Ruggiero (character)
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
romantic epics Orlando innamorato
Orlando Innamorato
Orlando Innamorato is an epic poem written by the Italian Renaissance author Matteo Maria Boiardo. The poem is a romance concerning the heroic knight Orlando .-Composition and publication:...
by Matteo Maria Boiardo
Matteo Maria Boiardo
Matteo Maria Boiardo was an Italian Renaissance poet.Boiardo was born at, or near, Scandiano ; the son of Giovanni di Feltrino and Lucia Strozzi, he was of noble lineage, ranking as Count of Scandiano, with seignorial power over Arceto, Casalgrande, Gesso, and Torricella...
and Orlando furioso
Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532...
by Ludovico Ariosto
Ludovico Ariosto
Ludovico Ariosto was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic Orlando Furioso . The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato, describes the adventures of Charlemagne, Orlando, and the Franks as they battle against the Saracens with diversions...
. Ruggiero had originally appeared in the twelfth-century French epic, Aspremont
Aspremont (chanson de geste)
Aspremont is a 12th century Old French chanson de geste . The poem comprises 11, 376 verses , grouped into rhymed laisses. The verses are decasyllables mixed with alexandrines....
, reworked by Andrea da Barberino
Andrea da Barberino
Andrea Mangiabotti, called Andrea da Barberino was an Italian writer and cantastorie of the Quattrocento Renaissance. He was born in Barberino di Val d'Elsa and lived in Florence...
as the chivalric romance Aspramonte. In Boiardo and Ariosto's works, he is supposed to be the ancestor of Boiardo and Ariosto's patrons, the Este
Este
The House of Este is a European princely dynasty. It is split into two branches; the elder is known as the House of Welf-Este or House of Welf historically rendered in English, Guelf or Guelph...
family of Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
, and he plays a major role in the two poems.
Story
He is the son of a ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
knight (Ruggiero II of Reggio Calabria
Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...
, a descendant of Astyanax
Astyanax
In Greek mythology, Astyanax was the son of Hector, Crown Prince of Troy and Princess Andromache of Cilician Thebe. His birth name was Scamandrius , but the people of Troy nicknamed him Astyanax In Greek mythology, Astyanax was the son of Hector, Crown Prince of Troy and Princess Andromache of...
, son of Hector
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
) and a Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...
lady (Galaciella, daughter of Agolant
Agolant
Agolant or Agolante is a fictional character in Medieval and Renaissance romantic epics dealing with the Matter of France, including Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto...
, king of Africa). When Ruggiero's father is betrayed, his mother is set adrift in a boat and dies giving birth. Ruggerio is raised since infancy by the wizard Atlante
Atlantes (Sorcerer)
Atlantes was a powerful sorcerer featured in the chansons de geste. The sorcerer built a castle of iron in the Pyrenees to keep knights and ladies he had captured as a diversion for Ruggiero, a Saracen knight. Atlantes feared that Ruggiero would convert to Christianity and aid Charlemagne against...
in Africa as a Saracen warrior (in Ariosto, Marfisa
Marfisa
Marfisa is a character in the Italian romantic epics Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. She is the sister of Ruggiero but was separated from him in early childhood. She becomes queen of India and fights as a warrior for the Saracens, taking part in...
is Ruggiero's twin sister).
Ruggiero is the subject of two possible prophecies. His first possible fate is to convert to Christianity, marry Bradamante
Bradamante
Bradamante is the sister of Rinaldo, and one of the heroines in Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto in their handling of the Charlemagne legends, also called the Matter of France.She falls in love with the Saracen warrior Ruggiero, but refuses to...
and sire a line of heroes that lead to the noble house of Este in Italy, but will be betrayed and killed soon after his marriage. His second possible fate is to remain a Saracen and be the cause of the downfall of the Frankish Empire. Atlante is fiercely protective of Ruggiero and keeps him hidden in an invisible castle on the top of Mount Carena in Africa.
King Agramante of Africa proposes invading France and gathers his war council together at his palace in Biserta. The king from Garamanta rose and prophesied that such an invasion was doomed unless they had the youth Ruggiero on their side. He was the key to their victory. (Garamanta did not know of the other possible prophecy regarding Ruggiero). Agramante sent search parties looking for Ruggiero, but could not find him due to Atlante's sorcery.
The thief Brunello was sent east to the kingdom of Cathay to steal a magic ring from Angelica
Angelica
Angelica is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far North as Iceland and Lapland...
that would remove all enchantments from the wearer's eyes. Once Brunello returned with the stolen ring, Agramante found the hidden castle. A tournament was held at the base of Mount Carena and Ruggiero was lured outside.
After Ruggiero was given a sword, armor, and a horse by Brunello, he entered a melee and became the tournament champion. Later he was knighted by Agramante and joined the Saracen army in its invasion of Europe, against Atlante's wishes.
Agramante's army joins Rodomonte
Rodomonte
Rodomonte is a major character in the Italian romantic epics Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. He is the King of Sarza and Algiers and the leader of the Saracen army which besieges Charlemagne in Paris. He is in love with Doralice, Princess of...
's forces who are fighting the Franks at the border war at Montalbano (Montauban.) Ruggiero shows his military prowess in the battle and has duels with Orlando and Rinaldo
Rinaldo
Rinaldo may refer to:*Rinaldo , an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel*Rinaldo , a cantata by Johannes Brahms*Rinaldo , a character in Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered...
. Both duels are interrupted.
After the battle is over for the day, Ruggiero meets and falls in love with the female Christian knight Bradamante
Bradamante
Bradamante is the sister of Rinaldo, and one of the heroines in Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto in their handling of the Charlemagne legends, also called the Matter of France.She falls in love with the Saracen warrior Ruggiero, but refuses to...
(sister to Rinaldo
Renaud de Montauban
Renaud de Montauban, was a fictional hero who was introduced to literature in a 12th century Old French chanson de geste also known as Les Quatre Fils Aymon . His exploits form part of the Doon de Mayence cycle of chansons...
). She is attacked and wounded by Saracen patrols and Ruggiero defends her honor. During the fight Bradamante and Ruggiero are separated for the first of many times.
Atlante then takes Ruggiero hostage and holds him in an enchanted castle with lords and ladies to keep him company. Bradamante rescues Ruggiero, but he is soon tricked into climbing on the back of a hippogriff.
The hippogriff
Hippogriff
A Hippogriff is a legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a mare.- Early references :...
flies him to an island east of India and he is held captive there by the enchantress Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
on her magic island. Ruggiero forgets about his love for Bradamante and falls for the charms of Alcina. He is there until he is helped by the good sorceress Melissa
Melissa (sorceress)
Melissa is a fictional good sorceress in the Matter of France. In Orlando Furioso, she is instrumental in the love affair of Ruggiero and Bradamante, whom she is determined will one day marry. Whenever their relationship is threatened, she brings them back together. Melissa conjures Ruggiero and...
.
He rescues the princess Angelica
Angelica (character)
Angelica is a princess in the epic poem Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo. She reappears in the saga's continuation, Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto, and in various later works based on the two original Orlando pieces...
, who has been offered as a sacrifice to a water-dwelling orc
Orc
An orc is one of a race of mythical human-like creatures, generally described as fierce and combative, with grotesque features and often black, grey or greenish skin. This mythology has its origins in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien....
. Finally, he is baptised into Christianity, and marries Bradamante. Rodomonte appears at the wedding feast and accuses Ruggiero of betraying the Saracen cause. The two knights duel, ending in Rodomonte's death.
Opera
Ruggiero appears in several operas, including La liberazione di RuggieroLa liberazione di Ruggiero
La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina is a comic opera in four scenes by Francesca Caccini, first performed February 3, 1625 at the Villa di Poggio Imperiale in Florence, with a libretto by Ferdinando Saracinelli, based on Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso...
(1625) by Francesca Caccini
Francesca Caccini
Francesca Caccini was an Italian composer, singer, lutenist, poet, and music teacher of the early Baroque era. She was the daughter of Giulio Caccini, and was one of the best-known and most influential female European composers between Hildegard of Bingen in the 12th century and the 19th century...
and Alcina
Alcina
Alcina is an opera seria by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he acquired the year after, during his travels in Italy...
(1735) by Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
.
Movie
Ruggiero is played by Ron Moss in the ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
film Paladini-storia d'armi e d'amori ("Paladins—the story of love and arms")
Sources
- Boiardo: Orlando innamorato ed. Giuseppe Anceschi (Garzanti,1978)
- Boiardo:Orlando innamorato translated by Charles Stanley Ross, Parlor Press, 2004. ISBN 1-932559-01-9
- Ariosto:Orlando Furioso, verse translation by Barbara ReynoldsBarbara ReynoldsBarbara Reynolds is an English scholar, lexicographer and translator, wife of the philologist and translator Lewis Thorpe.-Early life:The daughter of Alfred Charles Reynolds, and the god-daughter of Dorothy L...
in two volumes (Penguin Classics, 1975). Part one (cantos 1-23) ISBN 0-14-044311-8; part two (cantos 24-46) ISBN 0-14-044310-X - Orlando Furioso, prose translation by Guido Waldman (Oxford, 1999). ISBN 0-19-283677-3.
- Ariosto: Orlando Furioso ed. Marcello Turchi (Garzanti, 1974)
- Ariosto: Orlando Furioso: A Selection ed. Pamela Waley (Manchester University Press, 1975)