COVE

Dante Aligheri was a poet and politician born in 1265 in Florence, Italy. As an Italian born during this time, he was deeply involved in political struggles surrounding the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict, as well as the following conlict between White Guelphs and Black Guelphs. He was a White Guelph and wanted more freedom from the Holy Roman Empire, and when the Black Guelphs took over Florence he was exiled for two years and given a large fine to pay before he would be able to return, as they claimed Dante was corrupt durring his time in office at Florence. He had a great devotion towards his hometown and refused to admit he was guilty of doing it harm, and so he was exiled indefinitely. It was during his exile that he wrote the Divine Comedy, as well as many of his other most famous works. He was an orthodox Catholic, but as a White Guelph he fought for Florence to be a free and independent city-state and was against the influence of the papacy. He was generally quite skeptical of the church, as was somewhat necessary with the politics of the time, but was devout in his love for God. 

Portrait of Dante by Sandro Botticelli