1544-1595. Italian poet, author of the
romantic epic poem of the First Crusade La
Gerusalemme Liberata/Jerusalem Delivered
1574, followed by the Gerusalemme
Conquistata/Jerusalem Conquered, written
during the period from 1576 when he was
mentally unstable. At first a law student at
Padua, he overcame his father's opposition to
a literary career by the success of his
romantic poem Rinaldo 1562, dedicated to
Cardinal Luigi d'Este, who took him to Paris.
There he met the members of the Pleiade group
of poets. Under the patronage of Duke Alfonso
d'Este of Ferrara, he wrote his pastoral play
Aminta in 1573.