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Griselda (anglicised toGrizzel,Grissel,Grissela and similar forms) is a figure inEuropean folklore noted for her patience and obedience.
In the most famous version of the Griselda tale, written byGiovanni Boccaccioc. 1350,[1][2][3] Griselda marries Gualtieri, theMarquis of Saluzzo, who tests her by declaring that their two children—a son and a daughter—must both be put to death. Griselda gives both of them up without protest, but Gualtieri does not actually kill the children, instead sending them away to Bologna to be raised. In a final test, Gualtieri publicly renounces Griselda, claiming he had been granted papal dispensation to divorce her and marry a better woman; Griselda goes to live with her father. Some years later, Gualtieri announces he is to remarry and recalls Griselda as a servant to prepare the wedding celebrations. He introduces her to a twelve-year-old girl he claims is to be his bride but who is really their daughter; Griselda wishes them well. At this, Gualtieri reveals their grown children to her and Griselda is restored to her place as wife and mother.[4]
Griselda appears in tales byPetrarch[5] (died 1374,Historia Griseldis published 100 years later) and byChaucer (The Clerk's Tale inThe Canterbury Tales, late 1300s). She is also cited inChristine de Pizan'sThe Book of the City of Ladies.[6]Patient Griselda [fr] is a tale byCharles Perrault (1691).[7][8]John Phillip's playThe Commodye of Pacient and Meeke Grissill (also known asThe Plaie of Grissill) dates from 1565.Henry Chettle,Thomas Dekker andWilliam Haughton collaborated on another dramatic version,Patient Grissel, first performed in 1599. There are operas namedGriselda byAntonio Maria Bononcini (Griselda, 1718),Alessandro Scarlatti (La Griselda, 1721),Giovanni Bononcini (Griselda, 1722), andAntonio Vivaldi (Griselda, 1735). AlsoJules Massenet'sGrisélidis (1901) was inspired by the tale of Griselda.
William Shakespeare's playThe Winter's Tale (1623) features many elements of the Griselda story.[9]Anthony Trollope's high Victorian novelMiss Mackenzie (1865) is based on the Griselda theme.The Modern Griselda is a novel byMaria Edgeworth from 1804. Patient Griselda is one of a group of historical or legendary dinner-party guests inCaryl Churchill's 1982 playTop Girls. "Patient Griselda" is a 2015 short story bySteven Anthony George in the anthologyTwice Upon A Time: Fairytale, Folklore, & Myth. Reimagined & Remastered, where the tale is retold as a late twentieth century horror story.
The tale of Griselda was re-imagined byMargaret Atwood in her short story "Impatient Griselda," which was published inThe New York Times Magazine on July 12, 2020.[10]
Boccaccio's story of Griselda is depicted in a set of threeSienesepanel paintings dating from around 1490 which hang in theNational Gallery in London. They are the work of anunnamed Italian artist known as theMaster of the Story of Griselda.[11]
