Boiardo, Matteo Maria (1441–1494) Italian poet and
courtier
Born at Scandiano, of which he became count, member of
a prominent Ferrarese family, Boiardo received a classical
education in Latin and Greek, law and philosophy. As a
courtier he served the dukes of Ferrara—Borso, Ercole,
and Sigismondo d’ESTE—and was appointed governor of
Modena and later of Reggio.
Boiardo’s works reflect the polished manners and the
brilliant literary culture of the Este court. Among his ear-
lier works are eclogues written in imitation of Virgil and
translations of Herodotus and Apuleius. His reputation as
one of the finest lyric poets of the 15th century rests on
three Amorum libri (1499), comprising 180 poems, Petrar-
chan in style though not excessively so, which commem-
orate his love of Antonia Caprara. Boiardo’s major work is
the epic Orlando innamorato, of which he completed two
books (1483) and left unfinished a third (1495). Drawing
on French romances, which were in vogue at Ferrara,
Boiardo combined heroic legends of CHARLEMAGNEand
his knights (as in the Chanson de Roland) with the roman-
tic and fantastic matter of Britain (see ARTHUR, LEGEND
OF); he also imposed courtly ideals of love and courtesy
on cruder sources of popular origin. These innovations
were carried further and refined by ARIOSTOin ORLANDO
FURIOSO. Boiardo’s text, which had regional features in its
language, was Tuscanized by Francesco BERNIin 1541, and
the original text was not recovered until the 19th century.
Boleyn, Anne (1507–1536) English queen, second wife of
Henry VIII
She spent her youth in France and received an excellent
education during her attendance at the French court, de-
veloping talents as a poet and letter-writer. Her elder sis-
ter, Mary, became HENRY VIII’s mistress in 1522; around
1526 Henry became infatuated with Anne. She refused for
several years to enter into sexual relations with him, in-
sisting on marriage. After protracted negotiations to di-
vorce his first wife, CATHERINE OF ARAGON, Henry broke
with the Church of Rome and married Anne in secret
(1533), by which time she was pregnant. Her child, the fu-
ture ELIZABETH I, was born in September that year. How-
ever Henry rapidly lost interest in Anne after her only son
was miscarried, and Jane Seymour supplanted Anne in his
affections. To get rid of Anne, Henry used the pretext of
her indiscreet behavior at court to accuse her of adultery,
as well as incest with her brother. Tried on May 15, 1536,
she was beheaded four days later on Tower Green, Lon-
don.
Bologna A north Italian city at the foot of the Apennines.
Originally the Etruscan town of Felsina, Bologna pros-
pered on account both of its position on an important
trade route to Florence and of its textile industry, espe-
cially silk. Claimed by the papacy in 1278, the city suf-
fered from the region’s political turmoil and rivalries; it
was dominated by a series of lords, notably the BEN-
TIVOGLIO FAMILYduring the 15th century. Pope JULIUS IIfi-
nally established papal authority over Bologna in 1506.
The old and famous university of Bologna (founded in the
11th century) attracted scholars from all over Europe dur-
ing the period of the Renaissance; from the 12th century
its faculty of law led legal studies in Europe. The late 16th
and early 17th century Bolognese school of artists in-
cluded the CARRACCI, Guido RENI, Domenichino, and
Francesco Albani. Notable palaces and churches from the
Renaissance period include San Petronio and SANMICHELI’s
Palazzo Bevilacqua (1477–82). The university was housed
(1562–1800) in the Archiginnasio, remodeled for it by
Antonio Morandi.Bologna, Concord(at) of (1516) An agreement between
Pope Leo X and Francis I of France, which revoked the
Pragmatic Sanction of BOURGESand restored papal author-
ity over the Gallican (French) Church. Nonetheless, Fran-
cis maintained a significant degree of control over
ecclesiastical affairs in France under those clauses that
stated that the king was to appoint archbishops, bishops,
abbots, and conventual priors, and, subject to certain
rules, the pope was to confirm the nominations. If two
successive royal nominations were found to be invalid, the
appointment lapsed to the pope.Bologna, Giovanni (da) See GIAMBOLOGNABologna, Niccolò da See NICCOLÒ DELL’ARCABombelli, Raffaele (c. 1526–1573) Italian math-
ematician and engineer
Little is known of Bombelli’s life other than that he was
born at Bologna, became an engineer in the service of the
bishop of Melfi, and was the author of L’algebra (1572).
This was the first Italian text to be so called and contained
notable advances in the history of equations, and in the
development of an adequate algebraic symbolism. The
analysis of the cubic equation proposed by Niccolò
TARTAGLIAhad led to a number of cases involving roots of
negative numbers. Unsure of how to deal with such items,
Renaissance mathematicians had classified them as irre-
ducible cases and ignored them. Bombelli, however, made
the first significant advance in the handling of such prob-
lems. In the field of symbolism he took the step of repre-
senting unknown quantities and exponents by special
symbols. Though other systems came to be preferred,
Bombelli had nonetheless shown the need for such ex-
pressions.Bon, Bartolommeo See BUON, BARTOLOMMEO6600 BBooiiaarrddoo,, MMaatttteeoo MMaarriiaa