Epistle to Cangrande
{{Short description|Letter attributed to Dante Alighieri}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox medieval text|name=Epistle to Cangrande|language=Latin|authenticity=Disputed|genre=Epistle|subject=Meaning of the Divine Comedy|native_wikisource=https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Epistulae_(Dantes_Aligherius)#XIII.|full title=Epistle XIII to Cangrande della Scala|dedicated to=Cangrande della Scala|alternative title(s)=Epistola a Cangrande|image=Composito, con due copie dell'epistola a cangrande, 1550-1650 ca. (bncf, magliabechiano VI.164).jpg|caption=Copy of the {{PAGENAME}}|alt=an old text on display in a museum|ascribed to=Dante Alighieri|date=before 1343}}
The Epistle XIII to Cangrande della Scala ({{Langx|it|Epistola XIII a Cangrande della Scala}}) is a letter of disputed authenticity sent by Dante Alighieri to his patron, Cangrande I della Scala.{{Cite book |last=Hollander |first=Robert |url= |title=Dante's Epistle to Cangrande |date=1994 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-10476-5 |location=Ann Arbor, MI |author-link=Robert Hollander}}{{Cite journal |last=Barański |first=Zygmunt G. |date=1991 |title=Comedía. Notes on Dante, the Epistle to Cangrande, and Medieval Comedy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44806806 |journal=Lectura Dantis |issue=8 |pages=26–55 |issn=0897-5280}}
Date
The exact date that the letter was written is unknown. The letter was cited by the Italian copyist {{Ill|Andrea Lancia|it}} in 1343 and then by the chronicler Filippo Villani around 1400. Some authors have suggested that {{Ill|Jacopo della Lana|it}} cited the letter in the 1320s, but this is disputed.{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Henry Ansgar |author-link=Henry Ansgar Kelly |date=2018-09-18 |title=Epistle to Cangrande Updated |url=https://www.dantesociety.org/publicationsdante-notes/epistle-cangrande-updated |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Dante Society |publisher=Dante Society of America}}
Content
The letter is divided into three parts: A dedication to Cangrande I della Scala, an accessus or introduction, and an exposition of the Divine Comedy.
Authenticity
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| quote = ...the paternity of the Epistle has been for some time a political football in Dante studies. It is a talismanic topic, and by revealing one's position with regard to the paternity of the Epistle, one potentially reveals a host of other vested interests and beliefs{{Rp|140}}
| author = {{snd}}Teodolinda Barolini
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The question of whether or not the Epistle is a forgery is controversial among Dante scholars. Scholars such as Henry Ansgar Kelly and {{Interlanguage link|Bruno Nardi|it}} have argued against its authenticity, whereas scholars such as {{Interlanguage link|Francesco Mazzoni|it}}, Robert Hollander, and Charles Singleton have argued that the document is authentic.{{Cite journal |last=Izbicki |first=Thomas M. |date=1994-07-01 |title=94.07.03, Hollander, Dante's Epistle to Cangrande |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/14246 |journal=The Medieval Review |language=en |issn=1096-746X}} Kelly specifically contends that Dante wrote the dedication but the rest of the letter was written by a "Pseudo-Dante". The academics Ralph G. Hall and Madison U. Sowell have suggested that American scholars are more likely to accept the Epistle as authentic while British and Italian scholars are more likely to consider it a forgery.{{Cite journal |last=Hall |first=Ralph G. |last2=Sowell |first2=Madison U. |author-link2=Madison U. Sowell |date=1990 |title=On Dante and "Cursus": A Brief Response to «for the Record» |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44806760 |journal=Lectura Dantis |issue=6 |pages=143–144 |issn=0897-5280}}{{Rp|page=144}} John Ciardi, who wrote a translation of the Divine Comedy, argued that the framework provided by the letter is useful regardless of its authenticity.{{Cite book |last=Alighieri |first=Dante |author-link=Dante Alighieri |url= |title=The Purgatorio |title-link=Purgatorio |last2=Ciardi |first2=John |author-link2=John Ciardi |date=2009 |publisher=Signet Classics |year= |isbn=978-0-451-53142-1 |location=New York |page=xxii |pages= |oclc=449946422}} The scholar Teodolinda Barolini has described the Epistle as a red herring, writing that "frankly, I don't care if the Epistle is Dante's or not, since I think the answers that I seek regarding the [Divine Comedy] are to be found in the poem itself."{{Cite journal |last=Barolini |first=Teodolinda |author-link=Teodolinda Barolini |date=1990 |title=For the Record: The Epistle to Cangrande and Various «American Dantisti» |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44806759 |journal=Lectura Dantis |issue=6 |pages=140–143 |issn=0897-5280}}{{Rp|page=143}}
In 2019, researchers for the Italian Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione attempted to use machine learning to determine authorship of the Epistle. Their results supported the theory that it was forged, however the authors noted that their study "should not be considered conclusive".{{Cite journal |last=Corbara |first=Silvia |date=2019 |title=The Epistle to Cangrande through the Lens of Computational Authorship Verification |url=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2537/paper-06.pdf |journal=CEUR Workshop Proceedings}}{{Rp|page=5}}
References
External links
- [https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Epistulae_(Dantes_Aligherius)#XIII Full text (Latin)]
- [https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/cangrande.english.html Full text (English)]
{{Dante Alighieri}}