Poetry and Politics in the Divine Comedy
Dante Uses King Manfred as his Mouthpiece in Purgatorio
Sep 24, 2009
Dante Alighieri was only a few months old when King Manfred of Sicily died at the battle of Benevento. Dante places the contumacious king in Canto III of Purgatorio in his Divine Comedy and uses him as the poet’s mouthpiece: a symbol of his imperial vision, a vessel for his biting critique of the Church. Dante transforms Manfred’s status from an alleged heretic son of an “anti-Christ” to that of an imperial martyr. Invested with a moral, theological and political significance, the soul of Manfred plays a central role in the Commedia.
Power Struggle Between Church and State
The conflict between church and empire in thirteenth century Tuscany reached its peak during the reign of Frederick II, Manfred’s father. This conflict expressed itself in Italian politics through the two great factions known as the Ghibelline and Guelph. Deriving their names from two powerful German dynasties, the Guelphs supported the papacy which sought control over temporal and spiritual matters while the Ghibellines aspired for a centralized Italian polity under the Emperor. And Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1220, was intent on doing just that -- bringing Italy under his control. To achieve his goal, he was ready to align himself with forces considered as heretic by the Church.
Though historical accounts vary, Frederick was charged with perjury, sacrilege, and heresy among other sins and was excommunicated at least twice by Gregory IX and Innocent IV. The church also referred to Frederick as the “anti-Christ.” For all his brilliance, Frederick, who died in 1250, had not been able to prevail against the papacy. Conrad IV of Germany succeeded his father as king of Sicily, but never as an emperor. When he died four years later, young Manfred, Frederick’s illegitimate yet favourite son, was ready to take on the mantle of the Hohenstaufens.
Short Lived Victory
In many ways Manfred was as remarkable as his father; he was well-educated, spoke several languages, loved poetry and was devoted to the Hohenstaufens’ cause. Manfred’s resemblance to his father both in temperament and political ambition combined with his immense popularity inevitably provoked the wrath of the papacy which would rage on until it cut Manfred’s life short and virtually ended the Hohenstaufen dynasty. But before that, Manfred was to score a decisive, though short-lived, victory against the papacy.
In 1260, Manfred’s army together with the Sienese Ghibellines led by Farinata degli Uberti defeated the Florentine Guelphs, who were aligned with the pope. As a result, Manfred was now in a position to control the whole of Tuscany except Lucca. Urban IV was greatly alarmed by Manfred’s advances into papal territory and acted swiftly to protect the church’s domain. He invited Charles of Anjou to come and help defeat Manfred against whom the Church has proclaimed a crusade. When Charles arrived in Italy with a large force in 1265, he was crowned king of Sicily and immediately launched a campaign to claim his kingdom from Manfred.
Manfred’s Defeat, Dante’s Disappointment
On February 26, 1266, the two armies met on the plain of Grandella near Benevento. Although outnumbered by the French, Manfred’s Germans and Saracens fought with desperate valour until Manfred was killed in battle. The triumph of papal-backed forces at Benevento marked the end of Ghibellinism in Florentine politics. The victorious Guelphs later on divided into two factions of Black and White, to which Dante belonged. The Blacks backed by Pope Boniface VIII eventually prevailed and banished most of the prominent White political leaders including Dante. Though Dante was a Guelph through family allegiance, in his political views he was more of a Ghibelline and briefly aligned himself with that group while in exile. The significance of Manfred’s presence in purgatory becomes more evident in light of Dante’s politics marked by imperial ambition and mistrust of the papacy.
The King Lives in the Commedia
Readers encounter Manfred in the ante-purgatory among the contumacious, who died excommunicated but yielded their souls to God at the last moment and must wait here “for thirty times the period of their contumacy”. By having the excommunicated Manfred in purgatory, Dante challenges medieval papacy which pretends to wield the power of damnation and salvation. He says the authority to pass final judgment rests with God who grants forgiveness to those who beg for it even with their last gasps. Manfred’s soul affirms this point as follows:
My flesh had been twice hacked, and each wound mortal,
when, tearfully, I yielded up my soul
to Him whose pardon gladly waits for all.
Horrible were my sins, but infinite
is the abiding Goodness which holds out
Its open arms to all who turn to it.
Sources:
Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy. Trans. John Ciardi New York: New American Library, 2003.
Singleton, Charles. The Divine Comedy: Trans. with Commentary. Princeton:UP of Princeton,1973.
Tierney, Brian. The Crisis of Church and State: 1050-1300. Toronto: UP of Toronto, 1989.
 |
