Incontinence – where the punishments of Hell proper begin. It is described as "a part where no thing gleams". They find their way hindered by the serpentine Minos , who judges all of those condemned for active, deliberately willed sin to one of the lower circles. At this point in Inferno, every soul
8183-651: The Kingdom of Sicily . He also commended to the Cardinal the Sienese bankers who had been working for Urban IV to raise funds for Charles of Anjou, and that he should transfer to them some 7,000 pounds Tournois from the decima (ten percent tax) of France. On 20 March 1265, in order to expedite the business with Charles of Anjou, Cardinal Simon was authorized to provide benefices from cathedrals or otherwise within his province to five of his clerics. This may have been
8350-459: The Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, which saw Pedro's son Frederick III recognized as king of Sicily while Charles II was recognized as the king of Naples . To prepare for a Crusade, Boniface ordered Venice and Genoa to sign a truce; they fought each other for three more years, and turned down his offer to mediate peace. Boniface also placed the city of Florence under an interdict and invited
8517-531: The secular arm . By July 1297, Boniface yielded completely in the bull Etsi de statu , conceding that kings could raise taxes on church property and incomes during emergencies without prior papal approval. Philip rescinded his embargoes and even accepted Boniface's nuncios as arbitrators to delay and conclude his war with the English, with the 1303 Treaty of Paris restoring the status quo but obliging Edward to come to France in person to do homage for
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#17328011141078684-531: The " great refusal ", implied to be Pope Celestine V , whose "cowardice (in selfish terror for his own welfare) served as the door through which so much evil entered the Church". Mixed with them are outcasts who took no side in the Rebellion of Angels . These souls are forever unclassified; they are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the Acheron . Naked and futile, they race around through
8851-410: The 73-year-old Boniface was probably beaten and nearly executed, but was released from captivity after three days. He died a month later. The famous Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani, wrote: And when Sciarra and the others, his enemies, came to him, they mocked at him with vile words and arrested him and his household which had remained with him. Among others, William of Nogaret, who had conducted
9018-616: The Apostolic See, and caused an alliance between Her and your enemies?." In the face of the support of French clergy such as Pierre de Mornay for Philip's general position and the need for French revenue to combat unrest in Rome from the Colonna family , Boniface retreated still further. In February 1297, the bull Romana mater ecclesia permitted voluntary clerical donations without papal approval in times of emergency as determined by
9185-608: The Central Well, at the bottom of which lies the Ninth and final Circle of Hell. The classical and biblical Giants – who perhaps symbolize pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery – stand perpetual guard inside the well-pit, their legs embedded in the banks of the Ninth Circle while their upper halves rise above the rim and are visible from the Malebolge. Dante initially mistakes them for great towers of
9352-489: The Council of Vienne, opened on 16 October 1311, with more than 300 bishops in attendance. When the Council met (so it is said), three cardinals appeared before it and testified to the orthodoxy and morality of the dead pope. Two knights, as challengers, threw down their gauntlets to maintain his innocence by trial by combat . No one accepted the challenge, and the Council declared the matter closed. Clement's order disbanding
9519-516: The Cynic or Diogenes of Apollonia ), Anaxagoras , Thales , Empedocles , Heraclitus , and "Zeno" (either Zeno of Elea or Zeno of Citium ). He sees the scientist Dioscorides , the mythical Greek poets Orpheus and Linus , and Roman statesmen Marcus Tullius Cicero and Seneca . Dante sees the Alexandrian geometer Euclid and Ptolemy , the Alexandrian astronomer and geographer, as well as
9686-579: The Dominicans, became Cardinal Priest of Santa Sabina; and Riccardo Petroni of Siena, Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, was named a Cardinal Deacon. A pattern begins to emerge, though one sees the pattern only in terms of negatives: of the ten new cardinals, only two are monks, and neither of them Benedictine (Celestine V had been excessively partial to Benedictines); and there are no Frenchmen (Celestine had named seven Frenchmen, under
9853-624: The Florentines. He also identifies other sodomites, including Priscian , Francesco d'Accorso , and Bishop Andrea de' Mozzi . The Poets begin to hear the waterfall that plunges over the Great Cliff into the Eighth Circle when three shades break from their company and greet them. They are Iacopo Rusticucci , Guido Guerra, and Tegghiaio Aldobrandi – all Florentines much admired by Dante. Rusticucci blames his "savage wife" for his torments. The sinners ask for news of Florence, and Dante laments
10020-492: The French clergy. To forestall the ecclesiastical council proposed by Boniface, Philip summoned the three estates of his realm to meet at Paris in April. At this first French Estates-General in history, all three classes – nobles, clergy, and commons – wrote separately to Rome in defence of the king and his temporal power. Some forty-five French prelates, despite Philip's prohibition, and the confiscation of their property, attended
10187-509: The Ghibellines of Romagna , asking for news of his country. Dante replies with a tragic summary of the current state of the cities of Romagna. Guido then recounts his life: he advised Pope Boniface VIII to offer a false amnesty to the Colonna family , who, in 1297, had walled themselves inside the castle of Palestrina in the Lateran. When the Colonna accepted the terms and left the castle,
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#173280111410710354-526: The Order of Cardinal Priests , with the title of SS. Silvester and Martin. Given the fact that there were only a dozen cardinals, Cardinal Benedetto was assigned the care ( commenda ) of the deaconry of S. Agata, and his old deaconry of S. Nicola in Carcere. As cardinal, he served as papal legate in diplomatic negotiations to France, Naples, Sicily, and Aragon. Pope Celestine V (who had been Brother Peter,
10521-497: The Order of the Knights Templar was signed at the Council of Vienne on 2 May 1312. The pope is said to have been short-tempered, kicking an envoy in the face on one occasion, and on another, throwing ashes in the eyes of an archbishop who was kneeling to receive them as a blessing atop his head. Footnotes Citations Inferno (Dante) Inferno ( Italian: [iɱˈfɛrno] ; Italian for ' Hell ')
10688-695: The Papal Curia to Rome, where he was crowned at the Vatican Basilica on Sunday, 23 January 1295. One of his first acts as pontiff was to imprison his predecessor in the Castle of Fumone in Ferentino , where he died on 19 May 1296 at the age of 81. In 1300, Boniface VIII formalized the custom of the Roman Jubilee , which afterwards became a source of both profit and scandal to the church. Boniface VIII founded Sapienza University of Rome in 1303. In
10855-568: The Papal States. These measures had the effect of blocking a main source of papal revenue. Philip also banished from France the papal agents who were raising funds for a new crusade in the Middle East. In the bull Ineffabilis amor of September 1296, Boniface pledged approval of reasonable taxation for genuine emergencies but contested Philip's demands, asking him rhetorically: "What would happen to you—God forbid!—if you gravely offended
11022-520: The Patriarchs ) into his all-forgiving arms and transport them to Heaven as the first human souls to be saved. The event, known as the Harrowing of Hell , supposedly occurred around AD 33 or 34. Dante encounters the poets Homer , Horace , Ovid , and Lucan , who include him in their number and make him "sixth in that high company". They reach the base of a great Castle – the dwelling place of
11189-443: The Pope formally excused the King for everything that he had said against the memory of Pope Boniface, on the grounds that he was speaking with good intentions. This statement was written down and published as a bull, and the bull contained the statement that the matter would be referred by the Pope to the forthcoming Council. The Pope then announced that he was reserving the whole matter to his own judgment. The XV Ecumenical Council,
11356-471: The Pope razed it to the ground and left them without a refuge. Guido describes how St. Francis , founder of the Franciscan order, came to take his soul to Heaven, only to have a demon assert prior claim. Although Boniface had absolved Guido in advance for his evil advice, the demon points out the invalidity: absolution requires contrition , and a man cannot be contrite for a sin at the same time that he
11523-442: The Sacred College at Boniface's death, only five regular clergy (only one Benedictine). When Frederick III of Sicily attained his throne after the death of his father Peter III of Aragon , Boniface tried to dissuade him from accepting the throne of Sicily . When Frederick persisted, Boniface excommunicated him in 1296, and placed the island under interdict . Neither the king nor the people were moved. The conflict continued until
11690-432: The Violent. Dante and Virgil descend a jumble of rocks that had once formed a cliff to reach the Seventh Circle from the Sixth Circle, having first to evade the Minotaur ( L'infamia di Creti , "the infamy of Crete ", line 12); at the sight of them, the Minotaur gnaws his flesh. Virgil assures the monster that Dante is not its hated enemy, Theseus . This causes the Minotaur to charge them as Dante and Virgil swiftly enter
11857-418: The abdication of the Scottish King John Balliol , the deposed king was released into the custody of Pope Boniface on condition that he remain at a papal residence. The hard-pressed Scottish Parliament, then in the early stages of what came to be known as First Scottish War of Independence , condemned Edward I's invasion and occupation of Scotland and appealed to the Pope to assert a feudal overlordship over
12024-450: The adulterous affair. The English poet John Keats , in his sonnet "On a Dream", imagines what Dante does not write, the point of view of Paolo: ... But to that second circle of sad hell, Where 'mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw, Pale were the lips I kiss'd, and fair the form I floated with, about that melancholy storm. As he did at
12191-588: The ambitious Charles, Count of Valois to enter Italy in 1300 to end the feud of the Black and White Guelphs , the poet Dante Alighieri being in the party of the Whites. Boniface's political ambitions directly affected Dante when the pope invited Count Charles to intervene in the affairs of Florence. Charles's intervention allowed the Black Guelphs to overthrow the ruling White Guelphs, whose leaders, including
12358-596: The appearance of the town. Today a very active group of local residents is slowly restoring the stone façades in an effort to restore the city to its medieval form. In November 2024, the foreign ministers of the EU met in Fiuggi, resolving to support a easefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The Acqua di Fiuggi ("Fiuggi's Water") source runs through ancient volcanic deposits in the Ernici mountains, which has an ecosystem that has historically been unaltered by humans. In Europe it
12525-640: The appropriate mean are punished in the fourth circle. They include the avaricious or miserly (including many "clergymen, and popes and cardinals"), who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal , who squandered them. The hoarders and spendthrifts joust , using great weights as weapons that they push with their chests: Here, too, I saw a nation of lost souls, far more than were above: they strained their chests against enormous weights, and with mad howls rolled them at one another. Then in haste they rolled them back, one party shouting out: "Why do you hoard?" and
12692-584: The archbishop of Toledo, who had died in 1299, as Cardinal Bishop of Albano. The second was Gentile Partino , OFM, Doctor of Theology and Lector of Theology in the Roman Curia, who was made Cardinal Priest of S. Martin in montibus. The third was Luca Fieschi , of the Counts of Lavagna, of Genoa, named Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Via Lata (the deaconry which had once belonged to Jacopo Colonna). A relative,
12859-566: The assault of enemy troop, had fake flames appear on the town, deceiving the invaders and convincing them that the town had been already sacked. The miracle is today celebrated every 2 February, when wooden pyramids are burned in the principal square of the town to remember the event. The local dialect is a variant of the Central Italian dialect. Specifically, the city is in the Central-Northern Latian area. Fiuggi
13026-553: The body") are trapped in flaming tombs. Dante holds discourse with a pair of Epicurian Florentines in one of the tombs: Farinata degli Uberti , a famous Ghibelline leader (following the Battle of Montaperti in September 1260, Farinata strongly protested the proposed destruction of Florence at the meeting of the victorious Ghibellines; he died in 1264 and was posthumously condemned for heresy in 1283); and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti ,
13193-641: The boiling rivulet, Dante and Virgil progress across the burning plain. They pass a roving group of Sodomites, and Dante, to his surprise, recognizes Brunetto Latini . Dante addresses Brunetto with deep and sorrowful affection, "paying him the highest tribute offered to any sinner in the Inferno ", thus refuting suggestions that Dante only placed his enemies in Hell. Dante has great respect for Brunetto and feels spiritual indebtedness to him and his works ("you taught me how man makes himself eternal; / and while I live, my gratitude for that / must always be apparent in my words"); Brunetto prophesies Dante's bad treatment by
13360-553: The bottom, the sullen hatreds lie gurgling, unable even to express themselves for the rage that chokes them". As the last circle of Incontinence, the "savage self-frustration" of the Fifth Circle marks the end of "that which had its tender and romantic beginnings in the dalliance of indulged passion". Phlegyas reluctantly transports Dante and Virgil across the Styx in his skiff . On the way they are accosted by Filippo Argenti ,
13527-464: The bull Ausculta Fili ("Listen, [My] Son", December 1301) Boniface VIII appealed to Philip IV to listen modestly to the Vicar of Christ as the spiritual monarch over all earthly kings. He protested against the trial of churchmen before Philip's royal courts and the continued use of church funds for state purposes and he announced that he would summon the bishops and abbots of France to take measures "for
13694-496: The cardinals began their return to Italy at the end of November 1275. Pope Gregory celebrated Christmas in Arezzo and died there on 10 January 1276. In 1276, however, Benedetto was sent to France to supervise the collection of a tithe , which is perhaps when he held the office of Advocatus in the Roman Curia, and then was appointed a papal Notary in the late 1270s. During this time, Benedetto accumulated seventeen benefices, which he
13861-463: The cathedral. The Pope responded with a bull dated 8 September 1303, in which Philip and Nogaret were excommunicated. The French Chancellor and the Colonnas demanded the Pope's abdication; Boniface VIII responded that he would "sooner die". In response, Colonna allegedly slapped Boniface, a "slap" historically remembered as the schiaffo di Anagni ("Anagni slap"). According to a modern interpreter,
14028-528: The city as "the dwelling place of his early youth", the city which "nourished him while still of tender years", and as a place where he "held lasting memories". Later in life he repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Anagni, Todi, and his family. In 1264, Benedetto entered the Roman Curia , perhaps with the office of Advocatus. He served as secretary to Cardinal Simon de Brion, the future Pope Martin IV , on
14195-503: The council at Rome in October 1302. Following that council, on 18 November 1302, Boniface issued the bull Unam sanctam ("One holy [catholic and apostolic Church]"). It declared that both spiritual and temporal power were under the pope's jurisdiction, and that kings were subordinate to the power of the Roman pontiff. The Pope also appointed Cardinal Jean le Moine as Apostolic Legate to King Philip, to attempt to find some resolution of
14362-509: The country. The Pope assented, condemning Edward's invasions and occupation of Scotland in the papal bull Scimus, Fili (Latin for "We know, my son") of 27 June 1299. The bull ordered Edward to desist from his attacks and start negotiations with the Scots. However, Edward ignored the bull; in 1301, a letter was composed in which the English rejected its authority, but it was never sent. The feud between Boniface and Philip IV reached its peak in
14529-560: The current state of the city. At the top of the falls, at Virgil's order, Dante removes a cord from about his waist and Virgil drops it over the edge; as if in answer, a large, distorted shape swims up through the filthy air of the abyss. The creature is Geryon , the Monster of Fraud; Virgil announces that they must fly down from the cliff on the monster's back. Dante goes alone to examine the Usurers: he does not recognize them, but each has
14696-607: The dawn of Good Friday . The narrator, Dante himself, is 35 years old, and thus "midway in the journey of our life" ( Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita ) – half of the biblical lifespan of 70 ( Psalm 89:10 in the Vulgate ; numbered as Psalm 90 :10 in the King James Bible ). The poet finds himself lost in a dark wood ( selva oscura ), astray from the "straight way" ( diritta via , also translatable as 'right way') of salvation. He sets out to climb directly up
14863-547: The dead Buoso Donati to dictate a will giving himself several profitable bequests. Dante then encounters Master Adam of Brescia, one of the Counterfeiters (Falsifiers of Money): for manufacturing Florentine florins of 21 (rather than 24) carat gold , he was burned at the stake in 1281. He is punished by a loathsome dropsy -like disease, which gives him a bloated stomach , prevents him from moving, and an eternal, unbearable thirst . Master Adam points out two sinners of
15030-518: The diocese of Vasio (Vaison), on 18 October 1309. Both the King of Aragon and the King of Castile immediately sent ambassadors to Pope Clement, complaining that scandal was being poured into the ears of the Faithful, when they heard that a Roman pontiff was being charged with a crime of heresy. Complaints also came from Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. On 27 April 1310, in what was certainly
15197-412: The early 14th century, when Philip began to launch a strong anti-papal campaign against Boniface. A quarrel arose between Philip's aides and a papal legate, Bernard Saisset . The legate was arrested on a charge of inciting an insurrection, was tried and convicted by the royal court, and committed to the custody of the archbishop of Narbonne , Giles Aycelin – one of his key ministers and allies, in 1301. In
15364-459: The end of Canto III, Dante – overcome by pity and anguish – describes his swoon: "I fainted, as if I had met my death. / And then I fell as a dead body falls". In the third circle, the gluttonous wallow in a vile, putrid slush produced by a ceaseless, foul, icy rain – "a great storm of putrefaction" – as punishment for subjecting their reason to a voracious appetite. Cerberus (described as il gran vermo , literally 'the great worm', line 22),
15531-549: The end of the Liber Sextus (in VI°) , and now published as part of the five Decretales in the Corpus Juris Canonici . They appear as simple aphorisms, such as "Regula VI: Nemo potest ad impossibile obligari." ('No one can be obligated for something impossible.') Other systems of law also have their own Regulæ Juris , whether by the same name or something serving a similar function. Boniface VIII put forward some of
15698-424: The events of the abdication and election, said that Benedetto Caetani was only one of several cardinals who pressured Celestine to abdicate. However, it is also on record that Celestine V abdicated by his own design after consultation with experts, and that Benedetto merely showed that it was allowed by Church law. Either way, Celestine V vacated the throne and Benedetto Caetani was elected in his place as pope, taking
15865-478: The field of canon law Boniface VIII had considerable influence. Earlier collections of canon law had been codified in the Decretales Gregorii IX , published under the authority of Pope Gregory IX in 1234, but in the succeeding sixty years, numerous legal decisions were made by one pope after another. By Boniface's time a new and expanded edition was needed. In 1298 Boniface ordered published as
16032-407: The first creation, in 1295, only one cardinal was appointed, the Pope's nephew Benedetto Caetano. This was no surprise. Nor was the second creation, on 17 December 1295. Two more relatives were appointed, Francesco Caetano, the son of Boniface VIII's brother Peter; and Jacopo (Giacomo) Tomassi Caetani, OFM, a son of the Pope's sister, was made Cardinal Priest of S. Clemente. Giacomo Caetani Stefaneschi,
16199-486: The first of several political prophecies in the Inferno , Ciacco "predicts" the expulsion of the White Guelphs (Dante's party) from Florence by the Black Guelphs, aided by Pope Boniface VIII , which marked the start of Dante's long exile from the city . These events occurred in 1302, prior to when the poem was written but in the future at Easter time of 1300, the time in which the poem is set. The Fourth Circle
16366-812: The fourth class, the Perjurers (Falsifiers of Words). These are Potiphar's wife (punished for her false accusation of Joseph in Genesis 39:7–19 ) and Sinon , the Achaean spy who lied to the Trojans to convince them to take the Trojan Horse into their city ( Aeneid II, 57–194); Sinon is here rather than in Bolgia 8 because his advice was false as well as evil. Both suffer from a burning fever . Master Adam and Sinon exchange abuse, which Dante watches until he
16533-428: The future has been shut", it will no longer be possible for them to know anything. Farinata explains that also crammed within the tomb are Emperor Frederick II , commonly reputed to be an Epicurean, and Ottaviano degli Ubaldini , whom Dante refers to as il Cardinale . Dante reads an inscription on one of the tombs indicating it belongs to Pope Anastasius II – although some modern scholars hold that Dante erred in
16700-527: The grafters, an unidentified Navarrese (identified by early commentators as Ciampolo ), is seized by the demons, and Virgil questions him. The sinner speaks of his fellow grafters, Friar Gomita (a corrupt friar in Gallura eventually hanged by Nino Visconti – see Purgatorio VIII – for accepting bribes to let prisoners escape) and Michele Zanche (a corrupt Vicar of Logodoro under King Enzo of Sardinia ). He offers to lure some of his fellow sufferers into
16867-479: The great Pope Boniface abode prisoner among his enemies for three days.... the People of Anagni beholding their error and issuing from their blind ingratitude, suddenly rose in arms... and drove out Sciarra della Colonna and his followers, with loss to them of prisoners and slain, and freed the Pope and his household. Pope Boniface... departed immediately from Anagni with his court and came to Rome and St. Peter's to hold
17034-503: The hands of the demons, and when his plan is accepted he escapes back into the pitch. Alichino and Calcabrina start a brawl in mid-air and fall into the pitch themselves, and Barbariccia organizes a rescue party. Dante and Virgil take advantage of the confusion to slip away. Vanni hurls an obscenity at God and the serpents swarm over him. The centaur Cacus arrives to punish him; he has a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders and snakes covering his equine back. (In Roman mythology, Cacus,
17201-412: The heavenly scene recounted by Virgil. The two of them then begin their journey to the underworld . Feeling uncertain of his worthiness for the journey, Dante reflects on the paths of Aeneas and Paul, who were granted access to the realms of the afterlife, and doubts his own capability to undertake such a passage (Inf. 2.10-36). Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which bears an inscription ending with
17368-564: The hermit of Mount Murrone near Sulmone) abdicated on 13 December 1294 at Naples , where, much to the discomfort of a number of cardinals, he had established the papal court under the patronage of Charles II of Naples . He had continued to live like a monk there, even turning a room in the papal apartment into the semblance of a monastic cell. A contemporary, Bartholomew of Lucca , who was present in Naples in December 1294 and witnessed many of
17535-405: The ice will serve to express their natures. As they denied God's love, so are they furthest removed from the light and warmth of His Sun. As they denied all human ties, so are they bound only by the unyielding ice." This final, deepest level of hell is reserved for traitors, betrayers and oathbreakers (its most famous inmate is Judas Iscariot ). In the very centre of Hell, condemned for committing
17702-442: The impasse that had developed; he was granted the specific power of absolving King Philip from excommunication. On Maundy Thursday , 4 April 1303, the Pope again excommunicated all persons who were impeding French clerics from coming to the Holy See, "etiam si imperiali aut regali fulgeant dignitati." This included King Philip IV, though not by name. In response, Guillaume de Nogaret , Philip's chief minister, denounced Boniface as
17869-529: The influence of Charles II of Naples). Pope Boniface was distinctly changing the complexion of the membership of the Sacred College. Without the Colonnas, the influence of the King of France was greatly diminished. On 2 March 1300, during the Great Jubilee, Boniface VIII created three more cardinals. The first was Leonardo Patrasso, Archbishop of Capua, who was Boniface VIII's uncle; he replaced
18036-411: The king. On 3 April 1297, seven French archbishops and forty bishops, provided this authorisation, agreed to concede to the King the fifth part of their ecclesiastical revenues under the form of two tithes, the first of which to be paid by Pentecost , the second at the end of September. This subsidy could be collected just in case the war with England should go on, with Church authority and not by means of
18203-606: The land and furthermore to hand over the family's strongholds of Colonna, Palestrina , and other towns to the Papacy. Jacopo refused. Jacopo Colonna and his nephew, Pietro Colonna, had also seriously compromised themselves by maintaining highly questionable relations with the political enemies of the pope, James II of Aragon and Frederick III of Sicily. In May, Boniface removed them from the College of Cardinals and excommunicated them and their followers. The Colonna family (aside from
18370-495: The latter of whom is mentioned in Inferno XXX.44) first appears as a man, but exchanges forms with Francesco de' Cavalcanti, who bites Buoso in the form of a four-footed serpent. Puccio Sciancato remains unchanged for the time being. Consider well the seed that gave you birth: you were not made to live your lives as brutes, but to be followers of worth and knowledge. Dante is approached by Guido da Montefeltro , head of
18537-469: The latter sought to reinforce the nascent nation state by imposing taxes on the clergy and barring them from administration of the law. Boniface excommunicated Philip and all others who prevented French clergy from traveling to the Holy See , after which the king sent his troops to attack the pope's residence in Anagni on 7 September 1303 and capture him. Boniface was held for three days; however, there
18704-421: The latter, supposing him to be ahead of his time. The conflict between Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France (1268–1314) came at a time of expanding nation states and the desire for the consolidation of power by the increasingly powerful monarchs. The increase in monarchical power and its conflicts with the Church of Rome were only exacerbated by the rise to power of Philip IV in 1285. In France,
18871-400: The least heinous of the sins and its punishment is the most benign within Hell proper. The "ruined slope" in this circle is thought to be a reference to the earthquake that occurred after the death of Christ. In this circle, Dante sees Semiramis , Dido , Cleopatra , Helen of Troy , Paris , Achilles , Tristan , and many others who were overcome by sexual love during their life. Due to
19038-581: The memory of Boniface VIII to proceed." He gave a mandate to the Bishop of Paris, Guillaume de Baufet d'Aurillac, and to Guillaume Pierre Godin, OP, that the complainants should choose prosecutors and determine a day on which the Inquiry would begin in the presence of the Pope ( coram nobis Avinione ). The Pope signed his mandate at his current place of residence, the Priory of Grauselle near Malusan (Malausène) in
19205-444: The mist in eternal pursuit of an elusive, wavering banner (symbolic of their pursuit of ever-shifting self-interest ) while relentlessly chased by swarms of wasps and hornets , who continually sting them. Loathsome maggots and worms at the sinners' feet drink the putrid mixture of blood, pus, and tears that flows down their bodies, symbolizing the sting of their guilty conscience and the repugnance of sin. This may also be seen as
19372-428: The monstrous three-headed beast of Hell, ravenously guards the gluttons lying in the freezing mire, mauling and flaying them with his claws as they howl like dogs. Virgil obtains safe passage past the monster by filling its three mouths with mud. Dorothy L. Sayers writes that "the surrender to sin which began with mutual indulgence leads by an imperceptible degradation to solitary self-indulgence". The gluttons grovel in
19539-493: The monstrous, fire-breathing son of Vulcan , was killed by Hercules for raiding the hero's cattle; in Aeneid VIII, 193–267, Virgil did not describe him as a centaur). Dante then meets five noble thieves of Florence and observes their various transformations. Agnello Brunelleschi, in human form, is merged with the six-legged serpent that is Cianfa Donati. A figure named Buoso (perhaps either Buoso degli Abati or Buoso Donati,
19706-401: The mud by themselves, sightless and heedless of their neighbors, symbolizing the cold, selfish, and empty sensuality of their lives. Just as lust has revealed its true nature in the winds of the previous circle, here the slush reveals the true nature of sensuality – which includes not only overindulgence in food and drink, but also other kinds of addiction. In this circle, Dante converses with
19873-472: The name Boniface VIII. The regulations promulgated in the 1274 papal bull Ubi periculum had not envisioned an abdication, but declared that election proceedings should begin ten days after the death of the incumbent. The 1294 papal conclave accordingly began on 23 December, ten days after Celestine's abdication. This gave all twenty-two cardinals the chance to assemble at the Castel Nuovo in Naples,
20040-443: The nature of Fortune , who raises nations to greatness and later plunges them into poverty, as she shifts, "those empty goods from nation unto nation, clan to clan". This speech fills what would otherwise be a gap in the poem, since both groups are so absorbed in their activity that Virgil tells Dante that it would be pointless to try to speak to them – indeed, they have lost their individuality and been rendered "unrecognizable". In
20207-479: The negotiations for the king of France, scorned him and threatened him, saying that he would take him bound to Lyons on the Rhone, and there in a general council would cause him to be deposed and condemned.... no man dared to touch [Boniface], nor were they pleased to lay hands on him, but they left him robed under light arrest and were minded to rob the treasure of the Pope and the Church. In this pain, shame and torment,
20374-424: The new pope, Pope Clement IV wrote to Cardinal Simon, telling him to break off negotiations and travel immediately to Provence , where he would receive further instructions. On the same day, Clement wrote to Charles of Anjou, informing him that the pope had 35 conditions that Charles must agree to in accepting the crown; he also wrote to Henry III of England and his son Edmund that they had never been possessors of
20541-416: The occasion on which Benedetto Caetani acquired at least some of his French benefices. On 9 April 1265, on the petition of Cardinal Simon de Brion, the legation which had been assigned him by Pope Urban was declared not to have expired on the death of Urban IV. There would have been no point in making such a ruling if Cardinal Simon had already ceased to be Legate . On 4 May 1265 Cardinal Ottobono Fieschi
20708-553: The offence of sodomy , although there is no substantive evidence for this, and it is likely that this was the standard accusation Philip made against enemies. The same charge was brought against the Templars. Before the actual trial could be held, Clement persuaded Philip to leave the question of Boniface's guilt to the Council of Vienne , which met in 1311. On 27 April 1311, in a public Consistory, with King Philip's agents present,
20875-433: The other side. Virgil proceeds to guide Dante through the nine circles of Hell. The circles are concentric , representing a gradual increase in wickedness , and culminating at the centre of the earth, where Satan is held in bondage. The sinners of each circle are punished for eternity in a fashion fitting their crimes: each punishment is a contrapasso , a symbolic instance of poetic justice . For example, later in
21042-478: The other: "Why do you waste?" Relating this sin of incontinence to the two that preceded it (lust and gluttony), Dorothy L. Sayers writes, "Mutual indulgence has already declined into selfish appetite; now, that appetite becomes aware of the incompatible and equally selfish appetites of other people. Indifference becomes mutual antagonism, imaged here by the antagonism between hoarding and squandering." The contrast between these two groups leads Virgil to discourse on
21209-605: The papal throne. Boniface spent his early career abroad in diplomatic roles. Boniface VIII put forward some of the strongest claims of any pope to temporal as well as spiritual power. He involved himself often with foreign affairs, including in France, Sicily, Italy, and the First War of Scottish Independence . These views, and his chronic intervention in temporal affairs, led to many bitter quarrels with Albert I of Germany , Philip IV of France , and Dante Alighieri , who expected
21376-463: The phrase " Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate ", most frequently translated as "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here". Dante and his guide hear the anguished screams of the Uncommitted. These are the souls of people who in life took no sides; the opportunists who were for neither good nor evil, but instead were merely concerned with themselves. Among these Dante recognizes a figure who made
21543-675: The physicians Hippocrates and Galen . He also encounters Avicenna , a Persian polymath, and Averroes , a medieval Andalusian polymath known for his commentaries on Aristotle's works. Dante and Virgil depart from the four other poets and continue their journey. Although Dante implies that all virtuous non-Christians find themselves here, he later encounters two ( Cato of Utica and Statius ) in Purgatory and two ( Trajan and Ripheus ) in Heaven. In Purgatorio XXII, Virgil names several additional inhabitants of Limbo who were not mentioned in
21710-676: The poem, Dante and Virgil encounter fortune-tellers who must walk forward with their heads on backward, unable to see what is ahead, because they tried to see the future through forbidden means. Such a contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine revenge , but rather as the fulfilment of a destiny freely chosen by each soul during his or her life". People who sinned, but prayed for forgiveness before their deaths are found not in Hell but in Purgatory , where they labour to become free of their sins. Those in Hell are people who tried to justify their sins and are unrepentant. Dante's Hell
21877-580: The poet Dante, allegedly in Rome at the time to argue Florence's case before Boniface, were sentenced to exile. Dante settled his score with Boniface in the first canticle of the Divine Comedy , the Inferno , by damning the pope, placing him within the circles of Fraud , in the bolgia (ditch) of the simoniacs . In the Inferno , Pope Nicholas III , mistaking the Poet for Boniface, is surprised to see
22044-522: The poet obtained three major categories of sin, as symbolized by the three beasts that Dante encounters in Canto I: these are Incontinence , Violence/Bestiality, and Fraud/Malice. Sinners punished for incontinence (also known as wantonness) – the lustful, the gluttonous, the hoarders and wasters, and the wrathful and sullen – all demonstrated weakness in controlling their appetites, desires, and natural urges; according to Aristotle's Ethics , incontinence
22211-467: The pope to soon arrive at the eighth circle of Hell in his Divine Comedy , among the simoniacs . Boniface systematized canon law by collecting it in a new volume, the Liber Sextus (1298), which continues to be important source material for canon lawyers. He established the first Catholic jubilee year to take place in Rome . Boniface had first entered into conflict with King Philip IV in 1296 when
22378-720: The presence of so many rulers among the lustful, the fifth Canto of Inferno has been called the "canto of the queens". Dante comes across Francesca da Rimini , who married the deformed Giovanni Malatesta (also known as "Gianciotto") for political purposes but fell in love with his younger brother Paolo Malatesta ; the two began to carry on an adulterous affair. Sometime between 1283 and 1286, Giovanni surprised them together in Francesca's bedroom and violently stabbed them both to death. Francesca explains: Love, which in gentlest hearts will soonest bloom seized my lover with passion for that sweet body from which I
22545-445: The preservation of the liberties of the Church". When the bull was presented to Philip IV, Robert II, Count of Artois , reportedly snatched it from the hands of Boniface's emissary and flung it into the fire. On 10 February 1302 the bull Ausculta Fili was officially burned at Paris before Philip IV and a large crowd. Nonetheless, on 4 March 1302, Pope Boniface sent cardinal Jean Lemoine as his legate to reassert papal control over
22712-485: The process of centralizing royal power and developing a genuine national state began with the Capetian kings. During his reign, Philip surrounded himself with the best civil lawyers and decidedly expelled the clergy from all participation in the administration of the law. With the clergy beginning to be taxed in France and England to finance their ongoing wars against each other, Boniface took a hard stand against it. He saw
22879-421: The return of Aquitaine. Boniface proclaimed 1300 a " jubilee " year, the first of many such jubilees to take place in Rome . He probably wanted to gather money from pilgrims to Rome as a substitute for the missing money from France, or it may be that he was seeking moral and political support against the hostile behaviour of the French king. The event was a success; Rome had never received such crowds before. It
23046-415: The sales of its miraculous waters, and so it was often "bestowed" upon noble families in payment for services rendered. Sometimes these aristocrats didn't bother to visit the town, but they always sent a delegate to make sure none, or few, of the profits stayed in town. These upper-class outsiders slowly covered the original medieval walls with painted plaster similar to that found in present-day Rome, changing
23213-519: The seventh circle. Virgil explains the presence of shattered stones around them: they resulted from the great earthquake that shook the earth at the moment of Christ's death ( Matthew 27:51), at the time of the Harrowing of Hell. Ruins resulting from the same shock were previously seen at the beginning of Upper Hell (the entrance of the Second Circle , Canto V). Protected by the powers of
23380-500: The site of the abdication. Hugh Aycelin presided over the papal conclave as the senior cardinal bishop. Benedetto Caetani was elected by ballot and accession on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1294, taking the name Boniface VIII. On the first (secret) ballot, he had a majority of the votes, and at the accessio a sufficient number joined his majority to form the required two-thirds. He was consecrated bishop of Rome in Rome by Cardinal Hugh Aycelin on 23 January 1295. He immediately returned
23547-529: The story of the adultery between Lancelot and Guinevere in the Old French romance Lancelot du Lac . Francesca says, "Galeotto fu 'l libro e chi lo scrisse" . The word Galeotto means ' pander ', but is also the Italian term for Gallehaut , who acted as an intermediary between Lancelot and Guinevere, encouraging them on to love. John Ciardi renders line 137 as "That book, and he who wrote it,
23714-853: The strongest claims of any pope to temporal as well as spiritual power. He involved himself often with foreign affairs. In his Papal bull of 1302, Unam sanctam , Boniface VIII stated that since the Church is one, since the Church is necessary for salvation, and since Christ appointed Peter to lead it, it is "absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff". These views, and his chronic intervention in "temporal" affairs, led to many bitter quarrels with Albert I of Germany , Philip IV of France , and Dante Alighieri , who wrote his treatise De Monarchia to dispute Boniface's claims of papal supremacy. In 1297, Cardinal Jacopo Colonna disinherited his brothers Ottone, Matteo, and Landolfo of their lands. The latter three appealed to Pope Boniface VIII, who ordered Jacopo to return
23881-474: The swampy, stinking waters of the river Styx – the Fifth Circle – the actively wrathful fight each other viciously on the surface of the slime, while the sullen (the passively wrathful) lie beneath the water, withdrawn, "into a black sulkiness which can find no joy in God or man or the universe". At the surface of the foul Stygian marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers writes, "the active hatreds rend and snarl at one another; at
24048-695: The taxation as an assault on traditional clerical rights and ordered the bull Clericis laicos in February 1296, forbidding lay taxation of the clergy without prior papal approval. In the bull, Boniface states "they exact and demand from the same the half, tithe , or twentieth, or any other portion or proportion of their revenues or goods; and in many ways they try to bring them into slavery, and subject them to their authority. And also whatsoever emperors, kings, or princes, dukes, earls or barons...presume to take possession of things anywhere deposited in holy buildings... should incur sentence of excommunication." It
24215-454: The ten ditches. Dorothy L. Sayers writes that the Malebolge is "the image of the City in corruption: the progressive disintegration of every social relationship, personal and public. Sexuality, ecclesiastical and civil office, language, ownership, counsel, authority, psychic influence, and material interdependence – all the media of the community's interchange are perverted and falsified". One of
24382-430: The terrible winds of a violent storm, without rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow needlessly and aimlessly: "as the lovers drifted into self-indulgence and were carried away by their passions, so now they drift for ever. The bright, voluptuous sin is now seen as it is – a howling darkness of helpless discomfort." Since lust involves mutual indulgence and is not, therefore, completely self-centered, Dante deems it
24549-643: The three brothers allied with the Pope) declared that Boniface had been elected illegally following the unprecedented abdication of Pope Celestine V. The dispute led to open warfare, and in September Boniface appointed Landolfo to the command of his army to put down the revolt of Landolfo's relatives. By the end of 1298 Landolfo had captured Colonna, Palestrina and other towns and razed them to the ground after they had surrendered peacefully under Boniface's assurances that they would have been spared. Dante says it
24716-750: The time through his unexplained awareness of the stars' positions. The "Wain", the Great Bear , now lies in the northwest over Caurus (the northwest wind). The constellation Pisces (the Fish) is just appearing over the horizon: it is the zodiacal sign preceding Aries (the Ram). Canto I notes that the sun is in Aries, and since the twelve zodiac signs rise at two-hour intervals, it must now be about two hours prior to sunrise: 4:00 a.m. on Holy Saturday , April 9. The Seventh Circle, divided into three rings, houses
24883-468: The turn of the 20th century did it become fashionable to make pilgrimages to spa towns , and it was around this time that the King of Italy renamed Anticoli in honor of its most celebrated attraction – the Fiuggi Water. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Fiuggi and many nearby hill towns were part of the Papal States . Unlike its neighbors, Anticoli di Campagna provided a source of revenue through
25050-537: The two begin their descent from the great cliff in the Eighth Circle: the Hell of the Fraudulent and Malicious. Geryon, the winged monster who allows Dante and Virgil to descend a vast cliff to reach the Eighth Circle, was traditionally represented as a giant with three heads and three conjoined bodies. Dante's Geryon, meanwhile, is an image of fraud, combining human, bestial, and reptilian elements: Geryon
25217-545: The ultimate sin (personal treachery against God), is the Devil , referred to by Virgil as Dis (the Roman god of the underworld; the name "Dis" was often used for Pluto in antiquity, such as in Virgil's Aeneid ). The arch-traitor, Lucifer was once held by God to be fairest of the angels before his pride led him to rebel against God, resulting in his expulsion from Heaven. Lucifer is a giant, terrifying beast trapped waist-deep in
25384-508: The underworld. This mandatory confession makes it so every soul verbalizes and sanctions their own ranking amongst the condemned since these confessions are the sole grounds for their placement in hell. Dante is not forced to make this confession; instead, Virgil rebukes Minos, and he and Dante continue on. In the second circle of Hell are those overcome by lust . These "carnal malefactors" are condemned for allowing their appetites to sway their reason. These souls are buffeted back and forth by
25551-535: The upper half of the Hell of the Fraudulent and Malicious. The Eighth Circle is a large funnel of stone shaped like an amphitheatre around which run a series of ten deep, narrow, concentric ditches or trenches called bolge (singular: bolgia ). Within these ditches are punished those guilty of Simple Fraud. From the foot of the Great Cliff to the Well (which forms the neck of the funnel) are large spurs of rock, like umbrella ribs or spokes, which serve as bridges over
25718-514: The verse mentioning Anastasius ( "Anastasio papa guardo, / lo qual trasse Fotin de la via dritta" , lines 8–9), confusing the pope with the Byzantine emperor of the time, Anastasius I . Pausing for a moment before the steep descent to the foul-smelling seventh circle, Virgil explains the geography and rationale of Lower Hell, in which the sins of violence (or bestiality) and fraud (or malice) are punished. In his explanation, Virgil refers to
25885-605: The wisest men of antiquity – surrounded by seven gates, and a flowing brook. After passing through the seven gates, the group comes to an exquisite green meadow and Dante encounters the inhabitants of the Citadel. These include figures associated with the Trojans and their descendants (the Romans): Electra (mother of Troy's founder Dardanus ), Hector , Aeneas , Julius Caesar in his role as Roman general ("in his armor, falcon-eyed"), Camilla , Penthesilea (Queen of
26052-400: Was a pander." Inspired by Dante, author Giovanni Boccaccio invoked the name Prencipe Galeotto in the alternative title to The Decameron , a 14th-century collection of novellas. Ultimately, Francesca never makes a full confession to Dante. Rather than admit to her and Paolo's sins, the very reasons they reside in this circle of hell, she consistently takes an erroneously passive role in
26219-684: Was accompanied by Benedetto Caetani. He was in England until July 1268, working to suppress the remnants of Simon de Montfort's barons who were still in arms against King Henry III of England. To finance their rebellion, the barons had imposed a 10% tax on church property, which the Pope wanted back because the tithe was uncanonical. This drawback was a major concern of Cardinal Ottobono and his entourage. While in England, Benedetto Caetani became rector of St. Lawrence's church in Towcester , Northamptonshire . Upon Benedetto's return from England, there
26386-552: Was appointed Apostolic Legate to England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland by the new Pope Clement IV. In fact, he was sent as the successor of Cardinal Guy Folques, who had been elected Clement IV on 5 February 1265. On 29 August 1265 the Cardinal was received at the French Court by King Louis IX . There he learned that Simon de Montfort and his son Henry had been killed at the Battle of Evesham earlier that month. Cardinal Ottobono did not reach Boulogne until October 1265. He
26553-418: Was during the issuing of Clericis laicos that hostilities between Boniface and Philip began. At war with both his English and his Flemish vassals , Philip was convinced that the wealth of the Catholic Church in France should be used in part to support the state. He countered the papal bull by decreeing laws prohibiting the export of gold, silver, precious stones, horses, arms, or food from France to
26720-494: Was found quite intact, especially the shapely hands, thus disproving the myth that he had died in a frenzy, gnawing his hands, beating his brains out against the wall. The body wore ecclesiastical vestments common for Boniface's lifetime: long stockings covered legs and thighs, and it was garbed also with the maniple , cassock , and pontifical habit made of black silk, as well as stole , chasuble , rings, and bejeweled gloves. After this exhumation and examination, Boniface's body
26887-573: Was got by treachery by "long promises and short performances" as Guido of Montefeltro counselled, but this account by the implacable Ghibelline has long since been discredited. Palestrina was razed to the ground, the plough driven through and salt strewn over its ruins . A new city — the Città Papale — later replaced it. Only the city's cathedral was spared. To deal with the problem of the cardinals left to him by his predecessors, Boniface created new cardinals on five occasions during his reign. In
27054-455: Was moved to the Chapel of Pope Gregory and Andrew. His body now lies in the crypt (grotte) of St. Peter's in a large marble sarcophagus, inscribed BONIFACIVS PAPA VIII. After the papacy had been removed to Avignon in 1309, Pope Clement V , under extreme pressure from King Philip IV, consented to a posthumous trial . He said, "[I]t was permissible for any persons who wanted to proceed against
27221-433: Was permitted to keep when he was promoted. Some of these are enumerated in a bull by Pope Martin IV, in which he bestowed the deaconry of S. Nicolas in Carcere on Cardinal Benedetto Caetani. At Orvieto, on 12 April 1281, Pope Martin IV created Benedetto Caetani cardinal deacon of Saint Nicholas in Carcere. In 1288 he was sent as Legate to Umbria to attempt to calm the strife between Guelphs and Ghibellines , which
27388-724: Was sent to the monastery of the Friars Minor in Velletri , where he was put under the care of his maternal uncle Fra Leonardo Patrasso. He was granted a canonry at the cathedral in the family's stronghold of Anagni , with the permission of Pope Alexander IV. The earliest record of him is as a witness to an act of Bishop Pandulf of Anagni on 16 October 1250. In 1252, when his paternal uncle Pietro Caetani became Bishop of Todi , in Umbria , Benedetto followed him to Todi and began his legal studies there. His uncle Pietro granted him
27555-618: Was taking the form of a war between the cities of Perugia and Foligno . In the winter of 1289, he was one of Pope Nicholas IV's advisors as he decided on a settlement of the disputes over the election or appointment of Portuguese bishops, in which King Denis played a major role. To give greater authority to the final mandate of the Pope, Cardinal Latino Orsini of Ostia , Cardinal Pietro Peregrosso of S. Marco , and Cardinal Benedetto of S. Nicola in Carcere appended their signatures and seals. Three years later, on 22 September 1291, Pope Nicholas IV (Girolamo Maschi d'Ascoli, O.Min.) promoted him to
27722-443: Was torn unshriven to my doom. Love, which permits no loved one not to love, took me so strongly with delight in him that we are one in Hell, as we were above. Love led us to one death. In the depths of Hell Caïna waits for him who took our lives ." This was the piteous tale they stopped to tell. Francesca further reports that she and Paolo yielded to their love when reading
27889-707: Was wearing thin. He issued a mandate on 28 June 1310, in which he complained about the quality of the testimony and the corruption of the various accusers and witnesses. Then he ordered the Quaesitores that future examinations should proceed under threat of excommunication for perjury. A process (judicial investigation) against the memory of Boniface was held by an ecclesiastical consistory at Priory Groseau, near Malaucène , which held preliminary examinations in August and September 1310. and collected testimonies that alleged many heretical opinions of Boniface VIII. This included
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