Poet whose Orlando innamorato, the first poem to combine elements of both Arthurian and Caroligian traditions of romance, gave new life to the chivalrous epic, which was declining in popularity.
He spent mucho of his life after 1476 at Ferrara, under the patronage of the dukes of Este. He was captain of the ducal forces at Modena from 1480 to 1482 and at Regio from 1487 until his death.
His chief pleasure was in study and poetry, and he wrote numerous works, both in Latin and Italian. Of the Italian works, the Amorum libri tres (1499) tells of his love for Antonia Caprara and is among the most personal and spontaneous collection of 15th-century lyrics, written at a time when much of the love poetry was a conventional exercise.
Orlando innamorato begun about 1476, was intended to consist of three parts, but only the first two (published 1483) and part of the third were completed at the poet´s death. The great importance of Orlando innamorato (to which Ariosto´s Orlando furioso was conceived as a sequel) is that it combines the Arthurian cycle of chivalrous love adventures with the Carolingian cycle glorifiying military honour, patriotism, and religion. The poem did not achieve popularity, partly because of its dialectical and erudite language, partly because of the careless construction of the episodes and characters, but chiefly because of its delineation of strong and primitive passions, which was not in tone with the tendencies of his time.
Boiardo breathed an intimate, personal strain into the stereotype of the epic that future generations emulated and expanded.
His complete works in two volumes were edited by A. Zottoli (1936-37).
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