Bohemond
or BOEMOND, first Guiscard, and distinguished himself in the first crusade, in 1096. He besieged and took Antioch, of which he was made Prince by the Crusaders, and established there a little kingdom, which existed nearly 200 years. Besieged by the Saracens, he completely defeated them; but was soon after captured, and re- He mained their prisoner er two years. subsequently visited Europe, married a daughter of the King of France, and got the emperor to acknowledge his title.
Died in Italy in 1111. Six princes of his name succeeded him in the sovereignty of Antioch, the last, Bohemond VII., being dethroned in 1288. BOHOL (bō'hol), one of the Philippine Islands, belonging to the Visayas or BOIARDO Bisayas group. It has an area of about 1,300 square miles and an estimated population of about 250,000. Sugar cane is grown and the island is reputed rich in gold deposits. The most important town is Tagbilaran, a port on the S. W. coast. The Visayas dialect prevails throughout Bohol.
BOIARDO (bō-yärdō), MATTEO MARIA, COUNT OF SCANDIANO, one of the greater Italian poets, was born in 1434 at Scandiano. He studied at the University of Ferrara, and, in 1462, married the daughter of the Count of Norellara. He lived principally at the court of Ferrara on terms of intimate friendship with Duke Borso and Duke Ercole, by the latter of whom he was employed on important diplomatic missions, and appointed, in 1481, Governor of Modena, and, in 1487, Governor of Reggio. He died at Reggio, in 1494. Boiardo has been called the "Flower of Chivalry."
His fame rests on the "Orlando Innamorato" (1486), a long narrative poem in which the romances of the Carlovingian cycle are recast into "ottava rima." Full of rich and graceful fancy, this is the only work in which the spirit of chivalry is found in union with the spirit of the Renaissance. Ariosto adopted Boiardo's characters and magic machinery, and brought his narrative to a close in the "Orlando Furioso." Boiardo's other works comprise various Latin eclogues, a versification of Lucian's "Timon," translations of Herodotus, the "Ass" of Lucian, and the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius.