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Cacciaguida degli Elisei (c. 1098 – c. 1148) was an Italian people, Italian crusader, the great-great-grandfather of Dante Alighieri.
Little is known about his life. He was born in Florence, and two documents from 1189 and 1201 mention his existence. The 1189 document lists his sons as Preitenetto and Alighiero, the latter being Dante's great-grandfather, and the source of his surname.
All other details of his biography are those from his most famous descendant's works. Dante recounts that Cacciaguida joined the Second Crusade and was there knighted by Conrad III of Germany, Emperor Conrad III before dying in the Holy Land.
Dante meets Cacciaguida in ''Paradiso (Dante), Paradiso'', precisely in the ''canti'' XV-XVII. Cacciaguida is the only ancestor of Dante he encounters (although Alighiero is mentioned as remaining in the first level of Purgatory), and the elder serves as a father figure to the poet, and a parallel to Virgil's Aeneas meeting with his own father Anchises. As Dante addressed him:
Paradiso Canto XVI, 16-21 (Longfellow trans.).
Apart from their literary value, the ''canti'' are important for the information they provide about Florence in the 12th century. In the ''canto'' XVII, Cacciaguida forecasts Dante's future, namely his exile from Florence and the solitude of his late years.
Cacciaguida degli Elisei (c. 1098 – c. 1148) was an Italian people, Italian crusader, the great-great-grandfather of Dante Alighieri.
Little is known about his life. He was born in Florence, and two documents from 1189 and 1201 mention his existence. The 1189 document lists his sons as Preitenetto and Alighiero, the latter being Dante's great-grandfather, and the source of his surname.
All other details of his biography are those from his most famous descendant's works. Dante recounts that Cacciaguida joined the Second Crusade and was there knighted by Conrad III of Germany, Emperor Conrad III before dying in the Holy Land.
Dante meets Cacciaguida in ''Paradiso (Dante), Paradiso'', precisely in the ''canti'' XV-XVII. Cacciaguida is the only ancestor of Dante he encounters (although Alighiero is mentioned as remaining in the first level of Purgatory), and the elder serves as a father figure to the poet, and a parallel to Virgil's Aeneas meeting with his own father Anchises. As Dante addressed him:
Paradiso Canto XVI, 16-21 (Longfellow trans.).
Apart from their literary value, the ''canti'' are important for the information they provide about Florence in the 12th century. In the ''canto'' XVII, Cacciaguida forecasts Dante's future, namely his exile from Florence and the solitude of his late years.
References
1090s births 1140s deaths Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain People from the Province of Florence Italian soldiers Christians of the Crusades 12th-century Italian people {{Italy-mil-bio-stub