The numbering and the spirit - soul - body - attribution is given according to the kabbalistical Tree of Life, and the Boiardo-titles are given according to the row suggested by Boiardo himself. In a very easy way they do fit together.
The kabbalistical Sephiroth-tree also knew beside the good 10 Sephiroth the 10 bad kelipot, so Boiardo reflects a scheme, that was also used in Kabbala.
Ferrara had been under Borso d'Este a city, which was especially friendly to Jews. An assumed intellectual contact between Boiardo and some of these Jews isn't an artificial constructuion, as eventually could believed.
Boiardo was uncle of Pico de Mirandola, who is called the first Christian kabbalist.
The order above doesn't express a very "deep" mystery of kabbala, but reflects just a kabbalistical habit - which not must really be called "kabbalistical", but could have been also a more or less general jewish or even neoplatonic view around the time of 1465, just something. which a young man - Boiardo - could have taken easily from some talking with some elder Jew (not necessarily a kabbalist) or one of the philosophs of his time.
It looks a little surprizing, that it seems, that Boiardo saw "Tempo" = "time" as negative and "Oblivione" = "oblivion" as positive. But "time" was interpreted as "age" and in pictures presented as a hunchback - that is negative. |