Popes — Walking With Dante Across His Known Universe

PURGATORIO, Episode 162. Hugh Capet's Antiphon: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 97 - 123

Hugh Capet abruptly turns from the pilgrim Dante’s first question about who he was to his second question about why the pilgrim only heard Hugh’s voice on the fifth terrace of avarice. Along the way, Hugh Capet offers a brief but well-stocked list of those who have been done in by greed. Then he offers a curious, curt ending to his monologue: a person does as much as they want.

PURGATORIO, Episode 161. The Depths Of The French Monarchy's Evil: PURGATORIO, Canto XX, Lines 82 - 96

Hugh Capet, the almost legendary founder of the Capetian line of Frankish/French kings, winds up his monologue with a shocking turn of events: The French monarchy has become so bad that it has made the papacy under Boniface VIII, Dante’s arch enemy, look . . . not just good, but divine.

PURGATORIO, Episode 156. The Loneliness Of Pope Adrian V: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 127 - 145

Pope Adrian V ends his discourse in a strange way: seemingly piqued at the pilgrim Dante before he sounds a note of loneliness, even alienation. Perhaps this loneliness is what avarice does to a soul. Or perhaps it’s what exile has done to Dante.

PURGATORIO, Episode 154. A Pope In Purgatory For (Surprise!) Avarice: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 91 - 114

Dante the pilgrim gets Virgil’s okay to address one of the penitents on the fifth circle of Mount Purgatory. The pilgrim then finds himself standing over Pope Adrian V, the first pope we meet in PURGATORIO. Or at least it’s Adrian V as far as the Dante the poet is concerned . . . but maybe not as far as history is concerned.