The last years of exile (1310-1321)

Between 1310 and 1313, Dante showed enthusiasm for the crowning of Henry VII as Emperor and for his arrival in Italy. Enjoying the hospitality of Guido da Battifolle in the Casentino from the end of 1310 until at least 1312, he indicated his expectations of the Emperor not only by writing three epistles to Henry VII’s wife in the name of Gherardesca, his host’s wife, but above all by writing a passionate plea in 1310 to the rulers of Italy to welcome and honour the Emperor (Epistle V), and, in 1311, by writing a vehement invective (Epistle VI) against the “villainous Florentines” who bitterly encouraged resistance to the Emperor. Dante’s obvious support for Henry caused him to be excluded from the amnesty decreed in 1311 by the Commune of Florence in favour of the exiled Guelfs. It is almost certain that Dante was in Pisa in March 1312 - as Petrarch tells us - to pay homage to the Emperor, who had arrived in Tuscany, but, out of “reverence” for his homeland, Dante did not take part in the Emperor’s siege of Florence in September and October. Following the Emperor’s sudden death, and having given up hope of ever returning to Florence, Dante settled in Verona in 1313 at the home of Cangrande della Scala, where he remained until 1318. In May 1315 he refused to take advantage of a new amnesty decreed by the Florentine Signoria, whose conditions Dante deemed defamatory. His refusal, indicated in Epistle XII, led to renewed exile and death sentences for him and his children. In 1318 he left Verona for reasons unknown and moved to Ravenna, as a guest of Guido Novello. Here, while attending to final work on Paradiso, he occasionally undertook chancery duties and embassies. In August 1321 he went on an embassy to Venice. On his return, he fell ill with malaria and died between 13 and 14 September.