Girolamo Graziani (1604–1675) was born in
Pergola, near
Urbino, but he spent most of his life in
Modena. His father was a law attendant in the
Sacra Rota Romana. Graziani earned a degree in Arts and Law from the
University of Bologna. Graziani spent most of his life at the
Este court of Modena, as
State Secretary. In his diplomatic career, he helped establish close diplomatic ties with the court of France, especially as of the 1650s, when the niece of
Cardinal Mazarin,
Laura Martinozzi, became the new Duchess of Modena. In the same year, Graziani published his tragedy
Il Cromuele, expressly unrespectful of
Aristotle's rules. It deals with the theme of the dark, cruel tyrant (
Oliver Cromwell) and the royalty profanation (
Charles I of England's martyrdom). Graziani published his first book of poetry at the age of sixteen, and was a member of the
Accademia degli Incogniti of Venice and the
Accademia dei Gelati of Bologna. His published works include poetry, political writings, panegyrics, laudatory and love sonnets, and two epic poems,
La Cleopatra (Venice: Sarzina, 1632) and
Il Conquisto di Granata, which had five editions in the seventeenth century.
Il Conquisto di Granata is considered the masterpiece of seventeenth-century epic poetry and the third peak of the Italian heroic tradition, besides the
Orlando Furioso and the
Jerusalem Delivered. According to some of his contemporary biographers, he also made every effort in order to publish a "Historia" about the period between the end of
Castro's War and the
Treaty of the Pyrenees, but the "Historia" was not published and has since been lost. ==Bibliography==