User:Funnysagittarius/Iacopo Rusticucci

Auguste Rodin's Three Shades: a depiction of Rusticucci, Tegghiaio, and Guerra

Iacopo Rusticucci was a Guelph politician and accomplished orator who lived and worked in Florence, Italy between 1200 and 1300. Iacopo Rusticucci is realized historically primarily in relation to the Adimari family, who wielded much power and prestige in 13th century Florence, and to whom it is thought Rusticucci was a close companion, representative, and perhaps lawyer. Despite his association with men born into high political and social rank, Rusticucci was not born into nobility, and nothing is known of his ancestors or predecessors. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown.

Role in 13th Century Florentine Politics

Iacopo Rusticucci's role as Guelph politician is indicated by documents which mention his part in important political moments and which align him with prominent Guelphs, and by Dante Alighieri in his depiction of Rusticucci in the Divine Comedy. The Guelphs and their rival counterpart the Ghibellines were political factions aligned with the Pope and the Roman Empire, respectively. Documents from the 13th century indicate that Iacopo Rusticucci received payment from the city for his leadership in a political-military endeavor (involving the Guelphs and the Ghibellines). He also received payment on behalf of a member of the Adimari family, a transaction indicative of the kind of role - lawyer, representative - Rusticucci likely assumed in his relations with the family. Also, and despite not knowing his origins or what became of his estate posthumously, Rusticucci is mentioned in a document which records a list of the destruction inflicted upon Guelph property during Ghibelline domination in Florence. This list reveals that Rusticucci was a property owner. Indeed, the homes of Rusticucci and Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, of the Adimari family, stood side by side in Florence.

Presence in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy

Iacopo Rusticucci is memorialized in Canto XVI of Dante's Inferno in the ring of the sodomites for his crimes against nature and therefore God (Inferno XI). He will suffer here for all of eternity in the company of two other men of political and social prominence: Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, a member of the aforementioned Adimari family, and Guido Guerra (b. 1220 d.1272), of the high-ranking and powerful Conti Guidi family. Before the reader meets Rusticucci, he is alluded to in Canto VI of Inferno in a conversation between Dante and a sinner named Ciacco – thought by some to be the Florentine poet Ciacco dell' Anguillaia and by others to be a sinner with no real world counterpart. Dante speaks to Ciacco in the circle of gluttony, to which Ciacco has been relegated.

After having listened to Ciacco speak of Florence's future, Dante asks in lines 79-81 after five men he's not yet encountered on his journey, men "who were so worthy... and... whose minds were bent on doing good." (lines 79-81) These men are Arrigo, Farinata, Tegghiaio, Rusticucci, and Mosca, each of whom Dante seems eager to meet. In response, Ciacco tells Dante that these men are "among the blacker souls," (line 85) who dwell deeper in hell.

Ten cantos later in Canto XVI, Dante and his guide Virgil arrive at the bottom of the seventh circle of Hell, that of the sodomites. Almost instantly, three shades approach and recognize Dante by his clothing as a fellow Florentine. Once in front of him, the shades continue to walk in a "wheel" formation, so that they can speak with Dante, maintaining their gaze on him, while also adhering to their punishment–that they should forever be in motion, running beneath a perpetual rain of fire. (Inferno XVI) They are Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and Iacopo Rusticucci, the last of whom speaks on behalf of the group. It is often noted that of all the shades with whom Dante interacts in hell, these three receive the warmest greeting from the protagonist, despite Dante's having chosen to place them in the circle of sodomy, one of the more egregious sins. Rusticucci first introduces the two men with him, both Guelphs of noble lineages and high political rank when they were alive. He then introduces himself as one who suffers with the sodomites through the fault of his wife. It is thought that this blame is based either in the repulsiveness of Rusticucci's wife (posited perhaps most aggressively by Giovanni Bocaccio), which drove him to find sexual pleasure elsewhere, or in her refusal to have have sex with him. Either way, Rusticucci's presence in this, at the time deemed disgraceful, circle of hell is not entirely his fault. Rusticucci's role as speaker for the group is thought to be a nod to his success as an orator in when he was alive.

It is at this point, after the introductions are made, that Dante is overcome with the urge to embrace these men who represent to him the golden age of Florentine politics and municipality - "had I been sheltered from the fire I would have thrown myself among them, and I believe my teacher would have let me." (lines 46-48) Dante's outpouring of compassion and his subsequent praise for the trio is very much unprecedented in any of his interactions in Hell heretofore.

Dante tells the men that he is Florentine, too, and that their reputations precede them – "how many times I've heard your deeds, your honored names resound! And I, too, spoke your names with affection." (lines 59, 60) The three shades or three Florentines, as they are often called, ask Dante if their city is doing well, to which Dante responds no. In unison, the trio bid Dante successful passage through Hell and make a final request: that Dante should speak them into memory on Earth. And then they run away to join the other sodomites. (Inferno XVI)

Significance of Dante's Treatment of the Sodomites in the Divine Comedy

Dante's favorable treatment of the sodomites is point of confusion and discussion. Many have wondered at the seeming discrepancy between Dante's having placed these men in Hell for a particularly offensive sin, only to sing their praises and show them compassion upon meeting them. In her writing on the circle of sodomy in Inferno, Susan Noakes posits that the answer to this perplexing contradiction exists in the notion that this narrative play is an instance of Dante's critique of his own political beliefs. Noakes argues that at the time he wrote the Divine Comedy, Dante views had changed and he had realized that "although the Guelph ideal of civic autonomy [was] attractive on the surface, [it was] ultimately unsatisfying to one who reflects on politics deeply." It is a teaching moment for Dante, taught by Dante. Another thought is that Dante's kind treatment of the sodomites is representative of his personal beliefs about homosexuality and whether it were really such a reprehensible sin.