Giovanni Battista Folengo (1490-1559)
Toward an understanding of the works of Giovanni Battista Folengo: vast books which pose as biblical commentary but are in fact parody with sexual innuendo.
Site guide: Quick links for scholars, Biography, Texts, Tools for reading the texts, Samples
Quick start for scholars in the field:
GB Folengo Samples 1 to 4 Jan 2024
Toward an Appreciation of GB Folengo July 8 2022 (July 21, 2022)
Combined Documents for Toward an Appreciation of GB Folengo
Glossary of 11,800 Latin words used by GB Folengo in his published texts:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PfxDC6FtQwPz67F0JWXoYrDgwt9XyJPDEU9WUNO0Ado/edit?usp=sharing
Biographical and Bibliographical data
In Italian, Treccani and Wikipedia:
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giambattista-folengo_(Dizionario-Biografico)
In English, translation of Italian Wikipedia article:
Giovanni Battista Folengo Wiki English 2020
The Wikipedia entry in Italian and translated into English shows no understanding of Folengo’s radical satirical stance. The WorldCat listings need to be consolidated (WorldCat is provided by OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.):
G B Folengo Wiki and WorldCat June 20 2018
Censorship
A contemporary of the Folengo brothers, chides GB Folengo in Latin verse: the Benedictine monk Dionisio (Denis) Faucher. [Translations needed.]
Official censorship of Folengo’s works began in the 1550s when his works appeared on various iterations of the Index of Forbidden Books, where he was in good company with Dante, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Bembo, Ariosto and his brother, Teofilo Folengo. It has been difficult (for me) to get a clear picture of the effect censorship had on sixteenth readers. Censored works by GB Folengo:
In Psalmos commentaria: Portugal, 1561, 1581
In primam Ioannis Epistolam commentaria: Parma, 1580.
In canonicas Epistolas Iacobi, Petri, ac Ioannis primam, commentarii: Portugal, 1561, 1581. Spain, 1583. Rome, 1596
Censorship today: as of June 2025 there has been a pathetically paltry amount of scholarly discourse on the roughly 2,000 pages of Giambattista Folengo’s published texts.
TEXTS
Giambattista/ Giovanni Battista Folengo published four works (which can be given brief titles in English as: Pomiliones (1533), Psalms (1543), John (1546), James and Peter (1555). Then, there are many re-publications with variations in their presentation and their peripheral offerings; posthumous editions of the Psalms in 1585 and 1594 claim to be expurgated versions.
Overview with links to GB Folengo’s publications, including many peripheral pieces
GB Folengo Companion Pieces Oct 27 2022
1. 1533 Pomiliones
IOAN. BAPTI. Chrysogoni Folengii Mantuani Anachoritae Dialogi, quos Pomiliones uocat. Theophili Folengii Mantuani Anachoritae Varium poema, et IANUS.
Dialogi, quos Pomiliones vocat (Dialogues which he calls Short Pieces), published in one small volume with two works in Latin by GB Folengo’s brother Teofilo: Varium poema (Diverse Poetry) which includes 68 poems in a variety of meters, and Janus, a 559 hexameter narrative.
End page: In Promontorio Minervae ardente Sirio. MDXXXIII. (On the promontory of Minerva, with Sirius burning, 1533, [i.e. Punta Campanella in Campania, Italy, in late summer]
The Dialogi, quos Pomiliones vocat (Dialogues which he calls Short Pieces) by Giovanni Battista Folengo, the Varium poema (Diverse Poetry) and Janus by Teofilo Folengo were published together around 1533, while the Folengo brothers were in the process of being re-admitted to the Benedictine order which both had left some years earlier. The deceptively slim volume, sometimes referred collectively to as the Pomiliones, is thought to have been published by Aurelio Pincio in Venice, 1534, although the book itself claims to have been published in 1533 on a small promontory SW of Sorrento where there was a very small monastery. Despite their official contrition, Giovanni Battista and Teofilo Folengo filled all three works with humorous sexual imagery and poignant political protest embedded in lofty pronouncements and platitudes, peppered with biblical quotations.
Text transcribed with English translation and notes:
Highlights
Giovanni Battista tells readers up front that his dialogues feature a “nuda… elogia vitiorum” (naked praise of vices, p. 5); a playful description of a monestary, pp. 7-8; a dialogue with Victoria Colonna which includes complicated allusion’s to her husband’s prowess, Pomilio 3, pp. 40-51; a final philosphical question: Conducant animo Seria mixta iocis? (“Could serious things mixed with jests be advantageous for the soul/ mind?”), p. 154.
2. 1540 Psalms: Commentary on 40 of the Psalms
Ioan. Baptistae Folengii Mantuani, Monachi Divi Benedicti, In Psalmos Commentaria, Basel, Michael Isengrin, 1540.
Commentaries on the Psalms, this is a first edition which included only 40 Psalms, followed in 1543 by an edition of all 150 Psalms.
A beautiful copy at the University of Basel, Switzerland, available as a digital image: https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-661
Downloadable pdfs: GB Folengo 1540 Psalms
List of the 40 psalms included: GB Folengo 1540 Contents
GB Folengo 1540 Index Numerical
Description: 40 of the Psalms are printed interspersed with Folengo’s commentary after each verse (Psalms 1-32, 120-131). The comments show erudition and thoughtfulness and pivot on sexual innuendo. In 1543 a greatly augmented edition runs to 941 oversize pages and includes commentaries on all 150 Psalms. [I have not studied the differences in the the two texts but the commentary does not seem to change significantly.]
3. 1543 Psalms all 150
IN PSALTERIUM Davidis Israelitarum regis et vatis divinissimi, Ioan. Baptistae Folengii Mantuani Monachi Cassinatis commentarii, Basilea, Mich. Isingrinus, s.d.: 1543*
Commentaries on the Psalms of David, King of the Israelites and Divine Poet, by Giovanni Battista Folengo Mantuan, Monk of Monte Cassino; Basel, Michael Isengrin, no date, but 1543. A copy from Enghien, Belgium has a hand written publishing date of 1543; other copies do not have this date, but do include the prefatory letters dated 1542 and 1543.
Many copies available online, others for consultation in libraries. Copy from the Bavarian State Library via Google Play Books: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=3-NDAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PP1&printsec=frontcover
GB Folengo 1543 All Psalms Bavarian copy
Increasingly faithful transcription, still in need of corrections, especially as to punctuation:
As above but with English translations of the Psalms added: GB Folengo Psalms Transcription Public w Engl Ps May 2 2025
Description: “Commentaries” on all 150 Psalms [these are not standard biblical commmentaries but are instead vehicles for clever word play]; a preface to the Christian reader which explains that the content is humorous; four prefatory letters:
1.) from a monk, Anastasius, to the pious Reader, dated 1543;
2. and 3.) from Nicodemo Folengo to his brother Giovanni Battista and vice versa (dated August and December 1542);
4.) from Giovanni Battista to Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, undated.
The immense volume includes an Index of Psalms (first lines), a little Table of Topics, and towards the end of the volume, an extensive List/ Index of over 2200 subjects addressed in the Commentary.
Just the Index: GB Folengo 1543 Index 2203 entries 2018
4. 1546 First Epistle of John
Commentaria in primam D. Iohannis epistolam, Io. Baptista Folengio Monacho mantuano auctore, Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1546.
Cum privilegio Pauli III. Pont. Max et Senatus Veneti, ad annos decem
Commentaries on the First Epistle of St. John, Venice, Manutius, 1546; Permission granted by Pope Paul III and the Senate of Venice for 10 years. Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1546.)
PLEASE SEE ABOVE for updated documents
GB Folengo 1546 First Epistle of John Commentaries GB Folengo 1546 Epistle of John
Biblioteca Casanatense: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=PInlqKxloXYC
An astonishing number of copies are available of the 1546 Commentary on the First Epistle of John: GB-Folengo-John-Extant-Public-copies-Apr-1-2022
Additional copy: Commentaries on the First Epistle of St. John, from the Bavarian State Library in Munich: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=qvs7AAAAcAAJ
Hybrid TRANSCRIPTION: based on the 1555 edition which was easier to use for OCR, but with the entries from the extensive 1546 Index added into the text.
GB Folengo 1555 John with 1546 Index: GB Folengo 1555 with 1546 Index applied PUBLIC Oct 25 2021
GB Folengo 1546 John Index:
GB Folengo 1546 Index rearranged by page number: GB Folengo 1546 Index by page no June 12 2018
Reissued in 1559
5. 1547 2nd edition: First Epistle of John
Commentaria in primam D. Ioannis epistolam Antwerp, Ex officina Ioannis Loei. Anno 1547
Commentaries on the first Epistle of St John, Jan Van der Loe, Antwerp, 1547*
*Joannes Loeus (c.1506-1566)
Permission granted for publication on February 24, 1546 by Petrus Curtius (Pierre de Corte, 1491-1567), Pastor of St Peter’s in Louvain, later to be Bishop of Bruges.
New edition, includes same detailed Index as 1546 with new page numbers to fit the new edtion
6. 1549 Psalms Reissue
Psalms, Isengrin,
Reissue of 1543
Multiple copies on Google Play books
7. 1555 Epsitles of James, Peter and John
IN CANONICAS APOSTOLORUM EPISTOLAS, D. VIDELICET Iacobi unam, D. Petri duas, ac D. Ioannis primam, Commentarii. IO. BAPTISTA FOLENGIO, MANTUANO MONACHO AUTORE. Lyons, Sebastian Gryphius, 1555
On the Canonical Epistles of the Apostles, Specifically: the First [Epistle] of James, First and Second [Epistles] of Peter and First [Epistle] of John, by the Author, Giovanni Battista Folengo, Mantuan Monk, Lyons, Sebastian Gryphius*, 1555
*Sébastien Gryphe (c. 1492-1556), German bookseller-printer and humanist working in Lyons; “nineteenth-century scholar Henri Baudrier spoke of Sebastian Gryphius’s printshop (Atelier du Griffon) as a «société angélique pour les libres-penseurs» (angelic society for free-thinkers)” Wikipedia
The digital images of the 1555 book had some page irregularities which I corrected, but even my “Repaginated” version far exceed the PDF size limit for the Knowledge Commons site, so I broke it down into parts (which one could download and combine:
- Pages 1 to 16: Title page and Letter from GB Folengo to two monks who were with him on a mission/ embassy to Spain. GB Folengo 1555 Title and Letter pp 1 to 16
- Pages 17-97: James GB Folengo 1555 James pp 17-97
- Pages 98-174: Peter GB Folengo 1555 Peter 1 ch 1 to 3 pp 98 to 174
- Pages 174-256: Peter 1.4-5, 2 Peter GB Folengo 1555 Peter pp 174 to 256
- Pages 257-330: John 1-2.17 GB Folengo 1555 John pp 257 to 330
- Pages 330-400: John 2.17-3.7 GB Folengo 1555 John pp 330 to 400
- Pages 400-472: John 3.7-4.6 GB Folengo 1555 John pp 400 to 472
- Pages 473-540: John 4.6-5.21 GB Folengo 1555 pp 473 to 540
Transcriptions:
Opening letter: GB Folengo 1555 opening Epistola transcribed
James and Peter: GB Folengo James and Peter Public Jan 17 2021
John (1555 with Index from 1546 edtion): GB Folengo 1555 John with 1546 Index applied PUBLIC Nov 14 2021
8. 1557 Psalms Reissue
Commentary on the Psalms, Michael Isengrin, Basel
https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=mV_vgsMmi e0C&pg=GBS.PT1
9. 1559 John Reissue
Commentaria in primam D. Ioannis epistolam Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1559
(Commentaries on the First Epistle of St. John)
Reissue of the 1546 text: new title page with same content; identical text; end page shows date altered from 1546 to 1559. Permission granted by Pope Paul III (1468-1549)
Copy from Bavarian State Library http://books.google.com/books?id=tvs7AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_sum mary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=absque&f=false
10. 1585 Two Posthumous Editions of Psalms
Commentary on the Psalms: two editions with the same pagination, the Bonfadini and the Bibliopolas editions, except for the title page and end page variations.
GB Folengo 1585 Bonfadini: Title page image GB Folengo 1585 Bibliopolas: Title page image
IOANNIS BAPTISTAE FOLENGII MANTUANI MONACHI CASINATIS ORDINIS S. BENEDICTI
In omnes Dauidicos psalmos doctissima, ac plane diuina Commentaria,
Nunc recens studio, atque opera Monachorum eiusdem Congregationis ab erroribus, ac mendis, quibus olim iam inde a prima impressione, cum Typographorum incuria, tum haereticorum vitio undique redundabant, ex manuscripti cum impresso exemplari collatione quam diligentissime expurgata,
Et nutu, ac voluntate Beatissimi GREGORII. XIII Pont. Max nuperrime typis excusa.
Adiectus est item quam copiosissimus rerum memorabilium, ac selectorum sententiarum Index, hac postrema editione multorum locorum accessione mirifici locupletatus.
CUM PRIVILEGIO ET FACULTATE SUPERIORUM Romae
Ex Typographia Bartholomaei Bonfadini, & Titi Diani, M D LXXXV
Title page of this magnificent edition from the Reformation era insists that it is expurgated, but it does not appear that much of the text has been eliminated.
Permission granted by Pope Gregory XIII on the title page and by Thomas Zobbia, commissioner of the Inquisition (pdf 14)
Two of the exempla on Google Play Books: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=9Th4-m-PMwcC&pg=GBS.PP4
Copy from the Library of Lyons: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=tv_f0RpDZbEC&printsec=frontcover&output=reader &authuser=0&hl=en&pg=GBS.PR4
[Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni) (1502–April 10, 1585), Pope: 1570-85), from Bologna, taught law in Padua to, among others, Reginald Pole and Alessandro Farnese.]
There is a long letter to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1520-1589), grandson of Paul III and son of the notorious Pier Luigi Farnese. Another letter, to the Pious Reader, insists that the author is not the (heretical) Johannus Campanus, but rather the pious and Catholic Ioannes Campensis. Both figures were historical and contemporary, but neither, obviously, is the real Giovanni Battista Folengo. Following these are the four letters previously published in the 1543 edition.
GB Folengo Psalms INDEX 1543 1585 July 3 22
11. 1594
Commentarii in Psalmos Davidis [Israelitarum] Israelitarum regis et vatis divinissimi : ad sensum literalem, tum alios hinc dependentes redditi, , Gerardus Grevenbruch, 1594
(Commentaries on the Psalms, Köln, Gerhard Grevenbroich, 1594 )
_______________________
Are there more books by GB Folengo? A possible lost volume, cited in the Italian Wikipedia article: Vita Sancti Simeonis monachi, in Officium sancti Symeonis monachi et eremitae Armenii, cum illius vita nuper recognita. Eredi Lucantonio Giunta, Venice, 1552. The only known copy of the book is reported here as having been in the British Library but having been destroyed during World War II.
Final Texts entry (for now), a combined PDF, but bear in mind that the Commentary on the Psalms especially receives text corrections regularly, so this is not the most correct version, but is useful for over-all searching: GB Folengo All Commentaries on Psalms 1543 and James Peter John 1555 June 7 2021 (1)
TOOLS for reading the texts
How to Decode GB Folengo’s works:
Toscan, Jean. Le carnaval du langage: le lexique érotique des poètes de l’équivoque de Burchiello à Marino (XVe-XVIIe siècles), 4 vols. Lille, Presses Univ., 1978; 1981.
A four volume dissertation by Jean Toscan, available in many libraries, in French. Digitized, Center for Research Libraries: https://dds.crl.edu/crldelivery/11444
One can combine the digitized Toscan volumes files into a single pdf to facilitate searches.
A glossary of the Erotic Lexicon, based on Toscan: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11Dcd-IwUYMePYbt6NYB4AtuFQaYrBSl8E_xM03vaP7A/edit?usp=sharing
or
Adams, J.N. The Latin Sexual Vocabulary. Johns Hopkins UP, 1982.
A partial list of words used in the classical Roman period and then 1500 years later by the Folengo brothers, taken from an annotated English edition and translation of the Priapeia, a collection of poems to and about Priapus: Code words from Priapeia era and Folengo
GB-Folengo-John-1546-Index-April-26-2022 Download
GB-Folengo-John-Extant-Public-copies-Apr-1-2022 Download
Superlatives in the Commentary on the First Epistle of John: GB Folengo John Superlatives Oct 2020
Samples
GB Folengo: Samples 1 with Captions (and Utilitarian Translations)
GB-Folengo-SAMPLES-Public-Feb-23-2022-1 Download
. GB-Folengo-Samples-2-Psalm-51-March-21-2022 Download
Samples 3 (as above)
Toward an Appreciation of GB Folengo July 8 2022 Download
Contributions welcome.