Tedaldo Elisei and Ermellina's Love Affair and Reunion

Tedaldo Elisei and Ermellina’s love affair is a story of intimacy interrupted by religious pressure and restored through disguise, recognition, and rescue. Ermellina’s withdrawal drives Tedaldo into seven years of exile; his return reunites the lovers while he works to free her husband, Aldobrandino Palermini, from a death sentence. The relationship ends not in a public declaration but in a renewed, carefully concealed attachment.

A Secret Affair and a Sudden Break

Tedaldo, a noble youth of Florence, is passionately in love with Ermellina, the wife of Aldobrandino Palermini. The two have been lovers for a time, and their connection is hidden from others. Then Ermellina abruptly refuses his messages and will not see him. The story does not explain what first prompts her change of heart; it shows instead how completely the withdrawal cuts Tedaldo off from the relationship he thought he had.

Unable to recover her favour despite repeated efforts, Tedaldo leaves Florence secretly. He tells neither friends nor relatives of his departure, except for one confidant who knows the affair. At Ancona he takes the name Filippo di Sanlodeccio, enters the service of a wealthy merchant, and travels with him to Cyprus. His departure is therefore both an escape from the pain of rejection and a deliberate concealment of his identity. Ermellina, meanwhile, does not know where he has gone; she later says that she assumed he had left in despair.

Ermellina’s Account of the Separation

Years later, Tedaldo returns to Florence disguised as a pilgrim. When he meets Ermellina, he presents himself as a holy man and asks whether she once had a lover. She believes that his knowledge comes from divine revelation and confesses that, in her youth, she loved Tedaldo above all. She also explains the cause of their separation: she told a friar in confession about their love and private meetings, and he frightened her with threats of damnation unless she ended the affair. She then stopped receiving Tedaldo’s letters and messages.

Ermellina admits that her decision was not a loss of love. She says that she had no greater desire than to see Tedaldo again, and that if he had persisted instead of leaving, her harsh resolve might have yielded. Her account makes the rupture a consequence of religious intimidation rather than an offence by either lover. The returning Tedaldo interprets the separation as an unjust withdrawal and tells her that the danger now facing Aldobrandino is a parallel punishment: just as she wrongly withdrew from him, her husband has been placed in peril on account of Tedaldo.

Recognition and Reunion

Tedaldo uses Ermellina’s remorse to secure her promise that, if he ever returns from his long absence, she will restore her love and private intimacy with him. She believes the promise impossible to fulfil because she thinks Tedaldo is dead. He insists that Tedaldo is alive, then produces a ring she had given him on the last night they were together. The object establishes a link to their shared past that his pilgrim disguise had concealed.

When Tedaldo removes his pilgrim’s gown and hat and speaks in the Florentine manner, Ermellina recognizes him. Her first response is fear: having believed him dead, she sees him as if he had returned from the tomb. Once reassured by his voice and appearance, she throws herself upon him, weeping and welcoming him. The reunion is affectionate but interrupted by the immediate need to save Aldobrandino. Tedaldo leaves to act on that danger, promising that he will return when he has news.

A Love Restored Through Secrecy

After the murderers of the man mistaken for Tedaldo confess, Tedaldo visits Ermellina privately while the rest of the household sleeps. He assures her that Aldobrandino will be safe, recounts what he has done, and the two embrace and kiss. They then go to bed together and make peace, each taking joy in the other. Their intimacy is thus renewed before Aldobrandino’s formal release, but remains secret; Tedaldo asks Ermellina to keep his identity and return concealed.

Aldobrandino is discharged the next day, and the actual killers are later executed. Tedaldo stays at Aldobrandino’s house as an honoured guest, while Ermellina knows that the pilgrim who helped her husband is her returned lover. After Tedaldo’s identity is confirmed to his brothers, he remains in Florence, and he and Ermellina continue their love discreetly for a long time. Their reunion resolves the separation without making their affair public: the relationship survives through mutual desire, careful concealment, and the practical obligations created by Ermellina’s marriage.