Gemma Di Manetto Donati, commonly shortened to Gemma Donati ( – after 1333), was the wife of Italian poet

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...

Biography

Gemma Donati's life is relatively undocumented. Throughout his life, Dante never mentioned Donati. Instead he wrote prolifically about his love-interest and

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

Beatrice Portinari Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari (; 1265 – 8 or 19 June 1290) was an Italian woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's '' Vita Nuova'', and is also identified with the Beatrice who acts as ...

, whom he met when he was nine. Donati was born to Manetto and Maria Donati in around 1267, two years after her future husband, Dante Alighieri. The Donati family was a wealthy family in medieval Florence. She was

betrothed An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

to Dante in 1277 when he was either 11 or 12 years old. Her

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

was only 200 florins, which suggests that Dante's family had no substantial assets by the mid-1270s. Nevertheless, an alliance with the Donati family through marriage was socially prestigious. Since the Donati family owned a lot of land in Florence and made money through renting, it is very likely that the Donatis were the landlords of the Alighieri home. The couple were married sometime around 1285 while they were in their early 20s. Accounts vary as to how many children and Donati and Dante had, but they had at least four children: * Pietro (c. 1286) * Giovanni (c. 1288) *

Jacopo Jacopo (also Iacopo) is a masculine Italian given name, derivant from Latin ''Iacōbus''. It is an Italian variant of Giacomo. * Jacopo Aconcio (), Italian religious reformer * Jacopo Bassano (1592), Italian painter * Iacopo Barsotti (1921–1987) ...

(c. 1300) * Antonia (c. 1300) There has been discussion among scholars of whether or not the marriage between Donati and Dante was a happy one. In

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...

's ''Trattatello in laude di Dante'', Boccaccio writes that Dante's relationship with Donati only brought him trouble and pain. Despite this claim, there is no firm evidence that the marriage was not a happy one. There is evidence that Dante was on good terms with Donati's family, as in the 1290s Manetto Donati gave Dante several

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

s. When Dante was exiled from Florence in 1301, Donati and her children did not join him, and it is probable that Donati never saw her husband again. She entered a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...

later in her life. Documents suggest that as of June 1333 she was alive; however, her exact death date is unknown. Dante would represent her as the Virgin Mary in the Canto XXIII of the ''Paradiso,'' as "introduction" to the representation of their children Pietro, Jacopo, Giovanni, represented in the following Cantos by the respective saints, and Antonia, represented by Beatrice and Adamo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donati, Gemma 1260s births 14th-century deaths 13th-century births Date of birth uncertain 13th-century Italian women 14th-century Italian women