Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1581 poem Gerusalemme liberata, in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the Siege of Jerusalem of 1099. March 21, 1544 – May 25, 1595; died at 51. Alive at the same time as Michelangelo, Francis Bacon, Elizabeth I of England, Johannes Kepler, and Jacques Cartier. Wiki link