eginning of the fourteenth century
administered large funds that had accrued from the confiscation of
Ghibelline estates; they had fought against the Ghibellines at the
Battle of Campaldino in 1289, and they made a boast of being Guelf of
the Guelfs. Whatever party of them was in the supremacy, therefore,
was prone to accuse those in opposition of Ghibellinism simply because
they were in opposition. This was what the victorious Blacks did.
Their alliance with Pope Boniface VIII., who wished to make use of
them for his ambitious purposes, lent some colour to their claim.
Moreover, the remnants of the old Ghibelline party in the city or its
territory naturally sought the alliance of the Whites as soon as they
were in pronounced hostility to the ruling Guelfs. Thus arose the
confusion that has perpetuated itself in the current conception of the
Whites as "moderates," or Ghibellinizing Guelfs, a conception which
stands in plain contradiction with the most significant facts of the
case.

During the closing period of Dante's life the politics of Florence
became more tangled than ever. Every vestige of principle seems to
disappear, and personal ambitions and hatreds to become more unbridled
than ever. The active interference of the Pope and the Royal house of
France, followed by the withdrawal of the Papal Court to Avignon, the
invasion of Italy by Henry VII., and the rise of such leaders as Can
Grande, Uguccione da Faggiuola, and Castruccio, introduced new forces.
We dimly perceive, too, that the mercantile democracy of Florence is
becoming a mercantile aristocracy with elements of disturbance beneath
it in the excluded or oppressed minor arts. In a word, just before the
movement that has been steadily proceeding from 1115 to 1300 reaches
its natural goal, the conditions of the problem change, the history
enters upon a new phase, the far-off preparation for the Medici
begins, and the problem ceases to have any direct and intimate
connection with the study of Dante.

Sec. 6. _Dante's Politics._

Enough has been said to show the reader how very imperfect an idea is
given of Dante's politics when it is said that he was at first a
Guelf but became a Ghibelline.

We have seen that the political party, for his connection with which
he was exiled, was heir to the best Guelf traditions. His own writings
show that the maintenance of peace was his idea of the supreme
function of Government. The extreme severity of his judgments