The Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem titled, ‘Divine Comedy’. The story follows the author’s self-inserted character, Dante, as he travels through the 9 Circles of Hell. Alighieri began writing the poem in 1308 and completed it shortly before he died in 1321.

Background

At the time Dante Alighieri was writing Divine Comedy, he was frustrated with the corruption within the Church. His writing was his way of addressing his concerns, he would depict political leaders, religious figures, and the wealthy, to name a few, where the character Dante would meet the sinners on his journey in each Circle of Hell. In this blog, I will focus on the layer of Hell that depicts corrupt religious figures during Alighieri’s time.

Eighth Circle 

The Eight Circle of Hell contains many different types of sinners, but some in particular that Dante meets are those who committed simony. Simony was a major sin in 1300’s Florence, Italy, where those with high positions in the Church would use their power to get money from others. These lines describe the punishment for those who committed the sin of Simony:

“Up from the mouth of each hole there stuck out a sinner’s feet and legs up to the calf, the rest of him remained stuffed down inside. The soles of both feet blazed all on fire; The leg-joints wriggled uncontrollably: They would have snapped any rope or tether.” (Alighieri 19. 22-27).

One of the punished souls hears Dante approach him and mistakes Dante for Pope Boniface VIII. When Dante corrects him the soul explains that he is Pope Nicholas III and that he used his position to help his family become wealthy. Nicholas says that while he expects Boniface to come, he also expects Pope Clement V to come after. The reason that Alighieri mentions Boniface is due to the fact that during his reign as pope, Boniface tried to claim that the power of the pope exceeds all kings and queens. This claim caused a lot of conflict between King Philip IV and the Pope, and even after Boniface’s death he would be accused and charged with multiple crimes including heresy and sodomy.  Pope Clement V was mentioned possibly due to him moving the papacy from Rome, Italy to Avignon, France. This decision was very controversial for the time and caused a lot of conflicts. In his writing, Dante compared Clement to a man named Jason who bribed the Greek King Antiochus IV Epiphanes for a position as high priest in 175 BCE.

Works Cited

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321. (1935). The divine comedy of Dante Alighieri : Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise. New York :The Union Library Association,

Holzwarth, L. (2021, April 23). The most corrupt and scandalous papacies in history. History Collection. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://historycollection.com/the-most-corrupt-and-scandalous-papacies-in-history/4/

Pope Clement V. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2023, from http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/textpopup/inf1903.html