Italy had long struggled between two masters a Pope to guide spiritual matters and the politics around a King uniting Italy. An Italian King was now in power finding a way to live beside a Pope in the Vatican. Something that had not happened since ancient Rome. It was a great time to rediscover the middle ages poet Dante, both Catholic and Italian, who wrote of love, political passions, chivalry and spirituality in a way all Italians could understand. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Dante was a classically liberal figure. He wrote, uniquely for his time in the language of Florence, his home town. He described the language as Italian and that was a break from Latin, the language of the Church and the scholars. Yet here we have him 600 years later remember fondly by a right of center Italy and even a Pope named Benedict. This is possible for three reasons. Dante had touched a common thread in the Italian soul. He had also put forward the idea of a good universal King to insure peace on Earth. This fit into the self imagined image of a colonial era Italian King. He also included much spirituality, Catholic spirituality, so over time the Church had to embrace him. This goes some way to the reverence shown Dante at the time, and the frequency he appears on Italian stamps. The 700th anniversary of Dante’s death is coming up in 2021, it will be interesting to see if he will be remembered or will his image be succumbed to the post modern deconstruction.
Todays stamp is issue A63, a 40 Centesimi stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy on September 28th, 1921. It was part of a 3 stamp issue in various denominations remembering the 600th anniversary of the death of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $32 used. There was a grey version of the 15 cent stamp that was not formally issued but proofs got out in tiny numbers. An imperforate, used version of it is worth $6100.
Dante was born around 1265 in Florence, then a city state with a republican government. Dante received an excellent education for the day that included much knowledge of ancient Rome. The times saw him contracted into marriage to a girl at age 12. He had already become smitten with another girl and his unrequited love for her provided much impetus for his romantic poems. His wife played no part in these. His Italian poetry was lyrical and in a ryming 3 line style that was much copied later.
He was also a politician and part of the ruling class of Florence that were then known as Guelphs. As happened in much of Italy over the next centuries. The Guelphs became devided over loyalty to the Pope or to the Holy Roman Emperor. The Black Guelphs supported the Pope and gained control of Florence. Dante was a White Guelph and spent the rest of his life in exile in various other city states. This helped his writing by giving him a wider knowledge of what unites Italy and pushed along his thinking about the separate nature of a worldly King who could moderate disagreements between his different peoples and a Pope who could guide the individual in his spiritual journey toward everlasting life.
Dante’s master work written in exile was The Comedy, renamed Devine Comedy only after his death. As per usual with Dante, it came in three parts. A journey guided by the Roman Poet Virgil and his early in life unrequited love through hell, purgatory and heaven. Hell, (inferno) is the best remembered now but purgatory the most romantic and heaven the most spiritual. It must be remembered what a revelation Dante’s style of writing was in the middle ages. it was a pointing forward toward the Renaissance with a return to knowledge and culture. Ironically, Dante somewhat fell from favor during the High Renaissance when his style was considered simplistic. Similarly today Dante is less remembered as his romance and chivalry seem dated and his politics and religion not inclusive. There are also claims today that his work was derivative of earlier Persian works. I obviously don’t agree but that the stamp wouldn’t be done the same way today only makes it more interesting as it gives insights as to thinking from the stamps time and place. Why I collect.
Well my drink is empty and with the stamp being worth $32 I can afford another round to celebrate Dante. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting