DANT, DANTE, DAUNTE. Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in May 1265. His family belonged to the Guelph Party (Inf X.46-50). His great-great-grandfather, Cacciaguida, was knighted by Conrad III (Par XV.139-141). In the Vita nuova Dante tells that at the age of nine he fell in love with Beatrice Portinari, who died in 1290. About 1298 he married Gemma di Manetto Donati, by whom he had three or four children. From May to September 1296 he was a member of the Council of a Hundred, which governed Florence; he served on another council in 1297. In 1300 he served as a prior of the city for two months, from June 15 to August 15. During this time the council banished from Florence the leaders of the Neri and the Bianchi, including Dante's friend Guido Cavalcanti, who belonged to the latter party. In October 1301 Dante was a member of an embassy sent by the Bianchi to Rome to protest the Neri's schemes, and during his absence, the Podesta pronounced a sentence of banishment against Dante, and all his goods were seized. From 1302 to 1316 Dante wandered from place to place. When, in 1316, an amnesty was declared under degrading conditions, Dante scornfully refused it. He settled finally in 1317 in Ravenna with two of his children at the invitation of Guido Novello da Polenta, and died on September 14, 1321, at the age of fifty-six. Besides the Divine Comedy, his works in Italian include the Vita nuova, Convivio, and a number of lyrical poems under the title Rime or Canzoniere; his Latin works are De vulgari eloquentia, De monarchia, various Epistles, and two Eclogues.

Although Chaucer mentions his name only six times, Dante's influence on his work is extensive. The Old Wife's speech on gentilesse, WBT 1125-1130, resembles Convivio IV.15, 19-38; Skeat suggests Purg VII.121. The Fiend tells the summoner that he will soon know hell from his own experience and will be able to hold a professorial chair on the subject better than Dante and Virgil, who have written on the subject, FrT 1516-1520. The Monk says that Dant is his source for the story of Ugolino of Pisa, MkT 2460-2462. The Dreamer advises his reader to read Virgil, Claudian, or Daunte for knowledge of hell, HF I.446-450. Chaucer says that Dante is the source for the idea that Envy is the laundress of Caesar's house, LGW F 358-361, LGW G 332-336. In Inf XIII.64, Dante says that Envy is a meretrice or "whore."

Chaucer uses Dante in other places where he does not mention his name. Special mention must be made of the invocations of HF II.518-528, influenced by Inf II.7; HF III.1091-1109, influenced by Par I.13-27. The Invocacio ad Mariam in The Second Nun's Tale is clearly based on several sources, including St. Bernard's prayer to the Virgin, Par XXXII.1-39.

Dant, WBT 1126, FrT 1520, MkT 2461, is contracted for the meter; Dantes, the ME genitive case, occurs in medial position, WBT 1127; Daunte, with silent final -e, appears in medial position, HF I.450. Dante, with final syllabic -e, occurs in final rhyming position, LGW F 360, LGW G 336.