Abstract
The article argues that Dante’s epistle V was composed in close temporal proximity to the VI canto of the Purgatorio, and that these two texts were conceived as a poetic, rhetorical and political diptych to be presented to Henry VII in the wake of his imminent, and already announced, Italian mission. First I suggest that Purg. VI was composed between the summer and the fall of 1310 in Poppi, or in the Casentino. Then I analyze the analogies between the canto and the political message of the contemporary epistle V. Finally, I examine similarities and dissimilarities between Henry’s political project and Dante’s ideas. I conclude that the canto and the epistle might have been composed together for presenting their author as an inspirer of the imperial politics, but also that Dante’s project likely failed because of the differences between his conceptions and Henry’s.
