Fra Dolcino

Profile

Fra Dolcino is cited by Muhammad in Canto XXVIII of the Inferno as a schismatic still alive, whose imminent descent among the damned is foretold. The line «Or dì a fra Dolcin dunque che s'armi» constitutes the first textual element: Muhammad entrusts Dante with the message of warning, according to a historical leveling that places on the same plane the founder of Islam and the leader of the sect. Note 57 to the same canto specifies that Fra Dolcino died in 1307, so that Muhammad's warning implicitly presupposes knowledge of the siege and surrender. Notes 59 and 60 specify that the «Noarese» are the crusaders, predominantly from Novara and Vercelli, who were besieging Mount Zibello, and that the surrender was due to the snow and the lack of food.