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Dante lives again in Umbria	The sky of Mercury - the active spirits
Those who worked virtuously upon the earth but were driven by ambition for glory and fame, are now to be found in the sky of Mercury. Even though they may have been operating for the good of everyone in the long run, they had nevertheless placed their own gain before the cult of the Supreme Good. Consequently their level of bliss was lower than that of the other souls in Heaven. They are still, however, satisfied with their lot. Here Gillessen explores the fate of two particular souls described in canto VI of Paradiso. A group of three benedictory figures wearing pointed hats are approaching. The hats themselves, probably Celtic in origin, appear very often in Gillessen's works. They indicate that the three figures are initiates, the guardians of an esoteric knowledge to be kept secret. The first wizard is Emperor Justinian who in the sixth century A.D. systematised the confusing array of laws then governing the Roman empire. He "took away the excess and the useless from the laws" and gave rise to a Code of Civil Law which was the basis for all medieval law for hundreds of years to come. Throughout the canto Justinian describes the providential disposition of the Roman Empire with a discussion based on sound Christian faith and a solid grounding in theology. Those capable of understanding such an important topic were certainly to be regarded as divine wizards. The second character is more humble with respect to Justinian. He is, however, just as worthy of deference because he is just as much a wizard albeit in quite a different sense. He is Romèe de Villeneuve, an administrator at the court of Raimond Berengarius who, according to Giovanni Villani, ran the territory once Count Raimond had died and had even arranged a marriage between the Count's daughter, Beatrice, and Charles I d'Angou. A Provençal legend which Dante knew presented Romèe as a pilgrim who, on his way back from San Jacopo de Compostela, had stopped at Raimond's court to help him in his affairs of state and foreign politics. Romeo, in medieval Italian, was the adjective designating those who travelled along the via romea (otherwise known as francigena depending upon whether the person concerned was headed for Rome or France) as a pilgrim. Raimond's envious subjects defamed Romée so much that he had to demand that his mule, staff and purse be returned. He then left. By placing Romèe on the same level as Justinian, Gillessen demonstrates that he has understood the role which Dante assigns to the Provençal pilgrim. Romèe reflects the providential role played by Dante himself. That is to say, Dante establishes a parallel between his own opus as an exiled poet and that of this wise and extremely humble Compostellian pilgrim. Though thanklessly driven from court to court, both Dante and Romée wander as pilgrims through the world imparting crumbs of wisdom to those they meet on their way. "and if only the world knew the heart he had/ though leading his life as a beggar crumb by crumb,/ it would praise him much more than it does now" (Par. VI, 140-2)
Introduction Dante lost in the dark wood (Inferno, I) Dante - follower of Christ made flesh (Inferno, I) The arrival of Caronte (Inferno, III) The Noble Castle of Limbo (Inferno, IV) Tremendous Minos (Inferno, V) The lustful Guido Guinizelli and Arnaut Daniel (Purgatorio, XXVI) Souls in the circle of the envious (Purgatorio, XIII) The sky of Mercury - the active spirits (Paradiso, V-VI) Invective of St. Benedict (Paradiso, XXII) index

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