Ariosto, Ludovico (1474–1533)

Italian poet whose Orlando Furioso, became one of the most famous literary works of the Renaissance. Born in the town of Reggio Emilio, the son of a military commander, Ludovico Ariosto moved to Ferrara while still a boy. He later studied law despite his preference for poetry. He was instructed in Latin and Greek by the scholar Gregorio da Spoleto, but on the death of his father in 1500 he became responsible for his nine siblings. Two years later, he became the commander of the town of Canossa.

As a young man, Ariosto found a needed patron in Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, who showed ignorance and contempt for his works and used him as a common servant. In 1516 Ariosto completed Orlando Furioso, an epic poem in forty-six cantos. He based the poem on Orlando Innamorato, an unfinished work of Matteo Maria Boiardo. It was a tale of romance and chivalry that borrowed themes and characters from the popular chansons de geste, epic romances of the medieval age. The poet takes on the role of a singing troubadour, describing the adventures of Orlando, a knight who fights the Saracens for the emperor Charlemagne and goes mad with love for the beautiful Angelica. In Orlando Furioso Ariosto showed great respect for chivalric poetry but also chided the chansons de geste for their old-fashioned attention to courtly manners. His work inspired several major poets to create imitations and leading painters to illustrate scenes from the poem.

Ariosto left the cardinal's household in 1518 and joined that of Alfonso I, the duke of Ferrara, whom he served as ambassador to Pope Julius II. The duke later appointed him governor of Garfagnana, a remote district in the Apennine Mountains. Ariosto was responsible for managing a lawless region infested with bandits, but had won such a reputation for his poetry that he was immediately released by a band of criminals after being kidnapped.

Known throughout Italy, Ariosto's poem found an even larger audience when it was published in its final form in 1532. Ariosto's other works include satires and stage comedies, including La Cassaria and Il Suppositi, modeled on the works of the ancient Romans Plautus and Terrence. The latter work was borrowed by William Shakespeare for his play The Taming of the Shrew.

See Also: Ferrara; Tasso, Torquato