| The Life and Times of Dante Alighieri |
| Date | Event |
| 1265 | Dante Alighieri born circa May 29th. Of his own ancestry he speaks in the Paradise, Canto XV. and XVI.
In the same year, Manfredi, king of Naples and Sicily, is defeated and slain by Charles of Anjou. Hell, C. XXVIII. 13. And Purgatory, C. III. 110. Guido Novello of Polenta obtains the sovereignty of Ravenna. H. C. XXVII. 38. |
| 1266 | Two of the Frati Godenti chosen arbitrators of the differences at Florence. H. C. XXIII. 104. Gianni de' Soldanieri heads the populace in that city. H. C. XXXII. 118. |
| 1268 | Charles of Anjou puts Conradine to death, and becomes King of Naples. H. C. XXVIII. 16 and Purg C. XX. 66. |
| 1272 | Henry III. of England is succeeded by Edward I. Purg. C. VII. 129. |
| 1274 | According
to the Vita nuova, the year Dante first meets and falls in love with Beatrice Portinari.
Fra.
Guittone d'Arezzo, the poet, dies. Purg. C. XXIV. 56. |
| 1275 | Pierre de la Brosse, secretary to Philip III. of France, executed. Purg. C. VI. 23. |
| 1276 |
Giotto, the painter, is born. Purg. C. XI. 95. Pope Adrian V. dies. Purg. C. XIX. 97. Guido Guinicelli, the poet, dies. Purg. C. XI. 96. and C. XXVI. 83 |
| 1277 | Pope John XXI. dies. Par. C. XII. 126. |
| 1278 | Ottocar, king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. C. VII. 97. |
| 1279 | Dionysius succeeds to the throne of Portugal. Par. C. XIX. 135. |
| 1280 | Albertus Magnus dies. Par. C. X. 95. |
| 1281 |
Pope Nicholas III. dies. H. C. XIX 71. Dante studies at the universities of Bologna and Padua. |
| 1282 | The Sicilian vespers. Par. C. VIII. 80. The French defeated by the people of Forli. H. C. XXVII. 41. Tribaldello de' Manfredi betrays the city of Faenza. H. C. XXXII. 119. |
| 1283 | Dante's father dies. He is married shortly thereafter to Gemma Donati. They have four children together. |
| 1289 | Participates as a cavalryman in the battle of Campaldino. The Guelf League (Florence and Lucca) defeats the Ghibellines of Arezzo. Dante recalls this battle in Purgatorio. |
| 1290 | Death of Beatrice. Purg. C. XXXII. 2. He serves in the war waged by the Florentines upon the Pisans, and is present at the surrender of Caprona in the autumn. H. C. XXI. 92. |
| 1292 | Writes the Vita nuova. |
| 1294 | Dante meets Charles Martel, King of Hungary and heir to the kingdom of Naples and the country of Provence. Dante recounts their meeting in Paradiso VIII. |
| 1295 | Joins the guild of the apothecaries for the purpose of entering public life. |
| 1300 | Dante is prior for two months (15 June-15 August), one of the six highest magistrates in Florence. Boniface VIII proclaims the Jubilee Year. Fictional date (Easter time) of the journey of the Divine Comedy. |
| 1301 | Dante is sent to Rome as an envoy to Pope Boniface VIII, as Charles of Valois approaches Florence. |
| 1302 | The Black Guelfs seize power in Florence. Dante is banished from the city for two years and forever excluded from public office. Later in the same year his banishment is made perpetual, and he is condemned to be burned alive if taken in the territory of the Florentine Republic. |
| 1304 | Birth of Petrarch. |
| 1304 | 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. |
| 1306 | Probably the year in which Dante interrupts the Convivio and begins the Comedy. |
| 1310 | Henry of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor, descends into Italy and Dante addresses an Epistle to him. Possible date of Dante's de Monarchia(1310-1313). |
| 1313 | Death of Henry. Birth of Giovanni Boccaccio, author of the Decameron. |
| 1314 | Publication of Inferno. |
| 1315 | Dante moves to Verona as a guest of Cangrande della Scala. Works on Purgatorio and Paradiso, and composes the Questio de acque et terra. |
| 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 | Dante falls ill on return from Venice, where he had been sent as ambassador by Guido Da Polenta, and dies on September 13 or 14. |