Editing Matteo Maria Boiardo (section)

==Writing==
In his youth Boiardo had been a successful imitator of [[Petrarch]]'s love poems. For Ercole d'Este he produced his first humanist works in [[Latin]], the ''Carmina de laudibus Estensium'' and the ''Pastoralia'', both dating from 1463–4; he also undertook a number of free translations into the vernacular, from [[Cornelius Nepos]], [[Xenophon]], [[Apuleius]], [[Herodotus]], and the chronicler [[Riccobaldo of Ferrara]].
[[File:Boiardo - Amorum libri, a di XVIIII decembre 1499 - 2476442 ib00831000 TMD MASTER IMG Scan00009.tif|thumb|''Amorum libri'', 1499]]
While in Reggio in 1469 Boiardo met Antonia Caprara, who inspired his ''canzoniere'', his first original work in the vernacular, now regarded as one of the highest poetic achievements of the 15th century. Entitled ''Amorum libri tres'' and comprising 180 [[Sonnet|sonnets]], [[Canzone|canzoni]], and [[Madrigal|madrigals]], it recounts in Petrarchan mode the three phases of the poet's love, from initial joy to subsequent disillusionment and final mourning. Shortly afterwards Boiardo wrote the [[comedy]] ''Il Timone'' (1487?), loosely based on the dialogue of the same name by [[Lucian]]. 

Around 1476 Boiardo began his major work, ''[[Orlando Innamorato]]'', originally also called ''Inamoramento de Orlando'', a grandiose poem of [[chivalry]] and romance absorbing the poetic experience of the ''canzoniere'' and the encomiastic intent of the earlier Latin works (the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]] provides a detailed discussion of ''Orlando'' in its several editions).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Within the chivalric tradition ''Orlando'' ''Innamorato'' is the first poem to effect a deliberate fusion of the [[Matter of France|Carolingian]] and [[Matter of Britain|Arthurian]] narrative cycles; hence the poem's novelty, the fact that Orlando, the hero of the ''[[Song of Roland]]'', is in love. Seen as a cosmic force as well as an essential attribute to chivalry, love is by far the main theme, alongside other major themes of arms, magic, honour, and adventure. Fabulous and anachronistic as this narrative material may seem, the poet relates it to the present by creating the illusion of a live recitation to a courtly audience, whose reactions he registers at various points. Within this frame the narration itself unfolds at a relentless pace, governed by the so-called ''entrelacement'' technique of suspending one story and shifting to another at the point of maximum expectation.

Almost all Boiardo's works, and especially the ''Orlando innamorato'', were composed for the amusement of Duke Ercole and his court, though not written within its precincts. His practice, it is said, was to retire to [[Scandiano]] or some other of his estates, and there to devote himself to composition, and historians state that he took care to insert in the descriptions of his poem those of the agreeable environs of his château, and that the greater part of the names of his heroes, as Mandricardo, Gradasse, Sacripant, Agramant and others, were merely the names of some of his peasants, which, from their uncouthness, appeared to him proper to be given to [[Saracen]] warriors.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

===Tarot===
It is uncertain when Boiardo wrote a poem about a self-composed, unusual [[Tarot]] game ([[Tarocchi]]), which is of relevance to Tarot research of the 15th century and the question of when Tarot developed. 

A Tarocchi deck was produced according to the poem (probably created shortly after Boiardo's death). The only known deck has partially survived (only 44 cards out of a deck of at least 56 - or possibly 78 if it originally included the 22 Trumps).<ref>The previously unknown deck was once the property of Captain H. E. Rimington Wilson [b.1899-d.1971; 72 years old], a collector of rare card decks. It was auctioned as Lot 310 at Christie's on the 24th of November, 1971 for 350 guineas (or £367.50 in New Pence).</ref> It was composed of four unique suits, each representing a passion: Whips (''Timor'' > fear), Eyes (''Gelosia'' > jealousy), Vases (''Speranza'' > hope) and Arrows (''Amor'' > love). The suits were each composed of the 10 "pip" cards (Ace through 10) and the 4 Face Cards: ''Fante'' ("Soldier" / Knave), ''Cavallo'' ("Cavalryman" / Knight), ''Donna'' ("Lady" / Queen) and ''Re'' ("King"). Each card had three lines of verse from the poem in a rectangle at the top.