Commentary Par XIX 120 |
This mention of the death of the French king dates the canto as having been composed (or, at least, modified) after November 1314, according to Campi (DDP Campi.Par.XIX.118-120); see also Foster (Fost.1976.1), p. 85. The Ottimo (DDP Ottimo.Par.XIX.118-120), writing in 1333, knew about the death of Philip the Fair, caused by a boar. (The word cotenna, in Tuscany, meant the hide of a wild pig and perhaps, in Dante's day [as nineteenth-century commentators report, even then on the tongues of peasants in the Romagna], referred to the whole dangerous animal.) Lombardi (DDP Lombardi.Par.XIX.120) explains what happened (citing Villani [Cron. IX.66]): A boar ran among the legs of Philip's horse and the frightened animal threw his royal rider, killing him.