Abstract
Dante Alighieri spent most of his adult life trying to go home. Italy’s most celebrated poet and philosopher was born and raised in Florence. In his early years, he established himself as a prominent and respected citizen of that great and powerful city. But this privileged life would soon come to an end. At the turn of the fourteenth century, a bitter dispute broke out between political factions in Florence. Dante was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Pope to help resolve the issue. However, the quarrel back in Florence soon erupted into an open war.
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Notes
Par. xxv, 1–9 Cited in D’Entréves, A. P. 1965. ‘Civitas’. In Freccero, J. (ed.) Dante: a Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall.
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This appears to have been a requirement common to all European towns. Nicholas, D. 1997. The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century, New York, Longman.
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© 2013 Darshan Vigneswaran
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Vigneswaran, D. (2013). Centralization in the City-State. In: Territory, Migration and the Evolution of the International System. Palgrave Studies in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230391291_3
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