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Secondary sourceBook1901

The Earliest Lives of Dante

James Robinson Smith (translator); Giovanni Boccaccio and Lionardo Bruni Aretino (original authors) · 1901

An English translation of the earliest biographies of Dante, written by Boccaccio and Bruni not long after his death.

This English translation of the earliest biographies of Dante preserves some of the oldest surviving accounts of his life.

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About this source

What it is

A 1901 English translation by James Robinson Smith of two early biographies of Dante, originally written in Italian by Giovanni Boccaccio and Lionardo Bruni Aretino. It is listed on Wikisource among works about Dante.

Why it matters

Boccaccio knew people who had known Dante personally, and Bruni drew on documents and letters now lost. Together these accounts are the closest things we have to eyewitness-adjacent testimony about Dante's life, though not all details are equally reliable.

Look closer

  • Why might a biography written decades after someone's death still be valuable?
  • Which details does the translator's preface warn us are uncertain, like the poet's dreams or marriage?
  • How might Boccaccio's and Bruni's different sources have shaped their accounts differently?

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