Local history : Buonconte da Montefeltro (born c. 1250) was, like his father Guido, a formidable leader of ghibelline forces in Tuscany. He played a prominent role in the expulsion of the guelphs from Arezzo (1287) and the defeat of Sienese troops a year later. Buonconte did not fare so well as captain of the ghibelline army that was soundly defeated by the Florentine guelphs at Campaldino on June 11, 1289. Dante, who fought alongside his fellow Florentines, now provides a dramatic answer to a lingering question from the clash: what happened to Buoncontes body, which was not found on the battlefield? We learn that Buonconte, mortally wounded in the throat, fled the plain and arrived at the bank of a river (Archiano), where he died with Marys name on his lips. The subsequent struggle for Buoncontes soul then repeats, with opposite results, the tussle between Saint Francis and the devil for the soul of Buoncontes father (Inf. 27.112-23). Here the good angel wins the soul for heaven, thus leaving the evil angel to punish Buoncontes corpse by bringing flooding rains that sweep the body downstream into the Arno, where it is buried in the riverbed (5.109-29). The slain soldier now appears in Ante-Purgatory among those who sinned right up until the moment they died a violent death; only then did they repent and forgive, thereby leaving the world in peace with God (5.52-7).
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 20:02:14 +0000
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