Teofilo Folengo

Teofilo Folengo (born Nov. 8, 1491, Mantua, Italy—died Dec. 9, 1544, Bassano del Grappa, Italy) was an Italian popularizer of verse written in macaronics (q.v.), a synthetic combination of Italian and Latin, first written by Tisi degli Odassi in the late 15th century.

Folengo entered the Benedictine order as a young man, taking the name Teofilo by which he is known. He lived in the monasteries of Brescia, Mantua, and Padova (Padua), then left the order in about 1525. After 1530 he lived as a hermit near Sorrento, then was readmitted to the Benedictine order in 1534 and remained in it until his death.

Though he wrote much poetry in various forms, Folengo’s masterpiece is Baldus, a poem in macaronic hexameters, published under the pseudonym Merlin Cocai. Four versions of Baldus are known, published in 1517, 1521, 1539–40, and 1552 (modern edition, Le maccheronee, 1927–28). Written with a rich vein of satire, humor, and fantasy, Folengo’s poem narrates the adventures of a rustic hero, Baldus, descendant of the medieval epic hero Roland’s cousin Rinaldo.

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