[260] In his inedited commentary on the Divina Commedia, written whilst attending the Council of Constance, he says, “Anagogice dilexit theologiam sacrum in qua diu studuit tam in Oxoniis in regno Angliæ, quam Parisiis.” And again: “Dante se in juventute dedit omnibus artibus liberalibus, studens eas Paduæ, Bononiæ, demum Oxoniis et Parisiis, ubi fecit multos actus mirabiles, intantum quod ab aliquibus dicebatur magnus philosophus, ab aliquibus magnus theologus, ab aliquibus magnus poëta.” It is possible that his authority for this statement was drawn from English sources; for his own Latin translation of the poem was undertaken at the request of two English bishops present at the Council, Bubwith of Bath and Halam of Salisbury.
[261] Il maestro vostro ben vi scrive.—Par. canto viii.
[262] Par. xxiv. 130.
[263] It must not be supposed, from the mention of burning, that Dante was the object of religious persecution. A reference to the annals of Florence, Siena, or any of the other Italian republics, will show that this punishment was very commonly decreed by the dominant party against their political opponents. Thus Silvestro de’ Medici, on gaining the upper hand in Florence, burnt several citizens of note, with their palaces. And these atrocious cruelties were perpetrated for no imaginable crime, but simply to get rid of hated rivals. In the Revolution of 1369 we read that Bruno da Renaldini had his head cut off, senza cagione niuna.
[264] Par. vi. 106.
[265] Purg. xx. 85.
[266] The celebrated Dominican, Durandus, Bishop of Mende, wrote his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum about the year 1290. He may be considered almost the last of the great liturgical writers of the Church, the catalogue of whom includes the names of St. Isidore of Seville, Alcuin, Amalarius of Metz, Walafrid Strabo, Rabanus Maurus, Bruno of Asti, the Abbot Rupert, Honorius of Autun, and Pope Innocent III.
[267] Purgatorio, xxii. 101 (Carey’s translation).
[268] Purg. x. 128.