Dante. An essay. To which is added a translation of De Monarchia.

About this book

The work is a scholarly essay by the Rev. R. W. Church, first published in the mid‑nineteenth century, followed by a fresh English translation of Dante’s political treatise De Monarchia, supplied by his son F. J. Church. The opening pages explain the provenance of the essay, its appearance in the Christian Remembrancer of 1850 and its reprint in the 1854 Essays and Reviews, then set the stage for the translation, noting that no English version had yet appeared. Church situates De Monarchia within the turbulent Guelf‑Ghibelline disputes of Dante’s early career, contrasting the treatise’s formal, scholastic tone with the poet’s later, more impassioned writings. The introductory note also provides a brief, reverent overview of the Divine Comedy, positioning it among the great monuments of Western thought and emphasizing its personal and historical dimensions.

Written in the measured, erudite prose of Victorian scholarship, the text combines literary criticism with historical commentary. Its style reflects the academic conventions of the 1870s, replete with extensive allusions to classical authors and contemporary historians. Readers who enjoy nineteenth‑century intellectual discourse, especially those interested in medieval political theory, Dante studies, or the intersection of literature and church‑state relations, will find this volume a rewarding, if dense, companion to the poet’s own works.