the French in 1512. Largely self-educated, Tartaglia began
his mathematical career giving private tuition in Verona.
He soon, however, established his reputation by claiming
to be able to solve any cubic equation of the form x^3 + qx
= r. The claim was justified publicly in a competition with
the Italian mathematician Scipione del Ferro in Venice in
- Shortly afterward he was appointed to the chair of
mathematics at Venice. Although he refrained from pub-
lishing his general solution of cubic equations, he was
persuaded to reveal the solution to Girolamo CARDANO
who, despite swearing an oath of secrecy, disclosed the re-
sult in his Ars magna (1545). Tartaglia also worked on the
application of mathematics to artillery, publishing his con-
clusions in Nova scientia (1537), and on the geometrical
concepts behind military architecture; his book on fortifi-
cation, Quesiti, et inventioni diverse (1546) was dedicated
to Henry VIII. He also published and extensively anno-
tated the first Italian translation of Euclid (1543) and
composed a major treatise on arithmetic and number
theory, the two-volume Trattato di numeri et misure
(1556–60). The latter is generally considered the most sig-
nificant Italian mathematical work of the 16th century,
combining theory with application and giving insights
into everyday life, mercantile practices, and the ongoing
efforts to refine arithmetic.
Tasso, Bernardo (1493–1569) Italian poet
Tasso was born into a patrician family from Bergamo and
entered the service of Ferrante Sanseverino, prince of
Salerno. By his Neapolitan wife Porzia de’ Rossi he was the
father of Torquato TASSO. In 1552 his patron fell into dis-
favor with the Spanish rulers of Naples and was exiled; the
elder Tasso followed him into exile. In 1557 he moved to
the court of Guidobaldo II, Duke of Urbino. He died at
Ostiglia to which he had been sent as governor by the
duke of Mantua. He wrote poems (Rime, 1560) and some
interesting letters, but his chief claim to fame is the epic
poem Amadigi di Gaula (1560) based on the Spanish prose
romance Amadís de Gaula. It attempts to marry the Aris-
totelian theory of heroic poetry to the meter and material
of ARIOSTO—with longwinded and tedious results.
Tasso, Torquato (1544–1595) Italian poet
Tasso was born at Sorrento and as a boy accompanied his
father Bernardo TASSOinto political exile, spending a short
time at the court of Urbino and studying at the universi-
ties of Padua and Bologna. Rinaldo (1562), a chivalric ro-
mance, demonstrated a youthful poetic competence. In
1565 he joined the retinue of Cardinal Luigi d’Este and in
1572 won the patronage of Duke Alfonso II d’Este and was
appointed (like ARIOSTObefore him) as court poet of Fer-
rara. He produced his Aminta, one of the outstanding PAS-
TORALplays of the Renaissance, before the court in the
summer of 1573. By 1575 he had completed the first of
many versions of his masterpiece, the epic GERUSALEMME
LIBERATA.
Soon afterwards Tasso betrayed signs of the mental
instability that had a tragic effect on the rest of his life. In
1577, after a violent outburst in the presence of Lucrezia
d’Este, Tasso was briefly confined but soon fled to the
south. After two years of restless wandering throughout
Italy, he returned to Ferrara, but after another episode in
which he violently abused the duke in public, he was con-
fined in the hospital of Sant’ Anna (1579–86). After his re-
lease (authorized by Alfonso), he continued wandering,
but now with the protection of prominent men and wel-
comed by various academies and religious orders. He set-
tled finally at the monastery of Sant’ Onofrio in Rome,
dying before his coronation as poet laureate, which Pope
Clement VIII had intended for him, could take place. His
other works include almost 2000 formally composed let-
ters; 28 Dialoghi on various subjects; Discorsi del poema
eroico (1594), a critical study that throws light on his own
poetry; the tragedy Torrismondo (1587), based on Sopho-
cles’ Oedipus Rex; Rime (1593), comprising more than
1000 of his shorter poems; and the long hexameral poem
in blank verse, Il mondo creato (1594).
Tasso’s Aminta, like GUARINI’s Il pastor fido, helped
shape, and shared to a marked degree in, the fashion for
pastoral in the 17th century. An almost complete English
version in hexameters was published by Abraham Fraunce
in 1591 under the title The Affectionate Life and Unfortu-
nate Death of Phillis and Amyntas. There followed Aminta
Englisht (1628) by Henry Reynolds and later in the 17th
century there were two further versions (1660, 1698).
Leigh Hunt produced a verse translation in 1820. Grillo’s
1924 edition has parallel Italian and English texts, and
L. E. Lord published a prose version in 1931. A new trans-
lation by Charles Jernigan and Irene Marchegiani Jones
appeared in 2000 (New York: Italica). Gerusalemme liber-
ata was first partially translated into English in 1594 by
Richard Carew, who published five cantos in octaves, with
parallel Italian and English texts. The major Renaissance
English translation is Edward Fairfax’s version in Spenser-
ian stanzas, under the title Godfrey of Bulloigne (1600).
This was reprinted in 1624 and 1687, and a modern criti-
cal edition was published by K. M. Lea and T. M. Gang
(Oxford, U.K., 1981).
Further reading: Charles P. Brand, Torquato Tasso: A
Study of the Poet and of his Contribution to English Litera-
ture (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press,
1965); Valeria Finucci, Renaissance Transactions: Ariosto
and Tasso (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1999).Tatti, Jacopo See SANSOVINO, JACOPOTausen, Hans (1494–1561) Danish religious reformer
The son of a peasant at Birkende, Tausen was converted to
Lutheran teachings at Wittenberg (1523). On returning to44558 8 TTaassssoo,, BBeerrnnaarrddoo