Hugh Capet, the almost legendary founder of the Capetian line of Frankish/French kings, winds up his monologue with a shocking turn of events: The French monarchy has become so bad that it has made the papacy under Boniface VIII, Dante’s arch enemy, look . . . not just good, but divine.
Read MorePope Adrian V ends his discourse in a strange way: seemingly piqued at the pilgrim Dante before he sounds a note of loneliness, even alienation. Perhaps this loneliness is what avarice does to a soul. Or perhaps it’s what exile has done to Dante.
Read MoreDante the pilgrim gets Virgil’s okay to address one of the penitents on the fifth circle of Mount Purgatory. The pilgrim then finds himself standing over Pope Adrian V, the first pope we meet in PURGATORIO. Or at least it’s Adrian V as far as the Dante the poet is concerned . . . but maybe not as far as history is concerned.
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