Orlando (in French [Roland], q.v.), one of the paladins of Charlemagne, whose nephew he was. Orlando was confiding and loyal, of great stature, and possessed unusual strength. He accompanied his uncle into Spain, but on his return was waylaid in the valley of Roncesvallês (in the Pyrenees) by the traitor Ganelon, and perished with all his army, A.D. 778. His adventures are related in Turpin’s Chronique; in the Chanson de Roland, attributed to Théroulde. He is the hero of Bojardo’s epic, Orlando Innamorato; and of Ariosto’s continuation called Orlando Furioso (“Orlando mad”). Robert Greene, in 1594, produced a drama which he called The History of Orlando. Rhode’s farce of Bombastês Furioso (1790) is a burlesque of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso.
Orlando’s Ivory Horn, Olifant, once the property of Alexander the Great. Its bray could be heard for twenty miles.
Orlando’s Horse, Brigliadoro (“golden bridal”).
Orlando’s Sword, Durinda´na or Durandana, which once belonged to Hector, is “preserved at Rocamadour, in France; and his spear is still shown in the cathedral of Pa´via, in Italy.”
Orlando was of middling stature, broad-shouldered, crooked-legged, brown-visaged, red-bearded, and had much hair on his body. He talked but little, and had a very surly aspect, although he was perfectly good-humored.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. i. 1 (1615).
Orlando’s Vulnerable Part. Orlando was invulnerable except in the sole of his foot, and even there nothing could wound him but the point of a large pin; so that when Bernardo del Carpio assailed him at Roncesvallês, he took him in his arms and squeezed him to death, in imitation of Herculês, who squeezed to death the giant Antæ´us (3 syl.).—Cervantes, Don Quixote, II. ii. 13 (1615).
Orlando Furioso, a continuation of Bojardo’s story, with the same hero. Bojardo leaves Orlando in love with Angelica, whom he fetched from Cathay and brought to Paris. Here, says Ariosto, Rinaldo falls in love with her, and, to prevent mischief, the king placed the coquette under the charge of Namus; but she contrived to escape her keeper, and fled to the island of Ebūda, where Rogēro found her exposed to a sea-monster, and liberated her. In the mean time, Orlando went in search of his lady, was decoyed into the enchanted castle of Atlantês, but was liberated by Angelica, who again succeeded in effecting her escape to Paris. Here she arrived just after a great battle between the Christians and pagans, and, finding Medōra, a Moor, wounded, took care of him, fell in love with him, and eloped with him to Cathay. When Orlando found himself jilted, he was driven mad with jealousy and rage, or rather his wits were taken from him for three months by way of punishment, and deposited in the moon. Astolpho went to the moon in Elijah’s chariot, and St. John gave him “the lost wits” in an urn. On reaching France Astolpho bound the madman, then, holding the urn to his nose, the wits returned to their nidus, and the hero was himself again. After this, the siege was continued, and the Christians were wholly successful. (See [Orlando Innamorato].)—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
*** This romance in verse extends to forty-six cantos. Hoole, in his translation, has compressed the forty-six cantos into twenty-four books; but Rose has retained the original number. The adventures of Orlando, under the French form “Roland,” are related by Turpin in his Chronicle, and by Théroulde in his Chanson de Roland.
*** The true hero of Ariosto’s romance is Rogēro, and not Orlando. It is with Rogero’s victory over Rodomont that the poem ends. The concluding lines are:
Then at full stretch he [Rogero] raised his arm above
The furious Rodomont, and the weapon drove
Thrice in his gaping throat—so ends the strife,
And leaves secure Rogero’s fame and life.