Toynbee "Alighiero"
the son of Cacciaguida and great-grandfather of Dante, whose father Alighiero II (Rime lxxiv. 8, Rime lxxviii. 1), was the eldest son of Bellincione, the eldest son of Alighiero I, whose second son was Bello, father of Geri del Bello ([Inf. xxix. 27]) [Table XXII].

Cacciaguida (in the Heaven of Mars) refers to Alighiero as his own son and D.'s great-grandfather, and as being the ancestor from whom the poet derived his surname Alighieri, Quel da cui si dice / tua cognazione . . . mio figlio fu e tuo bisavol fue, [Par. xv. 91-92], [Par. xv. 94] [Alighieri: Dante]. This Alighiero is mentioned, together with his brother Preitenitto, in a document (dated Dec. 9, 1189) and is proved by another document to have been alive on Aug. 14, 1201, it is evident that D. was ignorant of the exact date of his death, for he makes Cacciaguida say (in 1300) that his son had been 'for a hundred years and more' among the Proud in Circle I of Purgatory ([Par. xv. 92-93]) [Cacciaguida: Superbi]. [See R. Piattoli, CDD, pp. 3-5, and N. Zingarelli, Vto, i, pp. 54-57 1.]

[See M. Barbi, BSDI, vi (1899), 206: 'Notevole la chiosa di Pietro di Dante nella redazione Ashburnhamiana del suo commento e riferita dal Rocca nel Giorn. stor. d. Iett. ital. VII, 380: "inducendo auctor ipsam umbram (Cacciaguida) dicere sibi quomodo quidam eius filius nomine Alagherius fuit pater Bellincionis patris Alagherii patris ipsius auctoris." È la sola testimonianza autorevole che abbiamo della discendenza di Alighiero II da Bellincione.']

©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press