comedy

The Divine Comedy of Dante - Hell
v. 35. Moving their teeth in shrill note like the stork.]
v. 113. Him of Duera.] Buoso of Cremona, of the family of Duera, who
was bribed by Guy de Montfort, to leave a pass between Piedmont and
Mettendo i denti in nota di cicogna.
Parma, with the defence of which he had been entrusted by the
Ghibellines, open to the army of Charles of Anjou, A.D. 1265, at which
So Boccaccio, G. viii. n. 7. “Lo scolar cattivello quasi cicogna divenuto si the people of Cremona were so enraged, that they extirpated the whole
forte batteva i denti.”
family. G. Villani, l. vii. c. 4.
v. 53. Who are these two.] Alessandro and Napoleone, sons of Alberto
Alberti, who murdered each other. They were proprietors of the valley
of Falterona, where the Bisenzio has its source, a river that falls into the
Arno about six miles from Florence.
v. 59. Not him,] Mordrec, son of King Arthur.
v. 60. Foccaccia.] Focaccia of Cancellieri, (the Pistoian family) whose
atrocious act of revenge against his uncle is said to have given rise to the
parties of the Bianchi and Neri, in the year 1300. See G. Villani, Hist.
l, viii. c. 37. and Macchiavelli, Hist. l. ii. The account of the latter writer
differs much from that given by Landino in his Commentary.
v. 63. Mascheroni.] Sassol Mascheroni, a Florentiue, who also
murdered his uncle.
v. 66. Camiccione.] Camiccione de’ Pazzi of Valdarno, by whom his
kinsman Ubertino was treacherously pnt to death.
v. 67. Carlino.] One of the same family. He betrayed the Castel di Piano
Travigne, in Valdarno, to the Florentines, after the refugees of the
Bianca and Ghibelline party had defended it against a siege for twentynine
days, in the summer of 1302. See G. Villani, l. viii. c. 52 and Dino
Compagni, l. ii.
v. 81. Montaperto.] The defeat of the Guelfi at Montaperto, occasioned
by the treachery of Bocca degli Abbati, who, during the engagement, cut
off the hand of Giacopo del Vacca de’Pazzi, bearer of the Florentine
standard. G. Villani, l. vi. c. 80, and Notes to Canto X. This event
happened in 1260.
125
v. 118. Beccaria.] Abbot of Vallombrosa, who was the Pope’s Legate at
Florence, where his intrigues in favour of the Ghibellines being
discovered, he was beheaded. I do not find the occurrence in Vallini, nor
do the commentators say to what pope he was legate. By Landino he is
reported to have been from Parma, by Vellutello from Pavia.
v. 118. Soldanieri.] “Gianni Soldanieri,” says Villani, Hist. l. vii. c14,
“put himself at the head of the people, in the hopes of rising into power,
not aware that the result would be mischief to the Ghibelline party, and
his own ruin; an event which seems ever to have befallen him, who has
headed the populace in Florence.” A.D. 1266.
v. 119. Ganellon.] The betrayer of Charlemain, mentioned by
Archbishop Turpin. He is a common instance of treachery with the poets
of the middle ages.
Trop son fol e mal pensant,
Pis valent que Guenelon.
Thibaut, roi de Navarre
O new Scariot, and new Ganilion,
O false dissembler, &c.
Chaucer, “Nonne’s Prieste’s Tale”
And in the “Monke’s Tale,” Peter of Spaine.
v. 119. Tribaldello.] Tribaldello de’Manfredi, who was bribed to betray
the city of Faonza, A. D. 1282. G. Villani, l. vii. c. 80.