Matteo Maria Boiardo: Tarocchi poem

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0"> <tr><td><a name="a"><b><font size="3" color="#0033ff" face="Verdana, Arial Narrow">    A</font></b></a><a href="http://autorbis.net" target="_blank"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial Narrow">UTORBIS.net </font></a> - <a href="http://trionfi.com" target="_blank"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial Narrow">TRIONFI.com </font></a> </td> <td align="right"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial Narrow">created 2003 - 2006       </td> </tr></table><hr size="1" width="90%"> <table width="100%"><tr><td rowspan="2" width="30%" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="#dddddd"> <a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/" target="right"><h3>Trionfi Decks</h3></a><br> <FONT SIZE="4">Own Works and Material to <br> Count Matteo Maria Boiardo<br> and his Tarocchi poem</FONT><br><br> <ul> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/00/">Start Boiardo</a> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/01/">Boiardos Poem<br> translation (in work)</a> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/02/">Time-Line of Boiardo's Life</a><br> - work in progress <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/03/">The Commentar of Viti (before 1500)</a> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/07/">Boiardo and Grandfather Feltrino</a> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/08/">Dummett about the Boiardo Deck</a> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/boiardo/">Some Cards of the Boiardo Deck</a> <li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/autorbis/boiardo.html" target="_blank">Interpretation of the Boiardo Deck<br> - in a Scheme of Kabbala</a></ul><br><br> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/91/">Links to Boiardo</a> <h3>Research fields (projected)</h3> <ul> <li>Boiardo and his Uncle Tito Vespasian Strozzi <li>Boiardo and his Nephew Pico de Mirandola <li>Boiardo and the Este and Ferrara <li>Jewish Influences on Boiardo <li>Boiardo and Luigi Pulci <LI>Boiardo and Niccolo da Correggio </ul> <br> <FONT SIZE="4">Comparable objects (in work)</font><br><br> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/h/51/">Leber Tarocchi and Cicognara deck</a><br> <ul> <li><a href="http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/leber/" target="_blank">The Cards</a> </ul><br> <li>18 Heroes (German) <ul> <li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/research_of_tarot/mhero1.html" target="_blank">Pagan Heroes</a> <li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/research_of_tarot/mhero2.html" target="_blank">Christian Heroes</a> <li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/research_of_tarot/mhero3.html" target="_blank">Jewish Heroes</a> </ul> </ul></td><td height="50" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="#dddddd"> Trionfi Decks 15th century: Boiardo Tarocchi </td></tr><tr><td align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="#eeeeee"> <h1>Matteo Maria Boiardo</h1> <table width="100%"><td> Count Matteo Maria Boiardo wrote at an unclear date between ca. 1460 - 1494 a poem about Trionfi cards, which are presented by him in a 4x14 + 22 - structure.<br> It was one of the oldest references to a deck with 22 trumps, other earlier documents do suggest, that Trionfi cards were handled before in 5x13 (Lucca-Tarocchi), 5x14 (Bembo-14, Ferrarese documents of 1441 and 1457) or 5x16-structure (Cary-Yale). From this it might be suspected, that Count Boiardo possibly invented this structure, which finally developed to be the standard representation of the Tarocchi- or Tarot-game.<br> The number 22 inside the game of Tarot much later caused the suggestions of Count de Mellet and Eliphas Levi, who claimed, that Tarot developed in context to kabbalistic ideas in relation to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This suggestions did take a dominant influence upon modern Tarot, especially as specific astrological ideas connected to the Hebrew alphabet in the manner of the prekabbalistic Sepher Yetzirah were now related to individual Tarot trumps.<br> Here we've the question, if Boiardo (in the case, that he really was the first, who used this scheme for a Trionfi deck), was influenced by Hebrew contemporaries to choose just the number 22 for his trumps. <br><br> <hr width="90%"><center> "Four passions of the lady soul<br> they have forty cards in this game ...<br> ... Love, Hope, Jealousy, and Fear<br> are the passions, and a tercet have the cards,<br> in order not to leave, who plays, in error."<br><br> </center> In this engaging glimpse of the Boiardo Tarocchi poem translated by Jane Cocker, we also touch on one of the early turns where poetry and playing cards meet in the courtly society of 15th century. The author, Matteo Maria Boiardo, Count of Scandiano, is usually celebrated by historical papers for his vernacular Tuscan epic, Bordering on Love. It is fitting to open on his light narrative, done in vernacular Tuscan, of poetic courtly love and court figures, for it was his natural self to be more of a poet than a prudent politician - but he was both in service to the D'Este. Indeed, the four human passions also play a strong part of his life from his own family, especially jealousy and fear from the less favored. We will allude to his work in context, but our focus is more a time-line of Boiardo's placement with the ruling family of Ferrara, the D'Estensi. We will begin with the grandfather, Feltrino Boiardo, who was a companion on Crusades to Niccolo I D'Este, then touch on influences to the growing MM Boiardo, and major events of his adult years, associated with Duke Borso and more extensively with the successor to the Ducal Crown, Ercole. Over time, topics might be developed by members of the working group into essay format.<br><br> (The contents of the Boiardo chapter were started in 2003 by the cooperation of the members of the Boiardo group: Jane Cocker, Mari Hoshizaki, Raimondo Luberti, Ross Gregory Caldwell, autorbis - later cooperated Huck Meyer, Ross Caldwell and Marco [Dr. Arcanus] to finish the poem translation) </td><td width="200" valign="top"><center><img src="http://trionfi.com/0/h/p/boiardo.jpg" alt="Matteo Maria Boiardo"></td></table> </td></tr></table> <hr><br><br> <center><b><font size="1">Trionfi.com </b>has its focus on Tarot History and especially the origin of Tarot in 15th century, also the representation of about 100 000 Tarot and other playing cards in the Tarot Museum. <br><b>The Chapter "Trionfi Decks: Boiardo Tarocchi"</b> presents specific material to the socalled Tarocchi poem of Count Matteo Maria Boiardo and the deck, which evolved from it. <br> Author: when not otherwise specified, autorbis. 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