Ludovico Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533) was born at Reggio Emilia and spent most of his life in the service of the Este family of Ferrara, first under Cardinal Ippolito d'Este and then, after 1517, under Duke Alfonso I. He wrote comedies and satires as well as lyrics, and was governor of the mountainous Garfagnana district for the duke from 1522 to 1525.

His masterpiece, the Orlando Furioso (first printed in 1516, revised in 1521 and again in the final edition of 1532), continues Boiardo's unfinished Orlando Innamorato in forty-six cantos of ottava rima. It weaves the madness of Orlando (Roland), the love of Ruggiero and Bradamante, and the war between Charlemagne and the Saracens into a single mock-heroic romance, and it deeply influenced Tasso, Spenser and later English poets. The version here is by William Stewart Rose, published in eight volumes by John Murray between 1823 and 1831.