The close contact which, during the middle ages, existed between Germany
and Italy also secured better conditions for the women of the latter
country. The most remarkable change came, however, during the 14th and
the 15th centuries, with that remarkable intellectual revolution known
as the Renaissance.
This movement, one of the most significant in the evolution of woman,
originated in Italy at a time when the whole country was suffering from
ecclesiastic and feudal despotism. It was then that men and women of
high standing, striving for greater spiritual freedom, became attracted
by the almost forgotten works of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Seneca,
Cicero, and other authors of the classic past. It is to the glory of
Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and other poets of Italy to have revived
interest in these literary treasures. Eager to unlock these rich stores
of beauty and wisdom, they collected the precious manuscripts and
established libraries and museums for their preservation.
Many noblemen, patricians and merchant-princes, inspired by this sacred
thirst for learning, and being aware that this effort was made in behalf
of the emancipation of enslaved intelligence, aided the movement by
their wealth. The art of printing with movable types, invented in 1450
by Johannes Gutenberg in Mayence, and introduced into Italy, France and
Spain by German printers, made it possible to reproduce what the
collectors had recovered. So learning remained no longer the pursuit of
monks and recluses only, but became fashionable and pervaded all
classes. Professors of classic literature and of humanism began to
journey from city to city, opening schools and lecture-rooms, or taking
engagements as tutors in the families of the princes, noblemen, and
wealthy merchants.
The universities, founded at Bologna, Padua, Salerno and various other
places, gave special attention to classical education and humanism. And,
strange to say, all these schools and universities admitted women on
equal terms with men. The number of women, who availed themselves of
this privilege, may have been small, but evidently the way was clear.
There were even several ladies, who acquired the degrees of doctor and
professor of Greek language and literature, or of civil and canon law.
Among these learned women were =Britisia Gozzadina=, who held a chair in
the university of Bologna; and =Olympia Morata=, who, with her German
husband, came to Heidelberg, where the chair for Greek at the university
was offered to her.
It was this revival of antique learning, art and science, and its
application to the literature of the 16th Century, that shattered the
narrow mental barriers imposed by mediæval orthodoxy.
The stimulating movement met with full success, when a number of Italian
princesses, in sincere enthusiasm, took the leadership. Among these
ladies were =Elisabeth Gonzaga=, Duchess of Urbino; =Isabella d’Este=,
Marchioness of Mantua; =Caterina Sforza=, Countess of Forli; =Veronica
Gambara=, Countess of Corregio; =Lucrezia Borgia=, Duchess of Ferrara;
the poetess =Lucrezia Tornabuoni= of Florence, and =Cassandra Fidelis=,
“the pride and glory of Venice.” But above all stood the famous
=Vittoria Colonna=, Marchioness Pescara, one of the most wonderful women
of these great times.
Ariosto said of her: “She has more eloquence and breathes more sweetness
than all other women, and gives such force to her lofty words that she
adorns the heavens in our day with another sun. She has not only made
herself immortal by her beautiful poems and style, than which I have
heard none better, but she can raise from the tomb those of whom she
speaks or writes, and make them live forever.”
Michael Angelo, to whom she was a close friend as well as an
inspiration, and a polar star, wrote: “By her genius I was raised toward
the skies; in her soul my thought was born; without wings, I flew with
her wings.”
Such exceptional women made their courts and drawing rooms the gathering
places of the most refined and beautiful ladies of the time, of great
artists like Raphael Sanzio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Titian,
Corregio and Bellini, of famous authors, poets and philosophers like
Tasso, Ariosto, Bembo, and of distinguished statesmen, dignitaries and
men of the world. They met here to listen to interesting debates about
Humanism, the new doctrine, that man must endeavor to reconstitute
himself as a free being, and throw off the shackles, that held him the
thrall of theological despotism. They also read the classic
philosophers, enjoyed the inspiring works of composers, or harkened to
the wonderful accounts of daring discoverers, just returned from
adventurous expeditions to India and the New World.
Most attractive affairs were the festivals of the Roses, held in spring.
Then poets and poetesses contested with their latest songs, rondos and
sonnets, to be awarded laurel-wreaths or roses of gold and silver.
It was at such gatherings that intimate friends united sweet discourses
and platonic adoration, as shown in the following charming poem, written
in those idyllic times:
“Donne e donzelle e giovanette accorte
rallegrando si vanno a le gran feste
d’amor si punte e deste
che par ciascuna che d’amar appaghi
e l’altre a punto in gonnellette corte
ginocano a l’ombra delle gran foreste,
tanto leggiadre e preste,
quai solean ninfe stare appresso i laghi
e in giovanetti vaghi
veggio seguire e donnear costoro
e talora danzare a mano a mano.”
Translated these rhymes mean: “I behold lovely women and maidens as they
joyfully hurry to the great feast. Struck and awakened by love they
flourish with sweet desire. I see them at play in the shadows of the
forest, and running with flowing garments, agile and graceful like
nymphs at the border of the lakes. Bright young men follow these sweet
women to amorous play. Here and there some of these happy couples
disappear, wandering hand in hand.”
It is difficult for us, to realize the great changes brought about by
this movement in social manners as well as in the position of women. “To
be a gentleman,” so J. A. Symonds says in his book “Renaissance in
Italy,” “meant at this epoch to be a man acquainted with the rudiments
at least of scholarship, refined in diction, capable of corresponding or
of speaking in choice phrases, open to the beauty of the arts,
intelligently interested in archæology, taking for his models of conduct
the great men of antiquity rather than the saints of the church. He was
also expected to prove himself an adept in physical exercises and in the
courteous observances which survived from chivalry.”
What was expected of a lady of rank we learn from a very interesting
booklet, written in 1514 by Count Baldassare Castiglione, entitled
“Libro del Cortegiano.” According to this “Manual for Courtiers” a lady
should not be inferior to her husband in intellectual accomplishment and
be able to read and write Latin. In classic literature as well as in
music and arts she should be versed to such an extent as to have a
correct judgment of her own; while she should possess individuality, her
behavior should be easy but graceful and blameless. It was also expected
that she should cultivate her personal merits and beauty. “Beauty,” so
the manual says, “is of far greater importance to a lady than to a
gentleman, because it is a divine gift which loses its charm when
connected with an unworthy person. In her whole appearance, in her
words, actions and attitude a lady must remain different from man. While
virility should distinguish him, a lady should never try to copy him and
be masculine. By nature woman is not inferior to man, therefore she
should not imitate him. Both sexes are created to enjoy equal rights,
but each sex has its own and individual right.”—
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