Unlikely as it may at first appear our neighbouring island of Graciosa has an important role in botanical history and medieval Renaissance literature as the Mythical Gardens of Armida.
When they had passed all those troubled ways,
The Garden sweet spread forth her green to shew;
The moving crystal from the fountains plays;
Fair trees, high plants, strange herbs and flowerets new,
Sunshiny hills, vales hid from Phoebus’ rays,
Groves, arbours, mossie caves at once they view,
And that which beauty most, most wonder brought,
No where appear’d the Art which all this wrought.
— Torquato Tasso (1544–95)
Graciosa is the smallest inhabited island in the Canarian archipelago and somewhat barren in terms of terrain.
Yet some 500 odd years ago it became a mythical setting within a work of literature so important that it provided inspiration for key literary figures such as Milton and Spenser, whilst also providing the narrative framework for major operas by eminent composers such as Handel and Rossini.
Graciosa’s small but important historical footnote was created by an Italian named Torquato Tasso, who in fact never visited the island. If he had, he might perhaps have thought twice about making it the mythical base for a lush, verdant and enchanted garden!
Tasso was born in Sorrento in 1544 and is today regarded as one of the most celebrated literary figures from the Renaissance period. His most famous work is entitled Jerusalem Delivered, a piece rooted in the classical style of writers such as Homer and Virgil.
This epic poem essentially chronicles the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099 and the triumph of Christian ‘good’ over the ‘evil’ Saracen forces.
Romance was a key element in renaissance literature and a major sub plot within the poem relates how the key Christian knight Rinaldo falls foul of a pagan witch, Armida.
On the orders of Satan, Armida is sent to the Christian camp to seduce the crusaders, armed with magic and “Proud of her beauty and the gifts of her sex and her youth”. She does pretty well too — as the entire camp falls in lust with her!
She then spins a yarn about being dethroned in her homeland — a story which holds irresistible appeal to a chivalrous knight such as Rinaldo who swears to help her recapture her kingdom.
Problem is though he’s been duped and Armida instead transports the knight to her palace on Graciosa in a magic chariot (she’d obviously tried the sea crossing before).
There, against the backdrop of her sensual and enchanted garden she seduces Rinaldo, who finds that he is powerless to resist and is now essentially a prisoner of Armida.
He is only saved when two of his comrades in arms finally find the couple entwined in a maze in Armida’s garden. Rinaldo’s warlike spirit is rekindled when he glimpses his reflection in a mirror and decries what has become of him. Renewed, he returns to the fray and helps deliver the decisive blow to the enemy forces.
Armida, enraged, vows to torment the knight for eternity and in a fit of pique summons up the forces of the devil to destroy her palace and garden.