ims visited her tomb
many of them were marvelously cured of the sicknesses from which they
had been suffering. Her brother-in-law, Conrad, repenting of his former
treatment of her, built a splendid church in her honor, and her bones
were laid in their last resting-place a few years after her death. In
the meantime the Pope examined all the proofs of her piety and
holiness, as well as of the cures that had been effected at her tomb,
and at last Elizabeth was made a Saint, and became known as Saint
Elizabeth of Hungary. For centuries pilgrims have worshipped at her
shrine, and the church that was built in her memory still stands as a
monument of the wonderful life of this holy woman who lived and died
the better part of a thousand years ago.

CHAPTER IX

DANTE

In the year 1265 there was born in the city of Florence in Italy a man
who was destined to become one of the four greatest poets that the
world has ever produced. This man was Dante, the son of Alighiero, a
Florentine who was popular and well known as a man of affairs.

When Dante was born Italy was very different from what it is to-day,
for instead of being formed of a single nation, or even of a number of
smaller ones, the cities themselves were nations and made their own
laws. These cities, moreover, were constantly at war with one another,
and fighting was the order of the day. Even within the cities there
were often bloody frays and brawls between the supporters of one or
another noble family. These brawls sometimes became so extensive that
they grew into civil war, and penetrated beyond the limits of the
cities in which they were hatched. Such was the state of affairs in
Dante's time, and it is important to remember this, because the
quarrels of these different factions had a great effect upon his life.

Particularly long and bloody in Florence and other cities had been the
strife between two families and factions who called themselves
respectively the Guelfs and the Ghibellines. Dante's father belonged to
the Guelf party and the boy was brought up with the idea that he must
always serve the Guelfs, and support them in all their quarrels. The
Guelfs, moreover, were high in the affairs of Florence and had overcome
their opponents there. And for this reason those who belonged to the
Guelf cause had the chance to rise in the affairs of the city.

So Dante's boyhood was not spent like that of some other poets, in the
midst of books alone, or in the