Commentary Purg XX 50-51

Bosco/Reggio (DDP Bosco.Purg.XX.50) offer a list of the ten kings who followed Hugh to the throne between 996 and 1314.  Four of these indeed bore the name 'Philip' and four, 'Louis,' but it is the last in each of these groups who may be of greatest interest.  Louis IX (1226-1270) is one of the major figures of the Middle Ages, a great crusader, king, and saint.  Of him Dante is -- perhaps not surprisingly, given his hatred of France -- resolutely silent; of Philip IV (the Fair -- 1285-1314), he is loquacity itself, vituperating him several times in this canto, but also in a number of other passages ([Inf XIX 85-87]; [Purg VII 109-110]; [Purg XXXII 155-156]; [Par XIX 118-120]).