Matteo Maria Boiardo

Cette pop e romanesque est tir e de la chronique dite du pseudo-Turpin, et o l'on voit figurer Agramant, Astolphe, Gradasse, Rodomont, qui sont devenus des types immortels. Comme Luigi Pulci, Boiardo s'inspire du cycle de Charlemagne mais son po me apporte une nouveaut fondamentale puisqu'il y m le aussi des l ments du cycle des chevaliers de la Table Ronde. Ainsi, les prouesses guerri res, h ritage pique de la mati re fran aise, acqui rent la dimension romanesque et merveilleuse propre la mati re bretonne. D'autre part, comme le titre l'annonce clairement, dans cette nouvelle pop e l'amour prend une dimension toute particuli re. Loin de l'amour incarn comme un id al moral par les compagnons du roi Arthur, l'amour dont fait preuve Roland est bien r el et le rapproche de la condition des hommes ordinaires.

Extrait de Roland l'amoureux, de Matheo Maria Boyardo, comte de Scandiano; Par M. le comte de TressanDate de l'edition originale: 1780Ce livre est la reproduction fidele d'une oeuvre publiee avant 1920 et fait partie d'une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande editee par Hachette Livre, dans le cadre d'un partenariat avec la Bibliotheque nationale de France, offrant l'opportunite d'acceder a des ouvrages anciens et souvent rares issus des fonds patrimoniaux de la BnF.Les oeuvres faisant partie de cette collection ont ete numerisees par la BnF et sont presentes sur Gallica, sa bibliotheque numerique.En entreprenant de redonner vie a ces ouvrages au travers d'une collection de livres reimprimes a la demande, nous leur donnons la possibilite de rencontrer un public elargi et participons a la transmission de connaissances et de savoirs parfois difficilement accessibles.Nous avons cherche a concilier la reproduction fidele d'un livre ancien a partir de sa version numerisee avec le souci d'un confort de lecture optimal. Nous esperons que les ouvrages de cette nouvelle collection vous apporteront entiere satisfaction.Pour plus d'informations, rendez-vous sur www.hachettebnf.fr

Look also for the Theophania Publishing edition of Orlando Furioso. The beautiful Angelica, daughter of the king of Cataio (Cathay), comes to Charlemagne's court for a tournament in which both Christians and pagans can participate. She offers herself as a prize to whoever will defeat her brother, Argalia, who in so doing imprisons lots of Christians. But then Ferraguto (aka Ferra ) kills Argalia and Angelica flees, chased by many paladins, especially Orlando and Rinaldo. Stopping in the Ardenne forest, she drinks at the Stream of Love (making her fall in love with Rinaldo), while Rinaldo drinks at the fount of hate (making him conceive a passionate hatred of Angelica): first reversal. She asks the magician Malagigi to kidnap Rinaldo, and the magician brings him to an enchanted island, while she returns to Cataio where she is besieged by king Agricane, another of her admirers, in the fortress of Albracc . Orlando comes to kill Agricane and to free her, and he succeeds. Afterwards, Rinaldo tries to convince him to return to France to fight alongside Charlemagne: consequently, Orlando and Rinaldo duel furiously. In fact, in the meantime the Saracen king Agramante has invaded France with a massive army (along with Rodomonte, Ferra , Gradasso, and many others), to avenge his father Troiano, previously killed by Orlando. Rinaldo rushes back to France, chased by Angelica in love with him, in turn chased by Orlando. Back in the Ardenne forest, this time Rinaldo and Angelica drink at the opposite founts: second reversal. Orlando and Rinaldo duel again for Angelica, and Charlemagne decides to entrust her to the old and wise duke Namo, offering her to the one who will fight most valorously against the infidels. In the meantime, the Saracen paladin Ruggiero and Rinaldo's sister, Bradamante, fall in love. The poem stops there abruptly, with Boiardo's narrator explaining that he can write no more because Italy has been invaded by French troops headed by king Charles VIII (Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" will reprise from that point).

Like Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" and Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," Boiardo's chivalric stories of lords and ladies first entertained the culturally innovative court of Ferrara in the Italian Renaissance. Inventive, humorous, inexhaustible, the story recounts Orlando's love-stricken pursuit of "the fairest of her sex, Angelica" (in Milton's terms) through a fairyland that combines the military valor of Charlemagne's knights with the enchantments of King Arthur's court.