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Iacopo Rusticucci was a Guelph politician and accomplished orator who lived and worked in Florence, Italy between 1200 and 1300. Iacopo Rusticucci is realized historically primarily in relation to the Adimari family, who wielded much power and prestige in 13th century Florence, and to whom it is thought Rusticucci was a close companion, representative, or lawyer. Despite his association with men of high political and social rank, Rusticucci was not born into nobility, and nothing is known of his ancestors or predecessors. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown.

Role in 13th Century Florentine Politics
Iacopo Rusticucci's role as Guelph politician is indicated by documents which mention his part in important political moments, align him with prominent Guelphs, and by Dante Alighieri in his depiction of Rusticucci in the Divine Comedy. The Guelphs and their rival counterpart the Ghibellines were political factions aligned with the Pope and the Roman Empire, respectively. Documents from the 13th century indicate that Iacopo Rusticucci received payment from the city for his leadership in a political-military endeavor (involving the Guelphs and the Ghibellines). He also received payment on behalf of a member of the Adimari family, a transaction indicative of the kind of role - lawyer, representative - Rusticucci likely assumed in his relations with the family. Also, and despite not knowing his origins or what became of his estate posthumously, Rusticucci is mentioned in a document which records a list of the destruction inflicted upon Guelph property during Ghibelline domination in Florence. This list reveals that Rusticucci owned at least a few buildings. This.

Presence in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy
Iacopo Rusticucci is memorialized in Canto XVI of Dante's Inferno in the ring of the sodomites, where he will suffer for all of eternity in the company of two other men of political and social prominence: Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, a member of the aforementioned Adimari family, and Guido Guerra (b. 1220 d.1272), of the high-ranking and powerful Conti Guidi family. Before the reader meets Rusticucci, he is alluded to in Canto XI of Inferno in a conversation between Dante and a sinner named Ciacco – thought by some to be the Florentine poet Ciacco dell' Anguillaia. Dante speaks to Ciacco in the circle of gluttony, to which Ciacco has been relegated.

As soon as Dante arrives in the hell of the sodomites in Canto XVI, three shades approach and recognize him, by his clothing, as Florentine. They are Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and Iacopo Rusticucci, who speaks on behalf of the group. Scholars have noted that of all the shades with whom Dante interacts in hell, these three receive the warmest greeting from the protagonist, despite Dante's having chosen to place them in the circle of the sodomites. Rusticucci first introduces the two men with him, both of noble lineage, Guelphs, and of high political rank when they were alive. He then introduces himself as one who suffers with the sodomites through the fault of his wife. It is thought that this blame is based either in the repulsiveness of Rusticucci's wife (posited perhaps most aggressively by Giovanni Bocaccio), which drove him to find sexual pleasure elsewhere ( https://books.google.com/books?id=2sdtDwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA170&dq=%22fiera+moglie%22+rusticucci&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22fiera%20moglie%22%20rusticucci&f=false ),[4] or in her refusal to have have sex with him ( https://dante.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/dante/DispCommentByTitOrId.pl?SMALL=0&INP_ID=240659 ).[5] Either way, Rusticucci's presence in this, at the time deemed disgraceful, circle of hell is not entirely his fault. Rusticucci's role as speaker for the group is a nod to his success as an orator when he was alive (Noakes on Inferno).

It is at this point, after the introductions are made, that Dante the protagonist is overcome with the urge to embrace these men who represent to him the golden age of Florentine politics and municipality - "had I been sheltered from the fire I would have thrown myself among them, and I believe my teacher would have let me."

Significance of Dante's Treatment of the Sodomites in the Divine Comedy
As was mentioned, Dante's affectionate treatment of the sodomites has been cause for much discourse