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1265
Dante is born under the sign of Gemini (probably May 29) in Florence, son of Alighiero II, son of Bellincione.
1274
At the age of nine, Dante sees Beatrice, daughter of Folco Portinari, for the first time.
(According to the Vita Nuova, Dante falls in love with Beatrice at this first meeting .)
1275
Dante begins his studies at the convents of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella.
1282
Dante completes his studies.
1283
Dante's father dies.
He is married shortly thereafter to Gemma Donati, with whom he has four children (Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni and Antonia).
Dante writes his first sonnets.
1285
November 30: Dante becomes a soldier and takes part in the battle of the Sienese against the Aretines at Poggio Santa Cecilia.
1287
Dante probably goes to Bologna.
1288
Dante writes the song "Ladies who have intelligence of love" and the two sonnets "Love is one with the gentle heart" and "My lady bears love in her eyes."
1289
June 1: Dante takes part in the Battle of Campaldino, between the Guelph forces and the Ghibellines under the command of Vieri de' Cerchi. The Guelf League (Florence and Lucca) defeats the Ghibellines of Arezzo.
(Dante recalls this battle in Purgatorio.)
August 16: Dante participates in the siege of the fortress of Caprona conducted by the Lucchesi against the Pisans.
1290
June 8: Beatrice dies.
1292-1293
Dante's years of waywardness.
1292
Dante writes the Vita Nuova.
1294
Dante meets Charles Martel, king of Hungary and heir to the kingdom of Naples and the country of Provence, and establishes a friendship with him.
(Dante recounts their meeting in Paradiso VIII.)
1295
July 6: Dante enrolls in the Guild of Doctors and Druggists (apothecaries) and enters Florentine political life.
December: Dante is elected to the council of the Heads of the Arts in order to cooperate with the Captain of the People in the selection of new Priors.
1296
June 15: Dante takes part in the Council of the Hundred.
1300
Boniface VIII proclaims the Jubilee Year.
May Day: beginning of the factional struggles between the Cerchi and the Donati.
May 7: Dante is sent as ambassador to San Gimignano to persuade the commune to join the Guelph party.
June 15-August 14: Dante is named a Prior, one of the six highest magistrates in Florence.
Eastertime: Fictional date of the journey of the Divine Comedy .
1301
June 29: Dante takes the floor in the Council of the Hundred to oppose helping Boniface VIII fight the Santafiora of Maremma.
October: Dante is sent to Rome as an ambassador to Boniface VIII to convince him to recall Charles de Valois, whom the Pope has sent to Florence as a mediator.
November: Corso Donati re-enters Florence and wreaks vengeance on the Whites.
1302
January 27: Dante is accused of barratry; in Siena, he receives news of his sentence: a fine of 5,000 small florins and banishment for two years with permanent exclusion from public office.
March 10: for failure to appear in court, he is condemned to death in absentia.
1303
Dante is at Forli as assistant and secretary to Scarpetta Ordelaffi.
October 12: Boniface VIII dies.
1304
July 20: new defeat of the Whites near the fortress of Lastra a Signa. Dante arrives in Verona, welcomed by Alboino della Scala.
Dante writes De vulgari eloquentia, his path-breaking history and rhetoric of vernacular literature. Of four books planned, only the first and part of the second were written.
During the same period he writes the Convivio. Only four of a projected fifteen books of the Convivio were completed.
Birth of Petrarch.
1306
October 6: Dante moves to Lunigiana, and is appointed procurator to the Marquesses Malaspina. The beginnings of the "Comedy" probably date from this period.
1310
At the news of the arrival in Italy of Henry VII of Luxembourg, Dante goes to meet his fellow exiles at Forli.
October: with other exiles, Dante goes to Asti to pay homage to Henry VII.
1311
January 6: Henry VII is crowned King of Italy in Milan.
April 16: Dante writes a letter to Henry VII inviting him to come into Tuscany and restore peace to Florence.
1312
March-April: Dante joins Henry VII in Pisa.
June 29: Henry VII is crowned in Rome at St. John Lateran. Rome is occupied by the militia of Robert d'Anjou, king of Naples; Pope Clement V, from Avignon, orders Henry to leave the city, but the he refuses.
September 19: Henry VII camps under the walls of Florence.
1313
August 24: Henry VII moves from Pisa toward the Kingdom of Naples. He dies of fever during the journey.
Birth of Giovanni Boccaccio.
1314
April 20: Clement V dies.
September 7: Dante is the guest of Cangrande della Scala in Verona.
Publication of Inferno.
1315
The signory grants an amnesty to the exiles, but Dante refuses to return to Florence under the conditions imposed.
October: Dante leaves Verona for Lucca.
November 6: a new Florentine sentence confirms the sentence against the exiles and extends it to their families.
Dante moves to Verona as a guest of Cangrande de la Scala. Works on Purgatorio and Paradiso, and composes the Questio de acque et terra.
1316-1319
Dante travels between Verona, the Marca Trevigiana, Romagna, and Tuscany.
(In 1318 he is in Ravenna as the guest of Guido Novello da Polenta.)
1319
Dante moves to Ravenna, where he is the guest of Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of that city. Latin correspondence with the humanist Giovanni del Virgilio.
1321
August: Dante is ambassador to Venice, on a mission for Guido Novello, he is stricken with fever and returns to Ravenna.
September: dies on the night of the 13th. Guido buries him in the Church of St. Francis with full honors.