Melissa is a fictional good
sorceress in the
Matter of France. She is said to have been an apprentice of
Merlin and guards his tomb, though she does not appear in older stories about him.
In Orlando Furioso, she is instrumental in the love affair of
Ruggiero and
Bradamante, whom she is determined will one day marry. Whenever their relationship is threatened, she brings them back together. Melissa conjures Ruggiero and Bradamante's descendants and foretells their futures. When Ruggiero has fallen victim to the enchantments of
Alcina, she comes to his rescue by restoring his memory of his love for Bradamante, and releasing him from the spell which held him captive on Alcina's Isle. Later, Ruggiero loses a combat to determine who shall win the hand of Bradamante; despondent, he goes into the woods to starve himself to death. Melissa hears of his plight and reveals the truth to him: that he had lost in combat not to his rival, but to Bradamante herself; therefore, there is no reason their wedding cannot proceed.
References
Orlando Furioso, prose translation by Guido Waldman (Oxford, 1999).
ISBN0-19-283677-3.
Orlando Furioso, verse translation by
Barbara Reynolds in two volumes (Penguin Classics, 1975). Part one (cantos 1-23)
ISBN0-14-044311-8; part two (cantos 24–46)
ISBN0-14-044310-X. Part one has since been reprinted.