Friar Alberigo (d. c. 1307) was a 13th century Italian from Faenza. Faenza is an Italian town and Comune, in the Province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated 50 km southeast of Bologna. His family, the Guelph Manfredi family, were banished in 1274 from Faenza by their rivals, the Accarisis. The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting respectively the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy The Manfredis returned in 1280, with the aid of a traitor, the Ghibelline Tebaldello del Zambrasi. The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting respectively the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy
Later in his life Alberigo is said to have joined the Jovial Friars. The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Frati della Beata Gloriosa Vergine Maria Ordo Militiæ Mariæ Gloriosæ also called the Order of Saint Mary of the Tower or the
Alberigo appears in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, where he resides in the third ring of the ninth circle, the location of traitors to their guests. The Divine Comedy This is because of an episode where Alberigo had his cousin and son killed during a banquet at his home. Alberigo's orders to bring fruit was the signal for the murder. Dante portrays him as regretting this crime, stating in Canto XXXIII that he is repaid in Hell in dates for the figs he called for at the banquet (dates being much more expensive than figs).
References
- Lansing, Richard (ed. ) The Dante Encyclopedia (New York: Garland, 2000) ISBN 0-8153-1659-3, p. 10.
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