What is something historical that relates to canto 10?

In Canto X of the Inferno, Dante and Virgil have made their way to the circle of Hell containing heretics. A heretic is someone, especially in a religious context, who holds opinions widely considered unacceptable. In the Middle Ages, when The Divine Comedy was written, heresy against the teachings of the Church was considered a very serious matter indeed. So serious, in fact, that many people throughout Europe lost their lives as a consequence, burning at the stake being the preferred method of execution.
As heresy was such an important historical reality in Dante's time, it's inevitable that he should encounter real-life figures in this particular circle of Hell. One particularly notorious variant of heresy was Epicureanism. This was an ancient school of philosophy that held, among other things, that each individual soul dies with the body. Such a notion was considered deeply scandalous by orthodox believers as it represented a clear violation of Christian doctrine.
Dante encounters the shade of one such Epicurean, Farinata degli Uberti. In real life, he and his wife were tried for heresy after they'd died, their bodies dug up for that precise purpose. When Dante meets Farinata in the Inferno, things between the two Florentines start off quite amicably. But once Farinata establishes that Dante belongs to a rival political faction, the insults soon start to fly. Dante belonged to the White Guelph faction, whereas Farinata was the leader of the rival Ghibellines.
Medieval Florence was riven by constant discord and upheaval due to the seemingly endless conflict between these two groups. The mutual enmity is so bitter that it even carries on in the next world. In consigning Farinata to Hell, Dante isn't simply condemning him for his religious heresy; he's also settling a very old political score.