A Florentine much involved in politics, Dante was sent into exile in 1302 when his party (the Bianchi Guelphs) fell out of favour. He never returned to Florence, spending the rest of his life travelli [..]

Dante met Beatrice in 1274 and, following her death, he collected a series of sonnets and verses that chronicled his love for her in La vita nuova (The New Life). Beatrice also appears in La divina co [..]

A Florentine writer and humanist, Boccacio was introduced to the study of Roman and Greek literature by Petrarch. He wrote a number of scholarly critical works that were widely read during the Renaiss [..]

Also referred to as "Petrarch's Sonnets," the collection of Italian verses written by Petrarch. Inspired by Laura, the original Italian title is Rime in vita e morta di Madonna Laura.

(1343?-1400) A diplomat and poet sponsored by the English court, Chaucer was the founding figure of England's literary tradition. He wrote in the vernacular, in a style influenced by Dante, Petra [..]

Boccaccio's most important literary effort, Il Decamerone (Ten Day's Work) is a collection of 100 novellas, or short stories, told by a group of ten Florentine aristocrats during their ten-d [..]

Dialectics is the study of logic and the use of logic to win arguments and prove theories. Disputation and debate were najor components of the medieval education and dialectics was necessary to both t [..]

The source of Boccaccio's romantic inspiration. Possibly Maria de Conti d'Aquino, the illegitimate daughter of Robert d'Anjou, the king of Naples, who is said to have been Boccaccio [..]

The study of grammar in medieval education included not only the study of the main elements of language but also a study of modes of expression. A student of grammar in the Middle Ages would expect to [..]

The writing of the lives of saints, frequently idealized and embellished to present moral lessons and extremely popular throughout the Middle Ages. Although the biographies of the saints themselves ar [..]