31 h 38 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Paris is under siege, but its greatest knight is chasing love instead of defending the city.
In Lodovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, Charlemagne needs his knights beside him as a Saracen army threatens Paris. Yet Orlando pursues Angelica, a princess who wants to escape her admirers. Across this legendary war, love pulls warriors away from duty, and even the strongest knight can lose command of himself.
Other paths lead through the same enchanted world. Bradamante, a Christian woman warrior, searches for Ruggiero, the Saracen knight she loves. Wizards set traps, a flying horse crosses the world, and palaces vanish at a touch. Ariosto moves between these adventures at their most tense moments, keeping danger close and human folly closer.
What you’ll discover
- A princess who escapes Follow Angelica as she uses a magic ring and her wits to evade pursuing knights.
- Love across the divide Meet Bradamante, whose steady courage carries her through the search for Ruggiero.
- The wizard’s steel castle Enter Atlante’s enchanted stronghold, where his wish to protect Ruggiero becomes a trap.
- Adventure shaped in verse Discover ottava rima, the eight-line stanza that carries this sprawling poem through war and enchantment.
- Wit beneath the wonder Enjoy a narrator whose personal remarks turn heroic adventures toward the follies of love.
Who will love it
For readers who love adventure, wit, wandering stories, and the roots of fantasy, and for listeners who enjoy a narrator with opinions. Knights, enchantments, and love-driven folly fill this world.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A court poet continues someone else's tale
- Paris under siege, and a war with many fronts
- Angelica flees and every man chases her
- Ruggiero and Bradamante love across a divide
- The hippogriff and the traps of enchantment
- Orlando sees the signs and loses his mind
- Astolfo rides to the moon on a mission
- What the poem says about love, folly, and women
- How Ariosto tells it and why it lasted
Who’s who
- OrlandoThe strongest knight of Charlemagne's court, defender of the Christian faith, who is so taken with love for Angelica that he leaves his duty to chase her.
- AngelicaA princess of Cathay whose beauty draws every knight, and who uses a magic ring and her own wits to escape those who pursue her.
- RuggieroA young Saracen warrior of noble blood, loyal to his king, who loves Bradamante and is fated to become the ancestor of the Este dynasty.
- BradamanteA Christian woman warrior and sister of Rinaldo, who fights in armour and searches the world for Ruggiero with steady courage.
- RinaldoOrlando's cousin and rival in love, a skilled and spirited knight who also wants Angelica and sometimes clashes with Charlemagne.
- AstolfoA boastful but good-hearted English duke who rides the hippogriff, carries a golden lance, and takes on a strange mission for his friend.
- RodomonteThe proud king of Sarza, a huge and violent Saracen champion who storms Paris and refuses to bend to anyone.
- CharlemagneThe aging emperor of the Christians, who leads the defence of Paris and needs his knights at his side in the war.
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 31 h 38 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Roland furieux
by Ludovico Ariosto · 1516
As Paris faces a siege, Orlando leaves his duty to chase Angelica, and love threatens his reason.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A court poet continues someone else's tale
Lodovico Ariosto was born in 1474 and spent much of his life as a servant of the Este family of Ferrara. He worked first for Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, who sent him on errands, and later for the cardinal's brother, Duke Alfonso. The work was often dull and sometimes tiring, and Ariosto wrote poetry in the gaps. Orlando Furioso grew out of those gaps over about a decade.
He did not start from nothing. Matteo Maria Boiardo, who also served the Este court, had written Orlando Innamorato, which means Orlando in Love. Boiardo died in 1494 and left that poem unfinished, with its knights scattered across the battlefield and its love stories unresolved. Ariosto's poem begins as if no time has passed, and readers of his day knew the earlier story well.
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What is Orlando Furioso about?
It tells of the war between Charlemagne's Christians and invading Saracens, and of the many knights and ladies caught up in it. Its central thread is Orlando's mad love for Angelica, joined by magic, quests, and the love of Ruggiero and Bradamante.
What does Orlando Furioso mean?
It is Italian for Orlando Mad, or Orlando Enraged. The title points to the hero's madness, brought on by love, which drives him from his post and from his reason. It also answers an earlier poem called Orlando Innamorato, Orlando in Love.
Who wrote Orlando Furioso and when?
Lodovico Ariosto wrote it in Ferrara in the early sixteenth century. The first edition appeared in 1516, with a revised one in 1521 and a final expanded version in 1532. It is a story of legend, not history.
The author
Lodovico Ariosto
1474–1533 · Italian Renaissance poet
Lodovico Ariosto was an Italian poet born in Reggio Emilia in 1474. He lived mainly in Ferrara and served the Este family. He wrote poems and plays. His poem Orlando Furioso first appeared in 1516, with revised editions in 1521 and 1532. He died in Ferrara in 1533.
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