Teofilo Folengo was an extraordinary writer, who lived in the heart of the Italian Renaissance, at the same time as Machiavelli, Ariosto, Michelangelo and many other great artists, for example Girolamo Romanino who painted the portrait of Folengo (aka Merlin Cocaio) from which you see a small detail above; the work is owned by the Uffizi and can be viewed through Wiki Sources on Roberto Corrado's site: scroll way down and see Folengo with his "twin" Margherita Hack, a lively Italian astrophysicist! Romanino portrait of Folengo
While authors of his day debated whether to use Latin or Italian, Folengo used both, and then perfected a third language which combined Latin and Italian with rustic dialects from all around Northern Italy where he grew up. This "Macaronic Latin" somehow brings humans to life in all their poignant and comical complexity. For his psychological autobiography, the Chaos del Triperuno, Folengo manipulated all three languages to represent his rich interior and exterior reality.
Teofilo Folengo's other masterpiece, said to be written by Merlin Cocaio, is an epic called Baldus. The hero/anti-hero Baldo has the heart of a knight but leads the life of a small town thug, at first -- later he becomes a seeker and a terminator of witches and demons. Wizard-bards Merlin and Seraphus (pictured here with a handsome young musician) occasionally show up to help Baldo and his friends. You can find the story told in images from Folengo's 1521 Opus Merlini Cocaii on the Woodcut page. (And a bit more at the Baldus site.)
Merlin also wrote clever short pieces found at the Prefaces button above.
WONDERFUL NEW ART: Merlin drawn by Rowan (and Bly) Pope Pope Merlin
And a description by Rowan of his drawing:
Rowan Pope's explanation of Old Man Reading
A solid up-to-date academic site is found at the University of Torino: Folengo Research Group headed by Mario Chiesa
Another beautiful and informative Italian site is found at:
Associazione degli Amici di Merlin Cocai
A bi-lingual edition of Baldus is available from the
I Tatti Renaissance Library, Harvard University Press,
with the original text edited by Mario Chiesa,
and an English translation by Ann Mullaney: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/FOLBA1.html.
Chaos del Triperuno will be available in splendid editions in several world-renowned languages by 2026.
This site was designed by my Webmaster brother,
John Patrick Mullaney, and he allows me some control. P.S. I have been able to answer all of my Folengo mail, so if you haven't heard back from me, please contact me again at mulla016@umn.edu or find some other way to reach me.
Ann E Mullaney, Ph.D.
