Ludovico Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto met his future wife Alessandra Benucci in 1513. At that time she was married to Tito Strozzi. After Strozzi’s death, Alessandra became Ariosto’s mistress. The couple finally got married sometime between 1528 and 1530 in a secret ceremony. They did not have any children.

Ariosto died on July 6, 1533, months after he completed the final version of his epic poem ‘Orlando Furioso’.

Ludovico Ariosto was born on September 8, 1474 in the ancient town Reggio nell’Emilia, located in northern part of Italy. His father’s name was Count Niccolo Ariosto; but the name of his mother is not known. Ludovico had four brothers and five sisters younger to him.

At the time of Ludovico’s birth, Count Niccollo was the commander of the citadel at Reggio nell’Emilia. However, in and around 1484, the family moved to Ferrara, their native place. From then on, Ludovico began to consider himself as a Ferrarese.

As a child, Ludovico showed an inclination towards literature. However, because he was the eldest child it was necessary that he be trained in professional line. On his father’s insistence Ludovico studied law from 1483 to 1494. He was allowed to study literature only after he had completed legal studies.

From 1495, Ariosto began to study Greek and Latin literature under Gregorio da Spoleto. However, in 1500, Spoleto left Ferrara for a more lucrative position in France. Count Niccollo too died shortly and so Ludovico was compelled to forgo his literary ambition.

On his father’s death Ludovico Ariosto found his family affairs to be in disorder. In 1502, he acquired the position of the commander of the Fort of Canossa. It is not exactly known what he did in the intervening years.

However, it is certain that he wrote a few comedies in prose as well as few poems during this period. It is believed that Cardinal Ippolito d’Este took Ariosto under his patronage when he came across some of these poems.

In 1503, Ariosto took position of the Gentleman of the Household under the Cardinal. He was expected to be in constant attendance of the Cardinal and work as a messenger for him. He was also required to accompany him when he went out on expeditions such as the Venice Expedition of 1509.

This type of work did not suit Ariosto’s temperament at all. Moreover, the cardinal paid him only 84 crowns a year. Neither did he appreciate Ariosto’s literary venture. Yet, he kept on working for him out of compulsion.

By and by, Ariosto gained recognition as a diplomat. He was sent to Rome as ambassador twice; first in 1512 during the time of Pope Julius II and then again in 1513 when Leo X became the pope.

In spite of his busy schedule, Ludovico Ariosto managed to create a huge corpus of literary treasure. These poems were initially inspired by Roman poets like Tibullus and Horace; but later he developed a style of his own. In fact, he was one of the poets, who led to the development of the literary culture during the Renaissance.

Out of all his works, Ariosto is best remembered for his epic poem ‘Orlando Furioso’. It is a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ‘Orlando Innamorato’ and has been composed in ‘ottava rima’ rhyme. It consists of 38,736 lines and is divided into 46 cantons.

Ariosto started working on this epic poem in 1505/ 1506. It was first published in 1516. At that time it had 40 cantons. However, he kept on improving on it throughout his life and the final version, which had 46 cantons, was published in 1532.

Ariosto also wrote seven satires and five comedies. Major among them are: ‘La Cassaria’ (1508), ‘Il suppositi’ (1509), ‘Gli studenti’ (1518-1519), ‘II negromante’ (1521), and ‘La Lena’(1528). The last one is said to be the inspiration behind Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’.