When The Divine Comedy was written in 1320, not only has it since become one of history's greatest work of fiction, but it was also the de-facto portrayal of Hell for fiction authors and Christian believers alike.
What I'm wondering is, was Divine Comedy's portrayal of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven considered accurate to the real thing by European Christians, or at least in line with what they thought of it at the time? Or was it thought of as entirely fictional, as one man's interpretation that strongly differs from truth?
/u/childfromthefuture answered a similar question on another thread.
TL;DR: Because Divine Comedy was classified as a work of fiction, and was not written in Latin, it didn't get Dante into trouble. Also, it was written as political satire, not as an authoritative work.