Lodovico Ariosto (1474-1533) was a minor nobleman and courtier in the northern Italian duchy of Ferrara. His family’s fortunes were made by their connection to his distant cousin Lippa degli Ariosti, mistress of Obizzo III d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara, who on her deathbed became his wife. Her son Alberto (legitimated by his father) was the great-grandfather of Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara when Lodovico was born. Lodovico’s own father, Count Niccolo, served in many high offices during the duke’s reign, which made it possible for Lodovico to enjoy a carefree youth. Lodovico’s greatest concern seems to have been persuading his father to let him abandon an apprenticeship in law for the university and a degree in the humanities. His father relented but then died suddenly, leaving his oldest son, 26- year-old Lodovico, to fend for his four younger brothers and five sisters. Becoming chief breadwinner for the family, Lodovico, like his father, sought employment as a retainer in the Este household, first for the old duke and later for his third son, Ippolito. Twenty years later Ippolito’s older brother, who by then had inherited the title of Duke Alfonso, took Lodovico into his service.
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