Author: ARIOSTO, Lodovico
Biography:
ARIOSTO, Ludovico (1474-1533: Encyclopedia of World Biography)
The eldest of ten children of Niccolò and Daria Ariosto, he was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 1474. When he was fourteen the family moved to Ferrara where Niccolò Ariosto held a court position. According to the wishes of his family he began studying law but his father eventually agreed that he could study literature instead. With the death of his father in about 1500 Ludovico became responsible for his younger siblings and in 1503 he entered the service of Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. Although being a courtier was not to Ariosto’s liking, the Cardinal supported his literary career. He wrote verse and comedies which were successful. In 1513 he met Alessandra Benucia and they married secretly in 1527. Ariosto’s most famous work is the comic epic poem Orlando Furioso, a sequel to the Orlando Innamorato of Matteo Maria Boiardo (q.v.) Three distinct versions of the epic were published in Ariosto’s lifetime, in 1516, 1521, and 1532. Ariosto died in 1533. The first English translation of Orlando Furioso was by Sir John Harrington in 1591. All the translators listed in this database have headnotes of their own. The most significant translation was by John Hoole but the poem or extracts from it were also translated by Henry Boyd, Hudson Gurney, William Stewart Rose, Edward Davies Davenport, Henry Richard Fox, and Charles Strong (qq.v.). (Encyclopedia of World Biography online 14 Apr. 2025; EB) SR
Other Names:
- Ariosto
- Ludovico Ariosto