BANDELLO, MATTEO (1480-1562)

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 311 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAI-BAR

BANDELLO, MATTEO (1480-1562) , Italian novelist, was born at Castelnuovo, near

Tortona

TORTONA (anc. Dertona)

, about the year 1480. He received a very careful education, and entered the church, though he does not seem to have prosecuted his theological course with

great

GREAT

zeal. For many years he resided at Mantua, and superintended the education of the celebrated Lucrezia Gonzaga, in whose honour he composed a

long

LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

poem. The decisive battle of Pavia, which gave Lombardy into the hands of the emperor, compelled Bandellb to fly; his

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

Milan

MILAN
MILAN (Ital. Milano, Ger. Mailand, anc. Mediolanum, q.v.)

was burnt and his property confiscated. He took

refuge

REFUGE

with Cesare Fregoso, an Italian general in the French service, whom he accompanied into France. In 1550 he was raised to the bishopric of

Agen

AGEN

, a town in whichhe resided for many years before his death in 1562. Bandello wrote a number of poems, but his fame rests entirely upon his extensive collection of Novelle, or tales (1554, 1573), which have been extremely popular. They belong to that species of literature of which Boccaccio's Decameron and the queen of Navarre's Heptameron are, perhaps, the best known examples. The common origin of them all is to be found in the old French fabliaux, though some well-known tales are evidently Eastern, and others classical. Bandello's novels are esteemed the best of those written in imitation of the Decameron, though Italian critics find fault with them for negligence and inelegance of style. They have little value from a purely literary point of view, and many of them are disfigured by the grossest obscenity. Historically, however, they are of no little

interest

INTEREST

, not only from the insight into the social life of the period which they afford, but from the important influence they exercised on the Elizabethan drama. The stories on which Shakespeare based several of his plays were supplied by Bandello, probably through Belleforest or

Paynter

PAYNTER (or PAINTER), WILLIAM (c. 1540-1594)

.

End of Article: BANDELLO, MATTEO (1480-1562)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/BAI_BAR/BANDELLO_MATTEO_1480_1562_.html">
BANDELLO, MATTEO (1480-1562)
</a>

(Previous)
BANDELIER, ADOLPH FRANCIS ALPHONSE (184o- )

(Next)
BANDER ABBASI (also BENDER ABBAS, and other forms)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email