GRISELDA, a heroine of romance. She is said to have been the wife of Walter, marquis of Saluces or Saluzzo, in the IIth cen tury, and her misfortunes were considered to belong to history when they were handled by Boccaccio and Petrarch, although the probability is that Boccaccio borrowed his narrative from a Pro vencal fabliau. He included it in the recitations of the tenth day (Decamerone), and must have written it about 135o. Petrarch related it in a Latin letter in 1373, which was printed by Ulrich Zel about 147o and often subsequently. Chaucer followed Pe trarch's version in the Canterbury Tales. The story was dramatized by Thomas Dekker, Henry Chettle and W. Haughton in 1603.
An example of the many ballads of Griselda is given in T. De loney's Garland of Good Will (1585), and the 17th century chap book, The History of Patient Grisel (1619), was edited by H. B. Wheatley (1885) for the Villon Society.