Historical Background of Dante 83
the other. The priors, Dante among them, refused the
cardinal’s demand, whereupon the cardinal put the city un-
der an interdict. The priors then resorted to strong
measures themselves: they banished the heads of both fac-
tions, including Corso Donati, U barone as the devoted
populace called him, and Guido Cavalcanti, the poet, one of
Dante’s own friends, who adhered to the Whites. In the
meantime the Pope had turned to France for aid against
revolted Sicily, now in the hands of Frederick of Aragon,
Manfred’s grandson. In response to the Pope’s invitation
came Charles of Valois, brother of King Philip the Fair of
France. When Charles reached Rome, Boniface decided
to use him to coerce rebellious Florence. Boniface had by
this time been won over by the Blacks, and while he sent
Charles to Florence nominally as a peacemaker, he in reality
was working against the Whites, to which the majority of
the priors had belonged. The Whites, indeed, were bitterly
opposed to the sending of Charles, and sent an embassy to
Rome, in October, 1301, to protest against his coming. It
is very generally believed that Dante was a member of this
embassy, and that his exile was decreed in his absence and
that he never entered the city of his birth again. Be that
as it may, Charles arrived in Florence at the head of twelve
hundred horsemen on the eighth of November, 1301. His
entrance was unopposed because of his promise to hold the
balance between the two parties and to maintain peace. No
sooner, however, had he obtained command of the city than
he treacherously espoused the cause of the Blacks, and per-
mitted the exiled leaders of that party to return. Corso
Donati and his friends burst upon the frightened Bianchi,
and for five days burned and pillaged as if they were in a
conquered city.
But Boniface had no mind to let Florence pass into the