He wandered from city to city, depending on noble patrons there. The Blacks exiled Dante, confiscating his goods and condemning him to be burned if he should return to Florence. in 1302, while he was in Rome on a diplomatic mission to the Pope, the Blacks in Florence seized power with the help of the French (and pro-Pope) Charles of Valois. In this divisive atmosphere Dante rose to a position of leadership. The Whites were more opposed to Papal power than the Blacks, and tended to favor the emperor, so in fact the preoccupations of the White Guelfs were much like those of the defeated Ghibellines. Instead, the Guelf party divided between the Whites and the Blacks (Dante was a White Guelf). By 1289 in the battle of Campaldino the Ghibellines largely disappeared from Florence. The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor were political rivals for much of this time period, and in general the Guelfs were in favor of the Pope, while the Ghibellines supported Imperial power. The Guelfs and the Ghibellines were the two major factions, and in fact that division was important in all of Italy and other countries as well. Renaissance Florence was a thriving, but not a peaceful city: different opposing factions continually struggled for dominance there. Contemporary politics deeply influenced Dante's literary and emotional life, and had a major influence on the writing of the Inferno.

Sparknotes dante inferno