Toynbee "Beatrice_1, summarized entry"
Beatrice, the central figure of the Vita Nuova and of the Divina Commedia, commonly identified with Beatrice Portinari, daughter of Folco Portinari of Florence. She was born in 1266, married Simone de' Bardi in 1287; died June 8, 1290 (V.N. xxix. 1; [Purg. xxxii. 2]), at the age of 24 ([Purg. xxx. 124]).

The function of Beatrice in the D.C. is to conduct D. from the Terrestrial to the Celestial Paradise. Beatrice is mentioned by name sixty-three times in the D. C. but on no occasion does D. address her by name; the name occurs twice only in the Inferno, [Inf. ii. 70], [Inf. ii. 103], seventeen times in the Purgatorio, [Purg. vi. 46], [Purg. xv. 77], [Purg. xviii. 48], [Purg. xviii. 73], [Purg. xxiii. 128], [Purg. xxvii. 36], [Purg. xxvii. 53], [Purg. xxx. 73], [Purg. xxxi. 80], [Purg. xxxi. 107], [Purg. xxxi. 114], [Purg. xxxi. 133], [Purg. xxxii. 36], [Purg. xxxii. 85], [Purg. xxxii. 106], [Purg. xxxiii. 4], [Purg. xxxiii. 124]; forty-four times in the Paradiso, [Par. i. 46], [Par. i. 64], [Par. ii. 22], [Par. iii. 127], [Par. iv. 13], [Par. iv. 139], [Par. v. 16], [Par. v. 85], [Par. v. 122], [Par. vii. 16], [Par. ix. 16], [Par. x. 37], [Par. x. 52], [Par. x. 60], [Par. xi. 11], [Par. xiv. 8], [Par. xiv. 79], [Par. xv. 70], [Par. xvi. 13], [Par. xvii. 5], [Par. xvii. 30], [Par. xviii. 17], [Par. xviii. 53], [Par. xxi. 63], [Par. xxii. 125], [Par. xxiii. 19], [Par. xxiii. 34], [Par. xxiii 76], [Par. xxiv. 10], [Par. xxiv. 22], [Par. xxiv. 55], [Par. xxv. 28], [Par. xxv. 137], [Par. xxvi. 77], [Par. xxvii. 34], [Par. xxvii. 102], [Par. xxix. 8], [Par. xxx. 14], [Par. xxx. 128], [Par. xxxi. 59], [Par. xxxi. 66], [Par. xxxi. 76], [Par. xxxii. 9], [Par. xxxiii. 38].

Beatrice_1(Long Entry)

©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