Although in the fundamental idea nothing at all
is to be discerned of Dante's encounter with the
great poets of Limbo, there may be a slight rec-
ollection of the valle fiorita in the seventh canto
of the Purgatorioy which in his annotations to the
Divine Comedy the Marquis interpreted as the
valley of fame, following the commentator, Ben-



1



6o MEDIAEVAL SPANISH ALLEGORY

vcnuto da Imola, from whom he drew more than
has generally been known. A more likely Italian
prototype is the Amorosa Visione. In the hall of
Glory Boccaccio sees depicted upon one wall the
great writers of antiquity; and whereas in the
Inferno Dante is simply received by the other
poets, here, as in the usual form of the Panegyric,
he is actually crowned. The officiant in the cere-
mony is Philosophy, who, like Venus in Santi-
llana's verses, is surrounded by her maidens, the
seven Sciences, and her votaries, the sages and
famous writers of Greece and Rome. Homer,
Virgil, and Lucan appear in the passage of the
Amorosa Visione as well as in the Inferno. The
Coronacion de Mossin Jordi is thus only another
important proof of the Spanish inclination towards
Italian manipulations of Dante in the Trecento
rather than towards Dante himself.
