Orlando Furioso

The narrator’s introduction is an apology for having to write negative things about Gabrina; he prefers to focus on good women.

The narrative returns to Astolfo, who has just blown the magic horn causing his companions to run away. Riding through a forest near Rouen, he pauses to drink from a spring, and then follows a peasant to Atlas’s enchanted palace. Astolfo looks it up in his magic book from Logistilla. As he fights the magic, Atlas’s illusions make it look like Astolfo is the abductor of the captives’ loved ones, so Ruggiero, Bradamant, Brandimart, and others attack him. Astolfo blows his magic horn, and everyone runs away. Astolfo breaks Atlas’s spells, and the palace dissolves. Astolfo finds Atlas’s hippogryph and flies off.

Ruggiero and Bradamant reunite, and then plan to see her father, who will baptize Ruggiero as Christian so they can marry. On the way to Vallombrosa, they meet a sad woman. She tells them about a man who was caught sneaking into his beloved’s bedroom by using women’s clothes as a disguise. The man is now imprisoned and about to die. Bradamant decides to save him, and Ruggiero agrees to help. There are two paths to the castle where the lover is held; on one path is Pinabello, who disarms knights and disrobes ladies who travel past. Pinabello made this rule after Pinabello’s beloved insulted an old woman (Gabrina) traveling with a knight (Marfisa). After Pinabello fought Marfisa and lost, he decided to disarm ladies and knights for a year and a month as revenge.

Ruggiero decides to try his luck and fight Pinabello’s four knights. Meanwhile, Bradamant challenges Pinabello, who runs into the forest. After Ruggiero’s magic shield dazes his opponents, Ruggiero realizes Bradamant is gone. Ruggiero is so upset that the shield was revealed that he throws it in a well. Rumor spreads of a well that hides a magic shield, and knights search fruitlessly for it for years to come. Meanwhile Bradamant kills Pinabello. Then, she tries to find Ruggiero, but Fortune prevents her from doing so.

The narrator’s introduction is about the worth of good and bad deeds.

Bradamant gets lost in the forest, distraught about losing Ruggiero again. The next day, she runs into Astolfo. He gives her his horse, his lance, and his armor (he keeps his sword and magic horn), before flying off on the hippogryph. Bradamant decides to go to Vallombrosa, but runs into one of her brothers, who takes her to see her mom. Bradamant misses Ruggiero, and so sends her nurse Hippalca to him as a messenger. Hippalca encounters Rodomont, who is looking for Mandricard and Doralice.

Zerbin discovers Pinabello’s corpse. Zerbin and Gabrina end up at the castle where the people are mourning Pinabello. Count Anselm offers a reward for his killer, and Gabrina secretly tells him it is Zerbin. Anselm’s men grab Zerbin in his sleep and imprison him. The next day, Orlando arrives with Isabel just in time to aid Zerbin by killing about 80 men. Once free, Zerbin is reunited with his love Isabel. Mandricard and Doralice arrive; he is intent on taking Orlando’s sword, so they joust, fight with staffs, and fistfight. Orlando takes Mandricard’s horse’s bridle, causing the horse to ride off with Mandricard barely hanging on. Mandricard and Doralice meet Gabrina, laugh at her, and steal her bridle, causing her horse to carry her off.

Orlando decides to go after Mandricard. However, he loses the wild path that Mandricard’s horse took, and instead finds trees with Angelica and Medor written on them. He also finds Medor’s Arabic poetry to Angelica in a cave entrance. Orlando cries in the forest, slashing at Angelica’s inscriptions in the rocks and trees with his sword, and goes mad. On his fourth day in the forest, he takes off his armor and clothes, and pulls out trees from the ground.

The narrator’s introduction is about love causing madness.

Orlando’s loud rampage in the forest causes shepherds to come investigate. Orlando kills them and their flocks, steals their food, and then goes further off into woods, killing bears and boars all over France. He eventually finds a river with a bridge and a tower.

The narrator turns to Zerbin and Isabel. Almon, who challenged, won, and took prisoner Odoric of Biscay, Isabela’s kidnapper. Almon asks Zerbin to decide Odoric’s fate. When Gabrina shows up, Zerbin decides to free Odoric but makes him be Gabrina’s guardian for a year. Odoric swears to, but the narrator adds that Odoric hangs Gabrina from an elm a day later. Zerbin sends Almon back to his army, and heads off with Isabel to look for Orlando.

A shepherd tells Zerbin and Isabel about Orlando going mad. Zerbin hides Orlando’s armor in a tree. Mandricard comes by, takes Orlando’s sword, and Zerbin fights him. Mandricard’s magic armor protects him, and he inflicts many wounds on Zerbin. At a spring, far from civilization, Zerbin dies from his wounds, and Isabel swears she will kill herself. A hermit talks her out of suicide, and helps her with Zerbin’s corpse. They head to a convent in Provence and meet a knight.

The narrator switches to Rodomont riding towards Mandricard and Doralice near the same spring. Rodomont and Mandricard fight, until messenger from Agramant comes to explain that they must help Agramant in the battle against Charlemagne. Rodomont and Mandricard call a truce and head off to help in Paris. 

The narrator’s introduction is about the power of Love.

The narrator returns to Ruggiero, who finds and frees from execution by fire Richardet, Bradamant’s twin and Rinaldo’s brother. Richardet tells his story of mistaken identity. Bradamant had to cut her hair because of a head wound, which made her look more like a boy and made the Spanish Princess Fiordispina fall in love with her. When Fiordispina revealed her feelings with a kiss, Bradamant explained that she is a heterosexual girl. Fiordispina lamented being afflicted with Love, and prayed for Bradamant to turn into a boy. Bradamant went home and told her brother Richardet what happened. He fell in love with the idea of Fiordispina, borrowed Bradamant’s armor, and visited Fiordispina disguised as Bradamant. Fiordispina kissed him, put him in a dress, and invited him to sleep in her bed. In her room, Richardet invented a story about a crystal lake where he saved a nymph who she granted his wish to become a man. Fiordispina and Richardet began a love affair, but when the Spanish king found out, he ordered Richardet’s death.

Ruggiero is waylaid by another rescue quest, but feels guilty for not immediately going to help Agramant, and writes Bradamant a letter about his whereabouts and plans.

In his introduction, the narrator praises women who care more about reputation than money, like Bradamant.

On his new rescue mission, Ruggiero and Richardet run into the knight Marfisa, who helps them. Marfisa admires Ruggiero’s fighting, and vice versa. After a successful quest, the group dines near a spring of Merlin’s. The spring’s carvings, made with magic during the time of Arthur, illustrate a beast taking over the world with violence and four men (Francis I of France, Maximilian of Austria, Emperor Charles V, Henry VIII of England) killing the beast with a lion. The carvings are a prophecy for 700 years in the future.

Hippalca, Bradamant’s messenger, finds them at the spring. Once Hippalca and Ruggiero are alone, she tells him she has a letter and message for him from Bradamant, and that Rodomont stole her horse.

Just then, Rodomont and Mandricard arrive at Merlin’s spring. Mandricard wants to kidnap Marfisa and give her to Rodomont, so he will forget about Doralice. Marfisa puts on armor to fight. She and Mandricard both have enchanted armor, so they are evenly matched. Rodomont interrupts, saying he and Mandricard need to get to their king, and asks her to come with them. She agrees in order to test Charlemagne’s knights. Ruggiero challenges Rodomont. However, Rodomont refuses in order to help his liege, but Mandricard challenges Ruggiero for wearing a Trojan bird on his shield. The others hold them back from fighting, and everyone argues and starts to brawl. Discord is pleased she helped start this fighting among the pagans, and decides to go back to the monastery with Pride. After the fracas, Rodomont and Mandricard go after Doralice. Ruggiero and Marfisa head to Paris.

The narrator’s introduction compares the decision-making processes of women and men: Men need to think stuff through.

In France, Charlemagne is in trouble without Orlando and Rinaldo (Orlando is mad and Rinaldo is looking for Angelica riding). The devil schemes against Charlemagne by guiding Sacripant and Gradasso to help Agramant. Marfisa and Ruggiero arrive, and kill many knights. Afterwards, they relax, while the Christians lament their losses.

The Archangel Michael sees this and is frustrated with Discord. He goes to her in the monastery, beats her, and drags her to pagan camp. Discord gets Rodomont, Mandricard, Ruggiero, and Marfisa to talk to Agramant about their quarrels. Agramant has them draw lots for fighting order. As the knights put on their armor, they get into a scuffle about Orlando’s sword that causes incredible strife. Discord laughs at her and Pride’s handiwork. Pride shouts that she is victorious. Pride’s cry is heard far and wide. Agramant tries to resolve some of the issues among his men by making Doralice choose a husband. She picks Mandricard, and Rodomont tries to fight him, but Agramant stops Rodomont. Rodomont leaves and Sacripant follows him.

Rodomont curses all women, including Nature. Interrupting his lament, the narrator explains that women are not as bad as Rodomont is making them out to be, despite the poet’s own poor luck with women. Rodomont also curses Agramant. Rodomont goes to a busy inn, where the innkeeper rails against women and shares a story about one woman in particular.

The narrator’s introduction is an apology for the innkeeper’s story; he advises women to skip this canto. The narrator’s source includes the story, so the narrator feels like he must include it even though he does not agree with it.

In the story, the beautiful and vain queen wants to meet Jocondo, a man supposedly just as beautiful as she is. After finding his wife in bed with someone else—a young page—Jocondo leaves home to go see the queen. On the road, Jocondo gets sick from love and stops eating and sleeping. At the palace, through a hole in the wall of his guest room, Jocondo watches the queen commit adultery with a dwarf. One day, the dwarf doesn’t show up, which cheers up Jocondo so much that he begins eating and sleeping again. When asked about his recovery, he tells the king about the queen’s adultery. The two men decide to sleep with other men’s wives in disguise, but after running trouble with many angry husbands, they decide to share just one woman: Fiammetta. But at an inn, after the king and Jocondo climb into bed with Fiammetta in the middle, she has a page slip into bed on top of her. She and the page have sex all night long, while Jocondo and the king think it was the other one having sex with her. The next morning, they argue, each accusing the other of not giving him a turn. Fiammetta eventually confesses. They laugh, allow her to marry the page, and go back to their wives.

Rodomont approves of the innkeeper’s story. However, an old man defends women, saying men are the ones who are more unfaithful. He also suggests that women who commit adultery should not be killed if their husbands also cheated.

Rodomont continues to be unhappy while traveling. Eventually, he meets Isabel and the monk taking the body of Zerbin to be buried. Rodomont falls in love with Isabel, and makes fun of her goal to be a nun. The monk defends her decision.

The narrator’s introduction is about how opinions are not set in stone, giving the example of Rodomont changing his mind about women and love.

The monk argues in favor of Isabel joining the nunnery. Rodomont throws him by the beard toward the sea and tries to seduce Isabel, but she’s scared and wants to be chaste. She lies that she can give him an herb of invulnerability if he does not try to have sex with her. Rodomont swears he will not pursue her (and secretly plans to break his vow). They collect and boil herbs. Isabel pours the juice all over herself and asks him to strike her. He beheads her, as she intended. She joins Zerbin in heaven.

Rodomont creates a tomb for her in a tower next to a bridge, pledging to stay there for a year and a day. He takes a toll from bridge-crossers—the weapons and armor of pagans. He also imprisons Christians. When Orlando arrives at Rodomont’s tower, because of his nakedness and mad behavior, Rodomont thinks he’s a peasant. Rodomont believes fighting peasants is beneath him, so he tries to push Orlando off of the bridge. They both fall in the water together. Orlando gets out easily, being naked, but Rodomont’s armor delays him.

The narrator follows Orlando, selecting one of many adventures to tell the audience. In the Pyrenees above Toulouse, Orlando meets woodcutters, and tears one of them in half. Orlando then lives on the beach in Spain. Angelica and her husband come by, but she does not recognize Orlando. Orlando only vaguely recognizes her in his madness, but cannot help going after her. Angelica puts the ring in her mouth and becomes invisible. Orlando takes her horse and mistreats it until it dies. He then drags the horse’s corpse around as he steals food. The narrator goes off on a tangent about how he is mad at Angelica and other women.

The narrator’s introduction is an apology for his rant against women in the previous canto. He describes his own failed love life and compares himself to Orlando.

Orlando asks a shepherd to trade the corpse of Angelina’s horse for the shepherd’s horse. The shepherd hits Orlando with his staff, and Orlando kills him, then takes his horse and mistreats it until it dies. His madness causes him to rob and kill people. Eventually, Orlando is washed ashore on a beach at Ceuta.

The narrator turns his attention to Agramant’s feuding knights. Agramant’s allies condemn the king for setting up fights when he should be helping them with the war against Charlemagne. Agramant and Doralice try to rally the knights to go fight in the war, but the joust goes forth as planned. After jousting, Ruggiero and Mandricard start sword fighting. The crowd favors Ruggiero. Both men land good hits before Ruggiero deals a killing blow to Mandricard. Doralice weeps, but considers taking Ruggiero as a lover.

Meanwhile, Hippalca gives Bradamant news of Ruggiero. She cries, reads his letter, and is sad that Ruggiero is abandoning her to join her enemy in the war. Hippalca convinces her to wait for Ruggiero, but Richardet tells Bradamant about Marfisa, which causes Bradamant to become jealous. Rinaldo arrives and everyone rejoices to see him, except Bradamant, who is sick from love.