''Morgante'' (sometimes also called , the name given to the complete 28-canto, 30,080-line edition published in 1483
[See Lèbano's introduction to the Tusiani translation, p. xxii.]) is an Italian
romantic epic by
Luigi Pulci which appeared in its final form in 1483; a now-lost 23 canto version likely appeared in late 1478; two other 23 canto versions were published in 1481 and 1482.
The work was commissioned by
Lucrezia Tornabuoni.
Based on popular
Matter of France material, the poem tells the story of
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
and
Renaud de Montauban (in Italian, ''Renaldo'' or ''Rinaldo''), the most famous of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...
's
paladins, in a frequently
burlesque fashion. The title character is a
giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
who becomes Orlando's loyal follower after the knight stops him from attacking the monastery of Chiaromonte and converts him to Christianity. After many strange adventures, Morgante is killed by a bite from a crab. Other characters include Morgante's friend, the gluttonous Margutte who dies in a fit of laughter, and the philosophically inclined demon
Astarotte. The poem ends with an account of Orlando's defeat and death at the
Battle of Roncesvalles
The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, ''Roncesvalles'' in Spanish, ''Orreaga'' in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the ...
.
The last five cantos of Pulci's work are based on ''
La Spagna'' a 14th-century Italian epic attributed to the Florentine Sostegno di Zanobi.
[Peter Brand and Lino Pertile, eds. ''The Cambridge History of Italian Literature'' Cambridge: 1996; revised edition: 1999, p.169. ]
Lord Byron translated the first
canto of ''Morgante'' in 1822. In 1983 the Italian-American poet
Joseph Tusiani
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
translated in English all 30,080 verses of this work, subsequently published as a book in 2000 by
Indiana University Press.
Notes
References
*''Morgante'' ed. Franca Ageno (Mondadori, 1994).
*''Morgante: The Epic Adventures of Orlando and His Giant Friend'' a complete English translation by Joseph Tusiani. Introduction and notes by Edoardo Lèbano. (Indiana University Press, 1998)
*
1483 books
Epic poems in Italian
Matter of France
Chivalric sagas
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