Parisina is a poem written by Byron

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...

. It was published on 13 February 1816 and probably written between 1812 and 1815.

It is based on a story related by Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...

 in his Miscellaneous Works about Niccolò III d'Este

Niccolò III d'Este

Niccolò III d'Este was Marquess of Ferrara from 1393 until his death. He was also a condottiero.-Biography:...

, one of the dukes of Ferrara

Ferrara

Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...

who lived in the fifteenth century. Niccolò found out that Parisina, his second wife, had an incestuous relationship with his bastard son Ugo and subsequently had both of them put to death.

In Byron's poem, Parisina and Hugo were engaged to be married before Azo (Byron's version of Niccolò) decided to marry her. Also, Azo sentences Hugo only to death - Parisina's fate is unknown, except for the fact that she is forced to witness Hugo's execution and utters a shriek that indicates approaching madness.