was Cielo dal Camo; whether the _Contrasto_ was written on the bridge of the twelfth and thirteenth century, or fifty years later; whether the poet was a warrior of high degree or an obscure folk-singer; whether his dialect has been Tuscanised or is still Sicilian with French admixture,--these are things not to be found out, things of mere opinion and hypothesis, things good to write programmes and theses on, but only to be touched in the most gingerly manner by sober history. [Footnote 188: See _Studj sulla Letteratura Italiana dei Primi Secoli_. 2d ed. Milan: Fratelli Treves, 1891. Pp. 241-458.] To the critic, then, who deals with Dante--and especially to him, inasmuch as he has the privilege of dealing with that priceless document, the _De Vulgari Eloquio_,[189]--may be left Ciullo, or Cielo, and his successors the Frederician set, from the Emperor himself and Piero delle Vigne downwards. More especially to him belong the poets of the late thirteenth century, Dante's own immediate predecessors, contemporaries, and in a way masters--Guinicelli, Cavalcanti, Sinibaldi, and Guittone d'Arezzo (to whom the canonical form of the sonnet used at one time to be attributed, and may be again); Brunetto Latini, of fiery memory; Fra Jacopone,[190] great in Latin, eccentric in Italian, and others. It will be not merely sufficient, but in every way desirable, here to content ourselves with an account of the general characteristics of this poetry (contemporary prose, though existent, is of little importance), and to preface this by some remarks on the general influences and contributions of material with which Italian literature started. [Footnote 189: Obtainable in many forms, separately and with Dante's works. The Latin is easy enough, but there is a good English translation by A.G. Ferrers Howell (London, 1890). Those who like facsimiles may find one of the Grenoble MS., with a learned introduction, edited by MM. Maignien and Prompt (Venice, 1892).] [Footnote 190: Authorities differ oddly on Jacopone da Todi (_v._ p. 8) in his Italian work. Professor d'Andrea's book, cited above, opens with an excellent essay on him.] [Sidenote: _Heavy debt to France._]