BOIABDO, MATTEO MARIA, Count of Scandiano, one of the most celebrated Italian poets, was b. at Scandiano in 1430 or 1434. After completing his studies at the univer sity of Ferrara, he was introduced at the court of duke Borso d'Este, by whose succes sor, Ercole I., he was promoted to several honorable offices. In 1478, he was made governor of Reggio; in 1481, governor of Modena; and six years later, he again became governor of Reggio, where he died in 1494. His chief work is the romantic chivalrous poem, Orlando Innamorato, which he left unfinished in three hooks. Former writers had described Orlando only as a cold, pure, champion of Christendom; but B. intro duced the element of lo•e, to give an additional charm to romantic adventure. The method in which lie does this not only proves him to have possessed a truly creative faculty, but also brings his conception nearer to the reality of history. B. furnished to all his poetical successors, even to Ariosto himself. the personages who figure in their adaptations of the old romance. His work was printed sixteen times before 1545. and was translated into French as early as the 16th century. As it was written in the dialect
of the court of Ferrara, it failed to give satisfaction to the Florentines. Accordingly, after several attempts had been made to purify its diction, Lodovico Domenichi (died 1564) produced a Riformazione of the poem, 1545, without making any important change in the substance. Berni, in his Rifacimento, proceeded further, and gave to the NVhole poem a tone of burlesque; but his version enjoyed such popularity that it took the place of the original, which was almost entirely forgotten, until it was republished with intro duction and critical observations by Panizzi (0 vols. Loud. 1830), and afterwards by Wagner in his Parnasso Italiano Continuato (Leip.•833). The other works of 13. include Sondti e Canzoni (Reggio, 1499); Il Timone, a five-act drama (1600); Cinque Capitoli in Terza Bina (1523); and L' Asino d' Oro, a version of the Golden Ass of Appuleius (1523): besides a translation of llerodotus (1533), and of Riccobaldi's Chronieon Bomanorum Imperatorurn.