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Mambrino was a fictional
Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...
king, celebrated in the romances of chivalry. His first appearance is in the late fourteenth-century ''Cantari di Rinaldo'', also known as ''Rinaldo da Monte Albano'', ''Rinaldo Innamorato'' or ''Innamoramento di Rinaldo''. The ''Cantari di Rinaldo'' is an adaptation of the
Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...
Renaud de Montauban Renaud (or Renaut or Renault) de Montauban (Modern ; ; ; or ) was a legendary hero and knight which appeared in a 12th-century Old French known as ''The Four Sons of Aymon''. The four sons of Duke Aymon are Renaud, Richard, Alard and Guiscard, ...
'', also known as ''Les Quatre Fils Aymon''. In the Old French, Renaud de Montauban">Renaud Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (; born 11 May 1952 in Paris), known as Renaud, is a French singer-songwriter. With twenty-six albums to his credit, selling nearly twenty million copies, he is one of France's most popular singers. Several of h ...
defeats the Saracen king Begon, who was invading King Yon's kingdom of Gascony. The Italian replaces Begon with Mambrino, and furnishes him with an elaborate backstory. In the ''Cantari'', Mambrino is one of six brothers, all giants. Four of the brothers had been decapitated by Rinaldo on various occasions earlier in the poem, so that his invasion of Gascony was motivated by his desire for vengeance. Rinaldo, as the Italians called Renaud, wins the war by defeating Mambrino in single combat and decapitating him as well. Mambrino's helmet, in this poem, has for its crest an idol which is so constructed that whenever the wind blows through it, it says, "Long live the most noble lord Mambrino, and all his barons." In later poems, Mambrino’s helmet was made of pure gold and rendered its wearer invulnerable. These are the helmet's attributes in the ''
Orlando Innamorato ''Orlando Innamorato'' (; known in English language, English as "''Orlando in Love''"; in Italian language, Italian titled "''Orlando innamorato''" as the "I" is never capitalized) is an epic poem written by the Italian Renaissance author Matte ...
'' and the ''
Orlando Furioso ''Orlando furioso'' (; ''The Frenzy of Orlando'') is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form ...
'', throughout which poems it is worn by Rinaldo. Francesco Cieco da Ferrara's poem, ''Mambriano'', is about the titular son of Mambrino's sister and his attempt to avenge his uncle. Both the sister and the nephew were invented by Francesco.
Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his no ...
, in his novel '' Don Quixote de la Mancha'', tells us of a
barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...
who was caught in the rain, and to protect his hat clapped his brazen basin on his head.
Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...
insisted that this basin was the enchanted helmet of the Moorish king. Don Quixote wishes to obtain the helmet in order to make himself invulnerable. In the musical ''
Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervan ...
'', an entire song is constructed around the titular character's search for the helmet and his encounter with the barber. There is a reference in
Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greate ...
's ''Mani'' to Mambrino with respect to a very large straw hat worn by a Greek man in the 1930s. "
he man He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...
came loping towards us under his giant Mambrino's helmet of straw."Fermor, Patrick Leigh, "Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese," Chapter 3, at 33 (New York: New York Review Book, 2006) (). Chapter 2 of
George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...
's novel "Middlemarch" is headed by a paragraph from "Don Quixote" in which the helmet of Mambrino is referred to.


See also

*
Cap of invisibility In classical mythology, the Cap of Invisibility (Ἅϊδος κυνέη ''(H)aïdos kyneē'' in Greek, lit. dog-skin of Hades) is a helmet or cap that can turn the wearer invisible, also known as the Cap of Hades or Helm of Hades. Wearers of the ...


References

* Melli, Elio, editor. ''I Cantari di Rinaldo da Monte Albano''. Commissione per i Testi di Lingua. Bologna, 1973. Collezione di Opere Inedite o Rare 133. * Panizzi, Antonio, ''Orlando Innamorato di Bojardo: Orlando Furioso di Ariosto: With an Essay on the Romantic Narrative Poetry of the Italians; Memoirs, and Notes.'' London, William Pickering, 1830. 9 vols. {{Orlando Furioso Fictional kings Literary characters introduced in the 14th century Fictional Muslims Individual helmets Medieval legends Don Quixote characters Characters in Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso