iO Women Writing Latin: An introduction

16. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Kcifka: Toward a Minor Literature, trans. Dana
Polan (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986), p. 16.
17.
18.
Deleuze and Guattari, p. 17.
Peter Dronke, Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from
Angela N ogarola (ca. 1400) and
Perpetua (f203) to Marguerite Porete (f13lO) (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer- Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466):
sity Press, 1984); Marcelle Thi€baux, The Writings of Medieval Women: An
Anthology, 2d ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1994); Medieval Women Writ- Thieves of Language
ers, ed. Katharina M. Wilson (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984);
Women Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation, ed. Katharina M. Wilson Holt N. Parker
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987).

Though Margaret L. King and others have made Isotta Nogarola a well-known
figure, her aunt, born into the earliest generations of humanism, remains
obscure.! She was of a distinguished Veronese family, the eldest child of Antonio
Nogarola and his wife Bartolomea de Castronovo. We know almost nothing about
her apart from the fact of her marriage in 1396 to Antonio II, count of Arco and a
general portrait given by (Jacopo) Philippo de Bergamo (Foresti), 1434-1520,
praising her learning and piety.2 She may have been educated at least in part by
Antonio Lusco (see below). Letters from Lusco's son Niccolo (c. 1436) and
Tobias Burgus (1438) to Nogarola's nieces Isotta and Ginevra imply that she had
died by that time. 3
We have, however, from her hand a number of interesting poems, showing
not only the results of a thorough humanistic education but also an acquaintance
(perhaps through her husband) with many of the most powerful political figures
of her day. She wrote poetry before her marriage and, in contrast to several other
female humanists, continued to do so afterward. 4 Her works show a fascinating
mixture of public and private occasion, with significant parallels to themes that
occur in the life of Costanza Varano: a family history of female learning and the
deployment of the learned lady as an instrument of public display and policy. For
this volume, five shorter poems represent her talent. 5
I. Four hexameters addressed to the humanist Antonio Lusco (1365-1429)6
date probably before 1388, when Lusco left Verona, and seem to indicate a pupil-
teacher relationship. Written at least eight years before her marriage, it is almost
certainly a work of girlhood or adolescence. 7
II. In what also seems to be an early work, Nogarola privately addressed
Pandolpho III Malatesta (1370-1427), ruler of Rimini. There is no date but the

11
 r
12 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 13

references in Pandolpho's response (virgo, puellis) would indicate a time before educated women. 14 Despite the damage to the poem and the resulting uncertain-
her marriage. 8 With a nice mixture of boldness and modesty, she requests the ties,15 Nogarola here is malting use of both Platonic and biblical arguments to
return of a book that she had loaned him and that he apparently had lost. The claim a place for women in the great tradition of poetry. In the final lines Noga-
poem reveals a wide and intimate knowledge of the Latin poets both ancient and rola is not, of course, proclaiming independence from classical models-an
contemporary in the form of a complex cento of thirty lines of rhyming dactylic unlikely act for the author of a cento and an impossible act for a humanist; indeed
hexameters. A cento, literally "patchwork," weaving together individual lines or her mention of the "Gorgons' waters" (12) is a learned allusion to Propertius
half-lines taken from another poet (most often Virgil), is a playful form that (3.3.32). On the contrary, she is asserting women's ancient and honorable place in
allows the reader the pleasure of seeing familiar lines in new ways and allows the the canon. The reference to "modern times" draws on the reader's knowledge of
author the opportunity for unbridled showing-off, since composing a cento calls Sappho, Corinna, and the other commonly cited exemplars of feminine creativity
for a close knowledge of one's sources as well as a certain wit and bravado. 9 in ancient times. Women's own individual gifts have no need of theft to bolster
Angela Nogarola uses a less common form, alternating entire lines of quoted them. Here she claims a place for her sex in modern poetry.
poetry with rhyming lines of her own.l0 It is not a polished product. The rhymes, IV. Angela Nogarola also publicly addressed Gian Galeazzo Visconti
though not matching the standards set in the best humanist poetry, nearly always (1351-1402), the ruler of Milan and hated enemy of Pandolpho Malatesta. The
demonstrate linguistic skill, though vincis ... lincis (7/8) is weak and several of hexameter epigram is dateable to 1387 by the events. Gian Galeazzo had sided
the lines fit awkwardly in their new contexts (9, for example, does not really make with Padua in the war with Verona and then gone on to seize both Verona and
sense). Vicenza. It is impossible to determine precisely what shifting political alliances
But the poem does accomplish one of its goals: it allows Angela to show the may lie behind the preceding poem and this one, but both appear to be sophisti-
extent of her reading and her knowledge of Latin. It also provides significant cated moves in the turbulent events of politics on the part of a still-unmarried girl
information about an upper-class woman's education. Virgil is central; Ovid is or woman, welcoming the new ruler of her city. 16
represented by the Heroides (standard for boys also)l1 and the Fasti (not the V. Seventeen years later, and eight years after her marriage, she wrote a pan-
Metamorphoses); Horace by the Epistles only; Lucan makes a show, surprisingly, egyric to Jacopo da Carrara (1380-1406) in 1404. The Carrara were the ruling
as do the odd and allegorical Eclogues of Petrarch. Moreover, Angela Nogarola family of Padua, who had wrested control of Angela's former city of Verona from
has made some clever modifications in her originals. In line 7 she alters iram to their former ally, Gian Galeazzo. The hexameters celebrate the passing of the rule
mentem to accuse Pandolpho of carelessness not anger; she changes the last two of Verona from Francesco the Younger (ruled 1391-1404) to his son Jacopo. The
of Horace's reiterated nunc's to non's (11) and Ovid's tumescunt to tremescunt poem is in keeping with much of Renaissance verse and draws its language pri-
(24), humorously underlining the contrast between his power (he can have all the marily from Virgil's fourth Eclogue. Again, we see Angela Nogarola, this time in
books of the world for the asking) and the modesty of her request for the return of her role as countess of Arco, as a visible presence in the highest levels of political
a single volume. 12 It is a delicate response to a delicate situation. games-playing. I?
The cento is an interesting choice for a woman poet, especially for one who
is perhaps making her appearance as a humanist poet, for the form simultaneously
ISOTTA NOGAROLA
proclaims allegiance to a poetic tradition and independence from it. The power of
Nogarola's poem lies in the way she has re-appropriated not only the lines of clas- Isotta Nogarola is perhaps the most famous of the women humanists, thanks to
sical poetry but also specifically men's language about women. The tears that the scholarship of Lisa Jardine, Margaret L. King, and others. 18 Her mother,
Ovid gave his heroines are no longer those of a woman weeping for her man (Bri- Bianca Borromeo, after being widowed, engaged a tutor, Martino Rizzoni, to
seis for Achilles: 3; Hermione for Orestes: 23, 25, 27) but a scholar bemoaning oversee the education of her two daughters, Isotta and Ginevra. At the age of eigh-
the loss of a precious book. She takes the traditional signs for woman and teen, Isotta made her initial forays in the open and competitive field of humanis-
woman's vanity-necldace (monile: 4), girdle (balteus: 10), jewels (gemma: tic learning 19 with letters addressed to some of the leading figures of the age,
12)-and applies them to a copy of Seneca's moral works. In a small and subtle including Ermolao Barabaro, Iacopo Foscari, Girolamo di Guarino, Ludovoco
way Angela Nogarola has become a true vole use de langue. 13 Cendrata, Giorgio Bevilacqua, Damiano dal Borgo, Ognibene Leoniceno, Gio-
III. The third poem illustrates the genuine possibilities of attack inherent in vanni Corner, Niccolo Venier, and Niccolo Barbo. These letters circulated
the open act of writing poetry. In a damaged poem to a certain Niccolo de Facino, throughout the learned world and opened an exchange of praise and dedications. 20
Angela Nogarola responds to the charge of plagiarism, frequently made against However, the danger in a woman's appearance in the republic of letters was
 II
14 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and lsotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 15

shown by a letter that Nogarola sent to her teacher's master Guarino da Verona in !I poet,3D and Francesco's interpolation, devoting a full eighteen lines to Navagero's
1437. When he failed to reply, Isotta was publicly humiliated. 21 Worse was to fol- praise, is manifestly inorganic. 31 Further, as Abel notes, the references to visits by
low. After Isotta had moved to Venice in 1438, a fellow citizen of Verona accused
her of promiscuity and incest, malting her learning part of his charge of unnatural
I a ruling Gonzaga and by Giovanni Pontano are details unlikely to have been
invented. 32
corruption. 22 In 1441 Isotta returned to Verona, and withdrew from the public In her elegy Isotta gives the Nogarola estate the poetic name of Cyanum and
arena and classical learning into a "religious retreat" and sacred letters. The after a series of graceful complements to Gonzaga and Pontano creates her own
model of the cloistered religious, aptly summarized by King's phrase "the book-
lined cell,"23 resolved the anomaly of the learned woman in the minds of her crit-
ics. The celibate life removed her from the category of public woman, the
I etiological myth. Following Ovid's telling of the story of the rape of Persephone
and the transformation of her companion, the nymph Cyane,33 into a pool of water
(Met. 5.409-37,462-70), Isotta adds the clever notion of Cyane coming to rest on
religious studies were safe both morally and intellectually. Learned men heaped the Nogarola property.34 This love of the particular setting is a marked feature of
her with praise and warnings. 24 After ten years, she began a long-standing corre- Renaissance verse 35 and Isotta's poem is a beautiful example of neo-Latin elegy.
spondence with Ludovico Foscarini, the learned Venetian governor of Verona, and
produced "the central text of the experience of female humanism": On the Equal
I Lines 43-50 in particular achieve a splendidly Ovidian originality.

or Unequal Sin of Eve and Adam (1451).25 In a debate between Foscarini and her- I Notes
self, she defends Eve against Foscarini's conventional indictment. Yet Isotta's !
1. Archival research, however, might help rectify this. For the date and family, see
apologia, keeping within the constraints of orthodox theology, ultimately consti-
Eugenius Abel, lsottae Nogarolae Veronensis opera quae supersunt omnia
tutes a summary of the "Renaissance Notion of Woman": weak, ignorant, incon- (Vienna: Gerold, 1886), I: pp. vii, xc. A number of documents are still unedited.
stant, fragile. 26 We have only three surviving works from her final years: two See Paul Oskar Kristeller, 1ter 1talicum (London: Warburg Institute, 1963), for
letters and an oration on the life of St. Jerome. 27 She died in 1466 and was widely details.
praised, but more for her chastity than her learning. 2. (Frater Iacopo) Philippus Bergomensis, De plurimis claris selectisque mulierbus
Isotta Nogarola has been well served by modern scholars and many of her (Ferrara, 1497), Ch. CLIX (fol. 140); the relevant section is printed in Abel, lsot-
works (along with portions of other relevant documents) are now available in tae Nogarolae, II: 392-94.
English.28 For this collection, I wish only to add the text and translation of her 3. See, Abel, lsottae Nogarolae, II: 351-59 and I: 121-28.
only known piece of poetry, the "Elegy on the Countryside Around the Spring of 4. For this theme in the life of humanist women, see Margaret L. King, "Thwarted
Ambitions: Six Learned Women of the Italian Renaissance," Soundings 59
Cyanum," an especially fine piece of neo-Latin pastoral verse.
(1976): 293-300; "The Religious Retreat of Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466): Sex-
Over a hundred years after Isotta had written her major scholarly work, On
ism and Its Consequences in the Fifteenth Century," Signs 3 (1978): 814-15;
the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve (1451), her grand-nephew, Count "Book-Lined Cells: Women and Humanism in the Early Italian Renaissance," in
Francesco Nogarola, had it published by the Aldine press (1563) and dedicated it Beyond Their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past, ed. Patricia H. Labalme
to Bernardo N avagero, who had just been created cardinal of Verona. Francesco (New York: New York University Press, 1980), p. 69; Anthony Grafton and Lisa
brought it out under Isotta's name and retained her text but made several additions Jardine, From Humanism to the Humanities: Education and the Liberal Arts in
to it. By way of compliment to his friend and patron, he added as a third character Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
of the dialogue one of the cardinal's famous ancestors, Giovanni Navagero, who Press, 1986), p. 36.
had briefly been praetor of Verona in 1425, when Isotta was seven, and again for 5. Nogarola's longest work (342 lines), the elegiac poem "The Book of Virtues," is
a few months in 1434, when she was sixteen. 29 He has the dialogue take place at not her most successful, but the final section reveals an interesting view of mutual-
the Nogarola family's summer retreat of Castel d' Azzano just outside Verona, ity in marriage. See Holt N. Parker, "Latin and Greek Poetry by Five Renaissance
whereas no setting is mentioned in the original. The Aldine edition is our only Italian Women Humanists," in Sex and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Texts,
ed. Paul Allen Miller, Barbara K. Gold, and Charles Platter (Albany: State Univer-
source for this elegy. The mention in it of Navagero and the dialogue led Abel to
sity of New York Press, 1997), pp. 247-85. The Latin text is that of Abel.
question whether the poem might not be entirely a production of Francesco (Abel 6. Lusco (or Luscus, de Loschis, Loschi) was the author of "The Temple of Chastity"
1886: lii-lvi). Abel rightly concluded, however, that following his practice in the a poem in celebration of Maddalena Scrovegni that set the terms for praise of edu-
prose portions of the dialogue, Francesco had only added a few verses to Isotta's cated women. See Margaret L. King, "Goddess and Captive: Antonio Loschi's
own work, again with the intention of malting Giovanni Navagero present on the Poetic Tribute to Maddelena Scrovegni (1389), Study and Text," Medievalia et
scene. There is no reason to doubt the attribution: Isotta was highly regarded as a Humanistica 10 (1980): 103-27; Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr.,
16 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 17

Her Immaculate Hand. Selected Works by and about the Women Humanists of Battista da Montefeltro and Costanza Varano (see Parker, this volume, and litera-
Quattrocento Italy (Binghamton, N.Y.: Center for Medieval and Early Renais- ture cited).
sance Studies, 1983), pp. 11-13. 17. This could not have pleased Maddalena Scrovegni, who was exiled to Venice fol-
7. Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, I: i, ix and xcii; II: 304. lowing the Carrara reconquest of Padua. Text at Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, II:
8. Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, II: 296, vv. 1,5. 298-99.
9. John Sparrow, "Latin Verse of the High Renaissance," in Italian Renaissance 18. For her life see Abel, Isottae Nogarolae; D. M. Robathan, "A Fifteenth-Century
Studies, ed. Ernest Fraser Jacob (London: Faber and Faber, 1960), pp. 365-67, Bluestocking," Medievalia et Humanistica 2 (1944): 106-11; Kristeller, "Learned
has some excellent remarks on borrowing and imitation in Renaissance verse. Women," pp. 96-97. Outstanding feminist analyses of the meaning of her life and
10. Text at Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, II: 293-95. work are found in the works of King: "Thwarted Ambitions"; "Religious Retreat";
11. Paul F. Grendler, Schooling in Renaissance Italy: Literacy and Learning "Book-Lined Cells"; Women of the Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago
1300-1600 (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1989), pp. 254-55. Press, 1991), pp. 4, 191, 194--8, 212; "Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466)," in Italian
12. For line 14, Petrarch's original is poscimus hanc avide, toto nil pulchrius orbe; Women Writers: A Bio-Bibiliographical Sourcebook, ed. Rinaldina Russell (West-
Nogarola's nihil est mihi pulcrius orbe may be merely a false recollection or else port, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994), pp. 313-23. See also Lisa Jardine, "Isotta
a slight reworking to make the line more emphatically personal. On the other Nogarola: Women Humanists-Education for What?" History of Education 12
hand, Able's id does not scan, while Petrarch's hanc here is neatly made to refer (1983): 231-44, '''0 decus Italiae virgo' or The Myth of the Learned Lady in the
to flos. For line 20, Abel reads: quid vetat esse pium munus? tene dulcia verba: Renaissance," Historical 10urnal28 (1985): 799-820; Grafton and Jardine, From
"What forbids your gift to be pious? Keep your words sweet." This is no improve- Humanism to the Humanities, pp. 29-57. See bibliography there cited. A new trans-
ment and since the original reading of Petrarch makes more sense in the context, lation by Diana Robin is planned for the series The Other Voice in Early Modern
tene is likely to a misreading for leve, with concomitant mispunctuation. Europe, ed. Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. (University of Chicago Press).
13. For the idea, see Claudine Herrmann, Les voleuses de langue (Paris: Des femmes, 19. For a summary of this feature, see Parker, "Latin and Greek Poetry."
1976); Alicia Ostriker, "The Thieves of Language," Signs 8 (1982): 68-90; 20. King, "Isotta Nogarola," pp. 314-15 for details.
reprinted in The New Feminist Criticism, ed. Elaine Showalter (New York: Pan- 21. For the theme in the lives of learned women of rejection by their fellow human-
theon, 1985), pp. 314-38. ists, see King, "Thwarted Ambitions," pp. 284-85; "Religious Retreat,"
14. In How to Suppress Women's Writing (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983), pp. 808-10; "Book-Lined Cells," pp. 72-73, 76-77; Grafton and Jardine, From
pp. 20-24, Joanna Russ categorizes such accusations as "Denial of Agency." Humanism to the Humanities, pp. 37-38,40-41,51-52.
15. Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, II: 301-302. The MS gives lines 1-4 as a single poem, 22. King, "Thwarted Ambitions," pp. 283-84, "Religious Retreat," pp. 808-9,
then 5-17 plus the following elegiacs as a different poem. The elegiacs are obvi- "Book-Lined Cells," pp. 76-77, and "Isotta Nogarola," p. 316; King and Rabil,
ously separate, perhaps by another author. Both Abel (II: 302) and Paul Oskar Her Immaculate Hand, p. 17; and Grafton and Jardine, From Humanism to the
Kristeller ("Learned Women of Early Modern Italy: Humanists and University Humanities, pp. 40-41.
Scholars," in Beyond Their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past, ed. Patricia 23. King, "Thwarted Ambitions," p. 286; "Book-Lined Cells," p. 74, translating Mat-
H. Labalme [New York: New York University Press, 1980], pp. 91-116) assume, teo Bosso's description of her "libraria cella" in letter to Isotta Nogarola.
rightly I believe, that the elegiacs are the response by Niccolb de Facino; though, 24. Grafton and Jardine, From Humanism to the Humanities, p. 42, rightly character-
rather than a recantation, it is merely an apology for not having written. Abel ize these encomia as "rather depressing and unhealthy."
united the two hexameter fragments; he also moved 5-6 after 1-2, but this fails to 25. King, "Isotta Nogarola," p. 318, and analysis at pp. 318-20. Text at Abel, Isottae
give adequate sense. Line 4 clearly belongs after 2; this leaves two occurrences of Nogarolae, II: 187-216; translated in King and Rabil, Her Immaculate Hand,
laudes in two lines, which is not outside our poet's practice. However, it might be pp. 57-68. See also King, "Thwarted Ambitions," p. 818-20.
better to read lauros in 5. The ullo of line 8 apparently equals ab ullis, unless it 26. Ian Maclean, The Renaissance Notion of Woman: A Study in the Fortunes of
agrees with something in the following lacuna; a neuter subject is needed and I Scholasticism and Medical Science in European Intellectual Life (Cambridge:
suggestfollibus esse metra ulla meis. The meaning of morem in 10 is uncertain. Cambridge University Press, 1980).
16. Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, II: 300. Similarly Maddalena Scrovegni, a friend and 27. Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, II: 276-89.
correspondent of Angela (for her letter, see Abel, II: 305-7), in the following year 28. See note 14. Abel's edition is the basis of all modern scholarship. However, it is
(1388) had written a Latin letter to Jacopo del Verme, publicly announcing flawed (Remigio Sabbadini, "Isotta Nogarola," Archivio storico italiano, 4th ser.,
her joy (and her family's) at the Visconti conquest of Padua. The letter was 18 [1886]: 435-43) and based on a limited number of manuscripts. A new edition
requested by her cousin, U golotto Biancardo, formerly an ally of the Carrara fam- is a desideratum.
ily and now the governor of Vicenza for the Visconti. See King and Rabil, Her 29. Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, I: liii, liv.
Immaculate Hand, pp. 33-35. This theme continues in the political manuveurs of 30. Abel, I: cxxxvi-vii n. 69 for the sources.
 r
i
18 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 19

31. I have included them, in brackets and set in reduced type, so that the reader can poscitur at tremula flos lectus ab arbore lauri.
see how they were inserted. Further, there is a clear difference in style. One must poscimus hanc avide, nihil est mihi pulcrius orbe, 15
conclude that Isotta was the better poet of the two. Francesco's use of dum three et tibi nunc plena praestatur copia corbe.
times in six lines (21, 25-26) is trite and a better stylist would have used an pars mundi tibi nulla vacat, sed tota tenetur
answering tum. Note too the piling up of adjectives in 31-32 (fausta, candida, tellus proque tuo placito sermone movetur.
felix, bona) and the failure of sequence of tense in 34 (where one might have writ- quid vetat esse pium? munus leve, dulcia verba;
ten, e.g.,fecissetne, peccassetne, or the like, and used a better idiom).
nempe repulsa magis quam mors credatur acerba. 20
32. Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, I: lvi. Either Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, first marchese of
da mihi te placidum dederisque in carmina vires,
Mantua (1395-1444), patron ofVittorino da Feltre, or his son Ludovico, second
marchese (1412-78), both famous as learned rulers. See Kate Simon, A at cadet ingenium mentis si murmur inires.
Renaissance Tapestry: The Gonzaga of Mantua (New York: Harper and Row, rumpor et ora mihi pariter cum mente tremescunt.
1988), pp. 28-37, 38-55, for a popular account. Giovanni Pontano (1426-1503), hi quotiens nostra flores non sede nitescunt,
was a humanist, poet, and secretary of state for Naples. pro somno lacrimis oculi funguntur obortis, 25
33. Greek for "spring" or "fountain." nec mea permulcet patientia pectora fortis.
34. The language also owes something to Ovid's Orpheus and Euridice (Met. 10. has solas semperque habeo semperque profundo,
1-62) and Horace's Fons Bandusiae (Odes 3.13). nec male namque mihi cessit sors asp era mundo.
35. Fred 1. Nichols, An Anthology of Neo-Latin Verse (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni- sed iam siste gradum finemque impone labori,
versity Press, 1979), p. 5. princeps celse, mea magnoque medere dolori. 30

ANGELA NOGAROLA 15 hanc cf Petrarca: id Abel sed haud sane propter metrum 19 quid vetat esse
I. Dominae Ange1ae de Nogarolis ad Antonium Luschum pium? munus leve, dulcia verba. Petrarcha : quid vetat esse pium munus? tene
dulcia verba, Abel
Si modo me veniens studiis iuvenilibus actam
solicitamque pilae vanisque intendere ludis III. Angela de Nogarolis Nicolao de Facino Vicentino, qui suspicatus est metra
vidisti, te nulla quidem miratio facti per earn sibi missa ipsam non composuisse sed aliunde mendicasse.
commoveat; labor stimulos frenare iuventae.
Non aliena meis imponere vellera membris
II. Ad magnificum dominum, Dominum Pandulfum de Malatestis, pro recupera- me iuvat et levibus circumdare brachia pennis
tione cuiusdam voluminis quo omnia opera Senecae moralium dogmatum patris alterius: picti nota est mihi fabula corvi. 4
illustris continebantur, per Angelam Nogarolis de Verona. nec mihi virtu tum laudes conscendere cura est, 3
nec veterum lauros nobis ascribere vatum. 5
Nata dea, quae nunc animo sententia surgit? Est pudor et virtutis amor mentisque decorum.
Cor quo Caesareum generoso e pectore fugit? sed mihi nulla movet mentem miratio, quod non
qua merui culpa fieri tibi vilis, Achille, follibus esse meis tullot conflata putentur
ut mihi tam fulgens raperes, generose, monile? et fabricata mea hvitis in ... t negentur.
usquam iusti <tiae> est et mens sibi conscia recti, 5 Femineae morem coeperunt namque cohortes, 10
ut tua iam valeant lacrimis praecordia flecti. tempore quod nullas latices gustasse moderno
vince animum mentemque tuam, qui cetera vincis fertur Gorgoneos doctasque audisse sorores.
iacturamque meam prospectu conspice lincis. At, natura, pari rerum ratione creatrix,
deme supercilio nubem plerumque modestus femineam formare animam pariterque virilem
balteus et parvus mihi non rapiatur honestus. 10 diceris atque soles aequas infundere mentes. 15
nunc prece, nunc precio, nec vi, nec morte suprema, ergo tuum veteres non poscere, femina, yates.
deprecor, ut nobis reddatur fulgida gemma. naturae munus sexum dotavit utrumque.
non domus et fundus, non aeris acervus et auri
20 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 21

1---4 a 5-17 divisit MS et aliquot eligos adiunxit 4 post 3 traieci 5-6 post 2 nec metus humanos agitabit cura pavorque, 25
traicere voluit Abel 5 nec coni. Abel: ac MS lauros] laudes MS 6 est coni. Abel sed cuncti pariter concordi pace fruemur.
: et MS 8 follibus esse metra ulla meis conieci 9 lac. indo MS me(a) avitis haud
sane propter metrum 17 naturae] naturaeque MS et Abel ISOTTA NOGAROLA
IV. Per Angelam de Nogarolis D[omino] V[isconti] devotissimam ex abundanti Elegia de laudibus Cyanei ruris
gaudio tamquam corvum crocitantem.
Salvete, 0 Cyani fontes dulcesque recessus
Magne parens, qui cuncta regis per principis aulam in medioque alnis consita silva lacu.
anguiferi, clarumque dedit cui maxima nomen Aonidum salvete choris loca grata sororum
Virtus, praecipue Pietas et sancta Fidesque, et quae cum Bromio Phoebus adire solet.
felicem longamque tibi dent numina vitam. docta mihi quoties quaerenti carmina Musas 5
parva suos tibi commendat Vicentia cives 5 profuit in vestro comperiisse sinu.
innumeris quassata malis supplexque precatur. posthabito quoties Parnasi vertice Apollo
heu populo miserere inopi nimioque labori. Libethrique undis haec nemora alta colit.
haec quoque, dum sordent Nysae iuga celsa, feroces
V. Incluto et glorioso principi domino Iacobo de Carraria domino suo Liber agens tigres saepe vireta petit. 10
singularissimo quot patuit domus ista viris virtutibus auctis
insignique ortis hospitibus genere.
Summe parens rerum, summi regnator Olympi, haec quoties Gonsaga et amore et sanguine iunctus,
aethera qui stabilis terras atque alta profundi Mantua quo gaudet praeside, tecta subit.
sidereosque polos aeterna lege gubernas, huc quoque Pontanus Musis comitatus amoeni 15
nunc tua turicremis venerentur numina donis non semel accessit captus amore loci.
grandaevi iustique senes trepidaeque puellae 5 qui iam migrantes Latii revocavit ab oris
et pueri castaeque nurus iuvenesque torosi. Pieridas, magnae gloria Parthenopes.
obstrepat omne nemus, velemus tempora sertis, [quis taciturn, quis Naugerum, Verona, relinquat,
atria festivis celebrentur plena choreis, sceptra tenens nuper qui tibi iura dedit? 20
exultent proceres simul in turbisque popellus. Hanc dum urbem regeret paribus moderatus habenis,
affluit alma dies lapsis felicior annis, 10 quam praeclare illud, quam bene munus obit.
qua te, grande decus Patavi, clarissime princeps, hunc sophiae imbutum studiis sub flore iuventae
marmoreae rectorem urbis sceptroque potentem Cirrhaeis quondam Musae aluere iugis.
vidimus. 0 totum lux concelebranda per orbem. Dum rapidus mediam Veronae dividet urbem 25
vive diu felix, divum certissima proles, noster et Adriadas dum petit amnis aquas
et summis confide deis rebusque secundis. 15 Naugeri nobis nomen laudesque vigebunt
sub iuga prosternes populos gentesque rebelles, haerebitque imo pectore semper honos.
ibit et in totum tua celsa potentia mundum. nunc memini et meminisse iuvat quo tempore nostras
o patriae sedes, patrii gaudete penates, non sprevit tantus praetor adire domos. 30
et civis laetare, precor, dominumque benignis quam fausta illuxit caelo, quam candida nobis
ulnis sume tuum, quo, credas, principe nostro 20 lux felix, cressa lux bona digna nota.
aurea Saturni remeabunt tempora mitis. qua periucundo iussum est certamine quaeri
dulcia felices tractabunt otia gentes patraritne Adam maius an Eva scelus.
et pia sedatas proteget concordia terras. ille viri partes, ego sum conata tueri 35
tristia concordes horrebunt proelia mentes femineas, quamquam femina quid poteram?]
 r
I

22 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and [sotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 23

Deliciae, 0 Cyanum, et Nogarolae gentis ocelle, Nympha decus Siculi quondam formosa Pachyni,
Alcinoi atque hortis gratior Hesperidum. nunc Cyani et nostrae gloria magna domus. 80
non mirum si iam deserta sede Pelori floreat 0 utinam per saecula longa superstes,
Nympha suburbano constitit hoc Cyane. 40 credita tutelae gens Nogarola tuae.
Dux Erebi Aetneis quondam ferus abstulit oris aemula sit vitae Nogarolo a sanguine creta
Persephonem Cereris pignora cara deae. atque pudicitiae feminia quaeque tuae.
Tinacris ingemuit raptam miserata; tulisset hanc oro tutare domum natosque nepotesque; 85
Persephonae, ah miserae, si potuisset, opem. incolume hoc serves, candida nympha, genus.
flumina creverunt lacrimis fontesque lacusque. 45 sie varios numquam flores mala frigora laedant,
flammarum evomuit latius Aetna globos. neve tuos nimius torreat aestus agros.
quis credat? tunc Scylla etiam, tunc Scylla doloris sic tibi sint liquidi fontes, vernantia circum
latratu horrifieo maxima signa dedit. prata nec anguinea sordeat unda lue. 90
te quoque non solitas memorant fudisse querelas quin ea, quot rutilas Pactolus fundit arenas
miscentem lacrimis, saeva Charybdis, aquas. 50 vincat, quotque Tagi iactat Iberus opes.
ipsae etiam nymphae confectae corda dolore
errabant scissis lata per arva comis
TRANSLATIONS BY HOLT N. PARKER
ac veluti Euantes implebant questibus auras,
tundentes palmis pectora et ungue genas. Angela Nogarola
quas inter forma egregia castoque pudore 55
praeclari Cyane nominis emieuit. I. To Antonio Lusco.
fida una ante alias Cyane comes atque ministra
haerebat lateri sedula Persephones. If coming in just now you saw me driven by childish zeal,
Alma Ceres, dum maternas inviseret arces, Excited about a ball and intent on silly games,
"Natae," ait, "0 Cyane, sit tibi cura meae. 60 Let no wonder at the deed move you.
hanc tibi commissam, Cyane, fidissima serves, The labor is to rein in the goads of youth.
nusquam absit, iussis pareat illa tuis."
utraque paruerat, cura utebatur eadem, II. To the noble lord, Lord Pandolpho de Malatesta. For the recovery of a certain
utraque sed Stygiis est superata dolis. volume in which were contained all the works of the illustrious father Seneca on
quid faceret? quo se raperet perterrita custos? 65 moral teaching. 1
non erat et formae vis metuenda suae? By Angela Nogarola of Verona.
ipsa amens animi atque ingenti caeca dolore
torpuit et nuda frigid a sedit humo. "0 goddess-born, what thought now rises in your spirit?"
tum patriam fugere atque invisa excedere terra (Verg. A. 1.582)
et petere Ausoniae litora certa fuit. 70 Whither does the heart of a Caesar fly from your noble bosom?
nulla mora. undisonum Siculas quod dividit oras "For what fault have I deserved to be held worthless by you, Achilles,"
finibus Hesperiae traiicit illa fretum. (Ovid, Her. 3.41)
post varios casus, post multa pericla quievit That you stole, noble man, so shining ajewel from me?
sedibus his longae fessa labore viae. "Is there justice anywhere and a mind aware of what is right,"
rus proprio "Cyanum" dixit de nomine, fontes 75 (Verg. A. 1.604) 5
admirata tuis hic, Arethusa, pares. So that your heart can be moved by tears?
ex illo Cyanum prisci didieere parentes,
sera hoc gaudebit nomine posteritas. INote the way in which Seneca is made one of the doctors of the church.
24 Holt N. Parker
r Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and [sotta Nogarola (14[8-1466) 25

"Conquer your pride and thoughts, you who conquer all else," III. A. N. to Niccolo de Facino of Vicenza, who suspected that she had not com-
(Ovid, Her. 3.85) posed the poem that she sent to him,4 but had borrowed it from elsewhere.
And behold my loss with your lynx-like gaze.
"Remove the cloud from your brow; do not often let my modest," It does not please me to place others' clothes
(Hor. Ep. 1.18.94) On my limbs and to circle my arms with another's
Honest, little girdle be taken from me? 10 Light feathers: I know the story of the painted crow. 4
"With prayer and entreaty (not force and capital punishment!)" Nor do I care to mount the praises for virtue 3
(Hor. Ep. 2.2.73) and to ascribe the laurels of the ancient poets to myself. 5
I beg that my shining gem might be returned to me. I have modesty and love of virtue and decorum of thought.
"No house and farm, no pile of bronze and gold" (Hor. Ep. 1.2.47) But no wonder moves my mind, that (the lines)
Do I seek, but the bloom picked from the trembling olive tree. are not thought by anyone (?) to have been forged by my bellows
"I ask for this eagerly, there is nothing in the world more beautiful and are denied to have been made in my ancestral ...
to me" (Petr, Eel. 4.72) 15 For the cohorts of women begin their practice, 10
While abundance is offered to you with a full basket. because in modern times it is said no women has tasted
"No part of the world is without you, instead the whole earth is held" the Gorgons' waters and heard the learned sisters.
(Lucan 2.583) But Nature, creator of all with equal reason,
And moved by your pleasing speech. you are said to form the male and female soul equally
"What forbids you to be pious? Sweet words are an easy gift." and are accustomed to infuse them with equal minds. 15
(Petr, Eel. 5.24) Therefore, you do not need, a woman, to call on the ancient poets.
Let a refusal be thought more bitter than death. 20 Nature's gift has endowed both sexes.
"Show yourself kind to me and you will give strength to my poems,"
IV. To the Lord V., by Angela Nogarola, his most devoted servant, From her abun-
(Ovid, F. 1.17)
dant joy, even though she croaks like a crow.
But my mind's talent falls, if you rouse a murmur.
"I am broken and my face together with my mind trembles." Great father, you who rule all through the court of the prince
(Ovid, Her. 8.57) Who bears the serpent,S to whom greatest Virtue6 has given her
As long as these flowers do not shine in my house, Famous name, and especially Piety and holy Faith,
"Instead of sleep, my eyes suffer with welling tears," (Ovid, Her. May the gods give you a long and happy life.
8.109) 25 Poor Vicenza entrust to you her citizens, 5
Nor does strong patience soften my heart. Shaken by innumerable evils, and as a suppliant she prays.
"These (tears) alone do I always have and always pour forth" Alas, have pity on a people, poor and over-burdened.
(Ovid Her. 8.57)
For bitter fortune has fallen my lot in this world. V. To the famous and glorious prince, Lord Jacopo da Carrara, her own most sin-
But now "halt your step" and "put an end to your labor," gular lord.
(Verg. A. 6.465, 2.619)3
Great prince, and heal my great pain. 30 Highest father of the Universe, Ruler of highest Olympus,
You who make firm the air, the lands and the depths of the ocean,
2The lines are obscure. In Horace, the phrase stops after nubem and modestus is a substantive: "Take
the cloud from your brow; often the modest man / looks like he's sneaky." Abel puts a comma at the
end of the line, making modestus a nom. for voc.: "Take away, you modest man, ..." All the adjec- 4This poem is apparently lost unless it refers to the cento above, which then Angela presumably copied
tives, however, seem to modify balteus, but no reading properly links the final honestus to the rest of and sent to him for his approval. He may have deliberately misread her use of the form as theft.
the sentence. 5The arms of the Visconti featured a serpent from whose mouth a child issued forth.
3Abel, Isottae Nogarolae, I: viii and II: 294, following the MS and the early editions assigns this line 6Gian Galeazzo received the county of Vertus (in Champagne) as part of the dowry of Isabella of Val-
to "Pindaro Thebano"! ois. The pun on virtus was frequent among both friends and enemies.
26 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 27

You who govern the stars and poles with eternal law, Liber lo too, when weary of the lofty peaks of Nysa,
Now may they worship your power with gifts of burning incense, driving his fierce tigers seeks these green places. 10
Long-lived and just elders and trembling girls, 5 How often has this house opened its doors to men endowed with virtue
And boys and chaste young wives and brawny young men. and to guests sprung from noble families.
Let every grove resound, let us veil our temples with garlands, How often has Gonzaga, joined to me by love and blood,
Let full rooms be crowded with festive choruses, in whose protection Mantua rejoices, come under this roof.
Let the nobles exult together in crowds with the common people. Here too Pontano, the comrade of the Muses, has come- 15
A kind day has flowed in, happier than the past years, 10 not just once!-captured by love for this pleasant spot,
On which we have seen you, great glory of Padua, most famous Who called back the Pierides when they wandered
prince, from the shores of Latium, the glory of great Parthenope. 11
Ruler of the city of marble,? mighty with your scepter. [Who could pass over Navagero in silence, till lately holding the
o light to be celebrated throughout the whole world. scepter
Live long and happy, undoubted offspring of the gods, with which he gave laws to you, Verona. 20
And be confident in the highest gods and in your good fortune. 15 While he ruled that city, moderate with equal reins,
Beneath the yoke you shall lay rebellious peoples and nations, how famously, how well he discharged that office.
And into the whole world shall go your lofty power. Steeped with the study of philosophy in the flower of his youth,
Rejoice, 0 homes of the fatherland, ancestral gods, the Muses raised him on the Delphic ridges.
Be glad, I pray, 0 citizen, and take your lord While our swift river cuts through the middle of the town 25
To your land arms, with whom as our leader, you may be sure, 20 of Verona and while it seeks the waters of the Adriatic,
The Golden Age of gentle Saturn will return. the name and fame of Navagero will flourish for me
Happy peoples will enjoy sweet peace and his honor cling deep within my heart.
And pious Concord will protect settled lands. Now I recall and delight to recall the time when
Concordant minds will shudder at cruel war so great a praetor did not disdain to visit our house. 30
Nor will fear stir up mortals, care and worry, 25 How lucky the light shown in heaven, how bright for us,
But all equally will partake of a concordant peace. happy light, light worthy of its chalk mark,12
on which we were ordered to examine in the most pleasant debate
whether Adam or Eve performed the greater sin.
He attempted to defend the men's side, I the women's, 35
Elegy on the Countryside around the Spring of Cyanum
though what could I, a woman, do?]
Hail springs of Cyanum and the sweet recesses o Cyanum, the darling of the Nogarola family and the apple of
and in the midst of the lake a wood grown dense with alders. their eye,13
Hail places beloved by the choruses of the Boeotian sisters 8 more pleasing than the gardens of Alcinous or the Hesperides,
where Phoebus and Bacchus are accustomed to come. no wonder if, her haunts on Pelorus l4 now deserted,
How often, when I have been seeking learned songs, has it helped me 5 the nymph Cyane takes her place in this country villa. 40
to have discovered the Muses in your bosom. The cruel Lord of Erebus once carried off from the shores of Aetna
How often has Apollo put off the peak of Helicon Persephone, the dear pledge of the goddess Ceres.
and the waves of Libethra9 to visit these high groves.
lOBacchus, born on Mt. Nysa, usually said to be in India.
llA name for Naples (Neapolis) in classical Latin poetry, derived from the name of a siren.
12A ref. to Hor. Odes 1.36.10: the Romans marked lucky days with white stones or chalk marks; cf.
7A reference, of course, to Carrara. our "red-letter day."
8The Muses: Aonia is a region of Boeotia including Thebes and Mt. Helicon: a favorite usage of Statius. 13A literary ref. to the poetic vocabulary of Verona's Catullus; cf. esp. 2, 3, and 31.
9A spring on Mt. Helicon: Verg. Eel. 7.21. 14The northeast corner of Sicily encompassing the regions where the myth of Persephone took place.
28 Holt N. Parker Angela Nogarola (ca. 1400) and Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466) 29

Tinacris 15 groaned in pity at her rape: ah, poor Persephone, o may it flourish surviving throughout the long ages,
He would have helped her if he could. The family of Nogarola entrusted to your protection.
The rivers created springs and lakes from their tears; 45 May each woman born from Nogarolan blood
Aetna spewed out balls of flames more widely. be emulous of your life and modesty.
Who would believe it: then Scylla, even Scylla gave the greatest I pray that you will guard this house, its children and grandchildren. 85
proof of her grief in horrible howling. Keep this race unharmed, 0 shining nymph.
They tell that you too, Charybdis, poured out unaccustomed So may cruel frosts never harm your varied flowers,
complaints, nor may excessive heat burn your fields.
mixing tears with your waters. 50 May your spring be clear, your meadows be verdant all around,
The nymphs themselves heart-stricken with grief and your wave not be dirtied by snaky slime. 90
wandered in the broad fields tearing their hair Rather may she outnumber all the golden sand the Pactolus pours forth,
and like Maenads filled the air with complaints, and all the treasure which the Spanish Tagus boasts.
striking their breasts with palms and their cheeks with nails.
Among whom, with exceptional beauty and chaste modesty, 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cyane of the famous name shone forth.
The one companion and servant faithful beyond the others Primary Sources
she used to cling constantly to Persephone's side. Abel, Eugenius, ed. Isottae Nogarolae Veronensis opera quae supersunt omnia. 2 vols.
Nurturing Ceres, when she visited the maternal citadels, Vienna: Gerold, 1886. Reproduced in microfilm in "History of Women," reel 472, no.
would say, "0 Cyane, please take care of my child. 60 3527 (New Haven, 1975). Copies of this microfilm collection are available at Bryn
Entrusted to you, most faithful Cyane, keep her safe, Mawr College and the University of Cincinnati.
let her never leave your sight, let her always obey your commands."
Both obeyed, both used the same care,
Secondary Works
but both were conquered by Stygian tricks.
What could she do? Where could the terrified guardian take herself? 65 Grafton, Anthony, and Lisa Jardine. From Humanism to the Humanities: Education and
Was not the power of her own beauty a thing to be afraid of? the Liberal Arts in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Europe. Cambridge, Mass: Har-
She herself mad in mind and blind with great pain vard University Press, 1986.
grew weary and sat down frozen on the bare ground. Jardine, Lisa. "Isotta Nogarola: Women Humanists-Education for What?" History of
Education 12 (1983): 231-44.
Then she decided to flee her fatherland and leave the hated country
---.'''0 decus Italiae virgo' or The Myth of the Learned Lady in the Renaissance."
and to seek the shores of Italy. 70
Historical 10urnal28 (1985): 799-820.
No delay. She leapt across the wave-resounding strait - - - . "Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466): Umanista e divota." In Rinacimento alfemminile,
which divides the Sicilian shores from the borders of Hesperia. edited by Ottavia Niccoli 3-33. Roma, Bari: Laterza, 1991.
After varied misfortunes, after many adventures, she rested - - - . "Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466)." In Italian Women Writers: A Bio-Bibiliographical
in this seat, exhausted by the labor of her long journey. Sourcebook, edited by Rinaldina Russell 313-23. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1994.
She called the countryside "Cyanum" from her own name, 75 King, Margaret L. "Book-Lined Cells: Women and Humanism in the Early Italian Renais-
delighted with springs the equal of yours, Arethusa. sance." In Beyond Their Sex, 66-90, edited by Labalme.
From that time the parents of old have learned of Cyanum; - - - . "Goddess and Captive: Antonio Loschi's Poetic Tribute to Maddelena Scrovegni
posterity afterward will rejoice in this name. (1389), Study and Text." Medievalia et Humanistica 10 (1980): 103-27.
The lovely nymph, once the crown of Sicilian Panychum,16 - - - . "Isotta Nogarola." In Italian Women Writers: A Bio-Bibiliographical Sourcebook,
edited by Rinaldina Russell pp. 313-23. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994.
now the glory of Cyanum and our house. 80
- - - . "The Religious Retreat of Isotta Nogarola (1418-1466): Sexism and Its Conse-
quences in the Fifteenth Century." Signs 3 (1978): 807-22.
15Sicily. - - - . "Thwarted Ambitions: Six Learned Women of the Italian Renaissance." Sound-
16The southeast corner of Sicily. ings 59 (1976): 280-304.
30 Holt N. Parker

King, Margaret L, and Albert Rabil, Jr. Her Immaculate Hand. Selected Works by and
about the Women Humanists of Quattrocento Italy. Binghamton, N.Y.: Center for
Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1983.
Kristeller, Paul Oskar. Iter Italicum. 5 vols. London: Warburg Institute, 1963.
Costanza Varano (1426-1447):
- - - . "Learned Women of Early Modern Italy: Humanists and University Scholars." In
Beyond Their Sex, 91-116 edited by Labalme.
Latin as an Instrument of State
Labalme, Patricia H., ed. Beyond Their Sex: Learned Women of the European Past. New
Holt N. Parker
York: New York University Press, 1980.
Maclean, Ian. The Renaissance Notion of Woman: A Study in the Fortunes of Scholasticism
and Medical Science in European Intellectual Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1980.
Nichols, Fred J. An Anthology of Neo-Latin Verse. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1979.
Parker, Holt N. "Latin and Greek Poetry by Five Renaissance Italian Women Humanists."
In Sex and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Texts, edited by Paul Allen Miller,
Barbara K. Gold, and Charles Platter, 247-85. Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1997.
Robathan, D. M. "A Fifteenth-Century Bluestocldng." Medievalia et Humanistica 2
(1994): 106-11.
Battista da Montefeltro Malatesta (1383-1450), herself a scholar, helped educate
Sabbadini, Remigio. "Isotta Nogarola." Archivio storico italiano, 4th ser., 18 (1886):
her granddaughter Costanza Varano.! Battista's daughter, Elisabetta, married Pier
435-43.
Simon, Kate. A Renaissance Tapestry: The Gonzaga of Mantua. New York: Harper and Gentile da Varano, who in 1433 was executed during the course of a family strug-
Row, 1988. gle for the rule of the town of Camerino. Elisabetta fled with Costanza, the heir
Smyth, Amelia Gillespie. Olympia Morata: Her Times, Life and Writings. 4th ed. London: Rodolfo, and two other children to Pesaro, the home of her husband and her
Smith, Elder, 1837. [Published anonymously; often ascribed to Caroline Anne grandfather, Galeazzo Malatesta.
(Bowles) Southey; but the list of other titles by the same author makes her identity Judging by her citations, Costanza received what would have been a fairly
clear.] standard education for a boy at the time: the obvious church fathers (Jerome's
Sparrow, John. "Latin Verse of the High Renaissance." In Italian Renaissance Studies, Letters, Lactantius), Cicero (Pro Marcello, De officiis), and Quintilian; she knows
edited by E. F. Jacob, 354-409. London: Faber and Faber, 1960. of Aristotle in translation. Her Latin is not the polished product characteristic of
later humanistic education. It is occasionally irregular and obscure (secondary
clauses are not always in classical form, although some of the difficulties may be
due to imperfect transmission). In the poems the language is cliched and her
metaphors tend to be mixed. However, her Latin stands comparision with that of
most of her male contemporaries and earned the respect of other scholars and
politicians. 2
In 1442, at the age of sixteen, Costanza delivered a public oration in Latin on
the occasion of the visit to Pesaro of Bianca Maria Visconti, who had married
Francesco Sforza the previous year. 3 With Francesco's backing Camerino was
returned to Costanza's brother, Rodolfo, in 1443. The next year (8 December
1444), Costanza married Francesco's younger brother, Alessandro Sforza. The
marriage was part of the settlement of a long-standing war between the Malatesta
of Rimini (supported by Pope Eugenius IV and papal troops) and the Malatesta of
Pesaro, wherein Galeazzo sold Pesaro to the Sforza and ceded the signoria to
Alessandro. 4 However, this was more than a marriage of convenience. Alessandro

31