Rodomonte is a major character in the Italian romantic epic

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

s 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...

. He is the King of Sarza and Algiers

Algiers

' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

 and the leader of the 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...

 army which besieges Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

 in Paris. He is in love with Doralice

Doralice

Doralice is an American female first name. It is often truncated to Dora or Alice in English.*Doralice in Orlando furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto, who seems to have created the name...

, Princess of Granada

Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

, but she elopes with his rival Mandricardo. He tries to seduce Isabella but she tricks him into killing her by mistake. In remorse, Rodomonte builds a bridge in her memory and forces all who cross it to pay tribute. When the maddened Orlando arrives at the bridge he throws Rodomonte into the river below. Finally, Rodomonte appears at the wedding of 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 Ruggiero

Ruggiero

Ruggiero refers to a musical scheme which is at times harmonic and at times melodic. It is seen in 16th and 17th century music, for both vocal and instrumental pieces and improvisations. It most likely comes from reciting formulas used to perform Orlando Furioso, an epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto....

 and accuses Ruggiero of treason for converting to Christianity and abandoning the Saracen cause. The two fight a duel and Rodomonte is killed.

Rodomonte's prowess is matched only by his arrogance and boasting. His name is the source of the expression rodomontade

Rodomontade

Rodomontade \rod-uh-muhn-TADE; roh-duh-muhn-TAHD\ is a mass noun meaning boastful talk or behavior. The term is a reference to Rodomonte, a character in Italian Renaissance epic poems Orlando innamorato and its sequel Orlando furioso....

, meaning "boastful, bragging talk".

Rodomonte first appears in Book 2, Canto 1 of Orlando innamorato. Boiardo was said to be so pleased at the invention of his name that he had the church bells rung in celebration.

Sources

• Boiardo: Orlando innamorato ed. Giuseppe Anceschi (Garzanti,1978)
• Boiardo: Orlando innamorato translated by Charles Stanley Ross, (Parlor Press, 2004).
• Ariosto:Orlando Furioso, verse translation by Barbara Reynolds
  Barbara Reynolds
  Barbara 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
• Ariosto: Orlando Furioso ed. Marcello Turchi (Garzanti, 1974)
• Ariosto: Orlando Furioso: A Selection ed. Pamela Waley (Manchester University Press, 1975)