Documentos sobre Merlín al alcance de Ariosto

Abstract

Here I unfold the documents which Ludovico Ariosto possibly consulted for the characterization of Merlin in his Orlando Furioso. Even though the critics have pointed out a single source for his inspiration, in the libraries that Ariosto could have used more than ten different versions of the English prophet can be found, very different from each other because of the treatment the character received -from brief allusions to codexes or editions devoted entirely to describe Merlin’s life-, or because of the origin and the language in which this material was composed, since in the Este’s libraries there are versions written outside Italy and very ancient regarding the epoch in which Ariosto’s poem was composed.