In 1300, he became one of the six priors of Florence. He joined a democratic political group which was opposed by the pope. After his opponent's triumph Dante was exiled, wandered to various cities, possibly Paris and Oxford, and made his final home in Ravenna.

The dates of his various works are not known. The 'Vita nuova', which tells of his passion for Beatrice, is probably the earliest. He wrote several poems, as well as treatises on government and language.

But his fame as the greatest poet of Italy rests on the Christian epic 'Divine Comedy', a vision of hell, purgatory, and heaven which gives a wideranging view of the culture of his age. 'The Divine Comedy' became the first masterpiece of world literature written in a modern European language.