A reconciliation occurs, but the complications have scarcely begun. Bradamante’s parents wish her to marry Leone, the son of Constantine, Emperor of Byzantium. Rinaldo, her brother, has in the meantime given his consent to her betrothal to Ruggiero. An impasse is reached, which Bradamante tries to solve by asking Charlemagne to decree that only a knight whom she cannot defeat in combat shall marry her. Charlemagne agrees. Bradamante is confident that Ruggiero will accept the challenge. Meanwhile Ruggiero has gone to Bulgaria with the intention of killing both Constantine and Leone. After winning great glory in defence of the Bulgarians1 and inspiring the devoted admiration of Leone, he is betrayed and held captive in a dungeon. While awaiting death, he is rescued by Leone. Ruggiero’s identity is unknown to him, for he has assumed an emblem not his own. Ruggiero swears undying loyalty to Leone; thus, later, he cannot but agree to fight Bradamante, impersonating Leone, when requested to do so.

Bradamante, believing her opponent to be Leone, does her best to defeat him. Ruggiero, striving not to wound her, is obliged in loyalty to Leone not to surrender to her. He is declared undefeated and a worthy husband for Bradamante, who has no option but to accept him, believing him to be Leone. Ruggiero receives Leone’s fervent thanks and goes off into a forest to die of grief. In the meantime, Marfisa asserts Ruggiero’s claim to Bradamante’s hand and insists, in the presence of Charlemagne, that Leone shall fight Ruggiero to test his prowess still further. Leone has no doubt that the unknown cavalier will again fight in his place with equal success and he goes off confidently to look for him. The intricacy has now reached a point of insurmountable illogicality: Ruggiero has to fight Ruggiero. Supernatural aid is enlisted. The good sorceress, Melissa, leads Leone to where Ruggiero lies near to death. His identity is revealed. Leone, amazed at his chivalry, renounces all claim to Bradamante, and brings him to Charlemagne’s court, dressed as the unknown knight, come, he declares, to claim his bride. Marfisa challenges him to a duel in (as she believes) Ruggiero’s absence. The unknown knight’s helmet is removed. Ruggiero is revealed and all is explained.1

Of all the stories of mistaken identity, misunderstandings and inflexible rules of chivalry which the work contains, this is the most complicated. The fascination resides, as in a detective story, or as in any game or puzzle, in watching the knots becoming more and more entangled and finally untied. The art resides in the embellishment of the verse by which the reader’s emotional and aesthetic responses are evoked.

INTRICACY OF COMBATS

Ariosto felt particular delight in devising and resolving intricate conflicts. His chef d’œuvre in this category is undoubtedly the siege of Paris, which has been analysed in detail in Volume I of this translation.2 The siege of Biserta balances this as an event but comes nowhere near it in complexity. The minor combats of the second half of the poem are, however, remarkable for their ingenuity and precision. If the laments of anguished lovers seem to anticipate operatic arias, there is much in Ariosto’s management of combats which is akin to choreography. It is likely that Ariosto worked from models of knights on horseback in planning the movements.