Mambrino

Mambrino was a fictional Moorish 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 chanson de geste, Renaud de Montauban, also known as Les Quatre Fils Aymon. In the Old French, Renaud 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.”