Vita e Poesie di Sordello di Goito

Sordello, Cesare De Lollis

M. Niemeyer, Halle, 1896

Bound in leather over marbled boards. Marbled end pages. Gilt lettering on spine. Hardcover. Italian text. Shelf wear. Edges chipped. viii, 326 pages, 19 cm. 

Sordello da Goito was a poet active in the courts of Northern Italy and Provence, is often considered the most famous Italian troubadour. Born near Mantua, Sordello achieved fame as a poet early in life, exchanging verses with Aimeric de Peguilhan while still in his twenties. After befriending several prominent Ghibelline families at Treviso and Verona, Sordello became involved in a scandalous affair with Cunizza da Romano, daughter of Ezzelino III da Romano, and was accused of abducting her from her wealthy husband, Count Riccardo da San Bonifacio, a romantic episode later referred to in Dante's Divine Comedy. As a result of this and possibly other scandalous love affairs, Sordello went into exile after 1229, travelling widely across the courts of Provence and the Iberian Peninsula. He eventually settled at the court of Raimond Berenger V in Aix, finding favor with the count himself and later with his successor, Charles of Anjou. When Charles invaded Italy in 1265, Sordello joined his retinue. He was captured and imprisoned at Novara, until Pope Clement IV personally interceded on his behalf. Charles afterward rewarded Sordello's services, as both poet and knight, with property in the Abruzzi.