- Sordello
Sordello da Goito or Sordel de Goit (sometimes "Sordell") was a
13th-century Lombardtroubadour , born in the municipality ofGoito in the province ofMantua . He is perhaps best remembered for the praise heaped on him by other poets: he is praised byDante Alighieri in the "De vulgari eloquentia ", and in the "Purgatorio" of "The Divine Comedy " is made the type of patriotic pride. He is the hero of a well-known poem byRobert Browning . He is also praised for his passion inOscar Wilde ’s poem " [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Amor_Intellectualis "Amor Intellectualis"] ".The real Sordello, so far as we have authentic facts about his life, hardly seems to justify these idealizations, though he was the most famous of the Italian troubadours. About
1220 he was in a tavern brawl inFlorence ; and in1226 , while at the court ofRichard of Bonifazio inVerona , he abducted his master’s wife, Cunizza, at the instigation of her brother,Ezzelino da Romano . The scandal resulted in his flight (1229 ) toProvence , where he seems to have remained for some time. He entered the service ofCharles of Anjou , and probably accompanied him (1265 ) on hisNaples expedition; in1266 he was a prisoner in Naples. The last documentary mention of him is in1269 , and he is supposed to have died in Provence. His appearance in Purgatory among the spirits of those who, though redeemed, were prevented from making a final confession and reconciliation by sudden death, suggests that he was murdered, although this may be Dante’s own conjecture.His
didactic poem , "L’ensenhamen d’onor", and his love songs and satirical pieces have little in common with Dante’s presentation, but the invective against negligent princes which Dante puts into his mouth in the 7th canto of the "Purgatorio" is more adequately paralleled in his "sirventes -planh " (1237) on the death of his patronBlacatz , where he invites the princes ofChristendom to feed on the heart of the hero.Sordello is briefly referred to in
Samuel Beckett ’s 1951 novels "Molloy " and "Malone Dies ".Ezra Pound also references him inthe Cantos . Numerous references occur inRoberto Bolano ’s novella "By Night in Chile ".References
*For Sordello’s life and works, the edition of
Cesare de Lollis (Halle, 1896)
*For Browning’s poem see Stopford Brooke’s "Browning" (1902).*1911
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