CAVALCANTI

cavalcanti, guido (c. 1250-1300), italian poet and philosopher, was the son of a philosopher whom dante, in the _inferno_, condemns to torment among the epicureans and atheists; but he himself was a friend of the great poet. by marriage with beatrice, daughter of farinata uberti, he became head of the ghibellines; and when the people, weary of continual brawls, aroused themselves, and sought peace by banishing the leaders of the rival parties, he was sent to sarzana, where he caught a fever, of which he died. cavalcanti has left a number of love sonnets and canzoni, which were honoured by the praise of dante. some are simple and graceful, but many are spoiled by a mixture of metaphysics borrowed from plato, aristotle and the christian fathers. they are mostly in honour of a french lady, whom he calls mandetta. his _canzone d'amore_ was extremely popular, and was frequently published; and his complete poetical works are contained in giunti's collection (florence, 1527; venice, 1531-1532). he also wrote in prose on philosophy and oratory. see d.g. rossetti, _dante and his circle_ (1874).