GRISELDA

griselda, a heroine of romance. she is said to have been the wife of walter, marquis of saluces or saluzzo, in the 11th century, and her misfortunes were considered to belong to history when they were handled by boccaccio and petrarch, although the probability is that boccaccio borrowed his narrative from a provencal _fabliau_. he included it in the recitations of the tenth day (_decamerone_), and must have written it about 1350. petrarch related it in a latin letter in 1373, and his translation formed the basis of much of the later literature. the letter was printed by ulrich zel about 1470, and often subsequently. it was translated into french as _la patience de griselidis_ and printed at brehan-loudeac in 1484, and its popularity is shown by the number of early editions quoted by brunet (_manuel du libraire, s.v._ petrarca). the story was dramatized in 1395, and a _mystere de griselidis, marquise de saluses par personnaiges_ was printed by jehan bonfons (no date). chaucer followed petrarch's version in the _canterbury tales_. ralph radcliffe, who flourished under henry viii., is said to have written a play on the subject, and the story was dramatized by thomas dekker, henry chettle and w. haughton in 1603. an example of the many ballads of griselda is given in t. deloney's _garland of good will_ (1685), and the 17th-century chap-book, _the history of patient grisel_ (1619), was edited by h. b. wheatley (1885) for the villon society with a bibliographical and literary introduction.