Crown of Aragon

Description

In the Purgatorio (III, v. 116) Dante explicitly mentions Aragon paired with Sicily in the verse «de l'onor di Cicilia e d'Aragona» (for the honor of Sicily and of Aragon). According to the authorized critical notes, Aragon is the Iberian region to which King Manfred, before dying, had recommended that news be transmitted of his capture and decapitation by Charles I of Anjou, and where his daughter Constance lived, who comforted him in his final moments. The reference occurs within the speech in which Manfred addresses Dante, asking him to return to the world and inform his loved ones about the events that led him to this atonement. Dante's mention thus takes on the value of a sign of dynastic belonging and a precise geographical indication, tied to the Swabian lineage and to the historical events that brought about the defeat of the Swabians in the Italian peninsula.