BOIARDO, MATTE° SLuttA. Count of Scandiano (c.1434-94 ). A celebrated Italian P' • .et born at Scandiano. Educated at the l'ni versity of Ferrara. he bnig resided at the Court of Borso and Ereole d'Este, Duke: of Ferrara, who were his steadfast friends and patrons. Ile was made Governor of Reggio in 147s, Captain of _Modena in I isi. and was in 1387 reappointed Governor of eontinuing in this office until his death. in his literary ambitions by his masters, he produced his Orlando Innamo rato (14') , a wildly romantic epic. only three book, of which were attempted, the third being left incomplete. The poem, published in 1495, was written in attar; rima (which 1;yron em ployed so skillfully in Don .loan), and is con cerned with the Charlemagne cycle. representing Roland in love with the Princess Angelica of the East. Gorgeous in coloring, and filled with chivalrous ineident. it was thrice reprinted be fore 15•1), pa--ed through sixteen before 1545. and. early translated into French, has gone into almost every European language. Three
additional books were written by degli Agostini (1506-31), which, though very medio cre, have remained a part of the p()eni. In 1541 Francesco Berni brought out hi, rifaeimento, and in 1545 another version was completed by hodovico Domenielli, both of which proved more popular than the original, though not so meri torious. Th'e poem is the more famous as hav ing suggested Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Al most forgotten. the original form was issued by I'anizzi in I5:30-31. Other works by lioiardo are: Sounetti c •anzoui (1499) ; ii Timone (1500); carmen If neolicon (1500): Capitoli in furze rime (1523); Apulejo dell' asino (To•o (151(;): :(sine Wo•n fie tr011Ot (0 in. rolyare (1523) ; Erodoto Ali•arnasseo isto•ico, tradotto di yreco i» lingua italiana ( 15:33 ) . Consult Panizzi, Boia•do, Orlando Innamorato; riosto, Orlando Furinso. with an essay on the Romantic Narratire Poetry of the Italians, Memoirs, and Notes (9 vols., London, 1530).