Status Updates From Orlando Furioso: Part One (...

Canto 10: "This prince surpasses Nature's laws, for, having fashioned him, she broke the mould"/"natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa." Is this the origin of the phrase broke the mould? ...Web searching says maybe. This was during a long list of English troops and banners by region, like the Catalogue of Ships; I'm curious why England gets that regional focus with an Italian intended audience.

Canto 9: In this epic fantastical poem about knights of Charlemagne, the gun was a surprise

I knew this was supposed to be a famously influential poem, but I'm reading Canto 5 where the maid meets her lover on a balcony while dressed up as her mistress, not realizing until too late that she's being tricked into framing her mistress as unfaithful and heyyyy waitaminute, I know this story! (Though Much Ado switches up which character returns from the supposed grave.) Famously influential poem is influential.