Ermellina and Aldobrandino Palermini's Marriage and Reunion

Ermellina and Aldobrandino Palermini’s marriage is the household bond at the center of Tedaldo Elisei’s return to Florence: Aldobrandino is falsely accused of murdering the man who loves his wife, while that supposedly dead man comes back in disguise and helps save him. The marriage survives a crisis built on mistaken identity, a real murder, and concealed desire. Its public restoration does not end Ermellina’s relationship with Tedaldo; after Aldobrandino is freed and reconciled with Tedaldo’s family, she and Tedaldo resume their affair discreetly.

Marriage and the concealed affair

Ermellina is Aldobrandino’s wife, but she has also been Tedaldo’s lover. The affair had begun before Tedaldo’s departure from Florence: after Ermellina suddenly stopped receiving him and refused his messages, he left the city in despair. His love for her had been so secret that no one guessed it was the cause of his distress. The story presents the marriage and the affair as two concurrent relationships, but gives no account of how Aldobrandino learned of Tedaldo’s earlier connection with his wife.

Tedaldo eventually became a wealthy merchant abroad, yet continued to remember Ermellina. After seven years away, a song he had composed about their love rekindled his longing to see her, and he returned to Florence disguised as a pilgrim. He first went to her house, but found its doors and windows shut. Learning that she was alive, he sought her out the next morning and found her weeping in a ground-floor room. Her grief, as Tedaldo soon understood, arose from the danger facing her husband.

The false accusation and the real murder

Aldobrandino had been imprisoned and was expected to die for the supposed murder of Tedaldo. The case seemed settled: Tedaldo’s brothers had mourned and buried a stranger in his place, and Aldobrandino had been convicted as the killer. A shoemaker told the returning Tedaldo that the brothers were dressed in black and that their sister’s husband had confessed. In fact, Aldobrandino was innocent, and Tedaldo was alive.

That night, Tedaldo overheard three men speaking at the inn where he lodged. They said Aldobrandino had been convicted and feared that they themselves would be discovered as Tedaldo’s killers. Their confession to the authorities established that the murderers were the two innkeeper brothers and their servant. They said Tedaldo had wronged one brother’s wife while the men were away and had tried to force her. The accusation against Aldobrandino had therefore substituted a husband’s supposed revenge for the actual crime, while Tedaldo’s unexpected return exposed the error.

Tedaldo’s intervention and Ermellina’s recognition

Tedaldo approached the grieving Ermellina as a stranger pilgrim and promised that her peace was near. When she asked how he knew who she was and who her husband was, he recounted details of her life and Aldobrandino’s trouble. She took him for a prophet and begged him to act quickly. Only later, in a private meeting, did he reveal his identity: he showed her the ring she had given him, removed his pilgrim’s disguise, and spoke to her in the Florentine manner. Ermellina recognized the ring and then Tedaldo, whom she had believed dead; at first she recoiled in fear, before recognizing his voice and embracing him.

Their reunion does not displace Tedaldo’s plan to rescue Aldobrandino. He tells Ermellina that he must first arrange her husband’s release, then visits the prison and asks Aldobrandino to forgive Tedaldo’s four brothers for having brought him to peril through their mistaken belief. Aldobrandino, insisting that he had not committed the murder, nevertheless agrees to the request. Tedaldo then informs a magistrate that he can identify the actual killers. The innkeeper brothers and their servant are arrested and confess, and the authorities discharge Aldobrandino; a few days later, the murderers are beheaded at the place of the crime.

Reunion and the restored household

After Aldobrandino’s release, he and Ermellina welcome Tedaldo into their home. Aldobrandino publicly acknowledges that he owes his deliverance to the pilgrim, while Ermellina knows that her guest is the lover she has just recognized. The couple’s joy at Aldobrandino’s safety and Tedaldo’s return is therefore bound up with a private reconciliation: once alone with Ermellina, Tedaldo recounts what he has done, and the two go to bed together and make peace. The account makes clear that their intimate relationship continues, but Tedaldo asks Ermellina to keep his identity and their reunion secret.

Aldobrandino’s release alone does not settle the conflict with Tedaldo’s family. Tedaldo uses his host’s gratitude to arrange a banquet and bring Aldobrandino together with the four brothers who had accused him. The brothers arrive in black, put down their arms, and ask forgiveness; Aldobrandino receives them affectionately and remits the injuries. The feast converts the household’s private danger into a broader reconciliation between families. The marriage is restored to public security, while Ermellina and Tedaldo maintain a concealed affair. That divided outcome is central to the relation: Aldobrandino is saved and welcomed back into his family and civic life, but the tale’s final peace also depends on preserving a secret intimacy beyond the marriage.