Margherita Cantelmo and the Worth of Women in Renaissance Italy

James, Carolyn

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0529-6_10

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Some of the dialogue's specific claims and the arguments for them are not altogether novel. Previous pro-woman writers, including Fonte herself, had maintained that women's apparent inferiority was the consequence of custom and training (Kelly 1982; James 2011; Deslauriers 2019: 721; Kolsky: 1999). Boršić and Karasman (2015) argue that Isotta Nogarola (1418–66) paradoxically used the misogynist tradition against itself to imply a relative equality between the sexes (2015: 46–47).…”

Section: A Modern Argument?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Boršić and Karasman (2015) argue that Isotta Nogarola (1418–66) paradoxically used the misogynist tradition against itself to imply a relative equality between the sexes (2015: 46–47). And Carolyn James notes that emphasizing the superiority of human flesh in order to counter scriptural support for women's inferiority was a standard feature of medieval defenses of women (2011: 158; see also Fonte 1997: 60n).…”

Section: A Modern Argument?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resisting Marriage, Reclaiming Right: An (Early) Modern Critique of Marriage

EMMETT¹

2022

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

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Moderata Fonte's dialogue The Worth of Women (1600) contains stinging critiques of marriage and the dowry system as well as of women's inequality. I argue that Fonte's critique of male dominance, particularly in marriage, employs a modern method of argument, which anticipates the later contractarian critiques of political authority. Given that women are naturally men's equals, Fonte argues that men's de facto authority over women is illegitimate and based on force. Moreover, by treating marriage as an artificial institution rather than as a natural institution, Fonte anticipates later feminist arguments that criticize the modern contract tradition for its failure to extend its critique of other forms of authority to patriarchal marriage, instead positing a natural basis for women's subordination to men. In light of this history, Fonte's critique of patriarchy is especially interesting: it challenges the patriarchal family structure and the institutions that collude to diminish women's agency, and this challenge to male authority is similar to later (male) challenges to de facto political authority.

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Section: A Modern Argument?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Modern Argument?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Resisting Marriage, Reclaiming Right: An (Early) Modern Critique of Marriage

EMMETT¹

2022

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

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“… 41 It was, however, in Ferrara, Milan, and Mantua that this conventional view began to be challenged. For a recent discussion of this theme, see James, 2011. …”

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confidence: 99%

Marriage by Correspondence: Politics and Domesticity in the Letters of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga, 1490–1519^*

James

2012

Renaiss. Q.

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The marriage in 1490 of Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, and Isabella d’Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara, cemented an important Italian dynastic alliance and was in no sense a love match. Francesco and Isabella were well aware, however, that they had to establish a harmonious conjugal rapport if the strategic aims of their union were to be realized. This study examines the ways in which the Este-Gonzaga couple built familiarity, affection, and shared interests through frequent letter exchanges that both shaped and facilitated their domestic and political collaboration. The epistolary evidence provides new insights into how an aristocratic Renaissance marriage was experienced by the couple themselves and about the means by which a relationship that was exposed to the full force of contemporary politics, with all its conflicts of dynastic loyalty, was sustained through dialogue and negotiation.

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Lucrezia Marinella

Deslauriers

2024

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Lucrezia Marinella's (1571–1653) most important contributions to philosophy were two polemical treatises: The Nobility and excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men, and the Exhortations to Women and to Others if They Please. Marinella argues for the superiority of women over men in every respect: psychologically, physiologically, morally, and intellectually. She is particularly effective in using the resources of ancient philosophy to support her various arguments, in which she draws conclusions about the souls and the bodies of women, the nature and significance of women's beauty, the virtue of women and the liberty to which women as well as men are entitled. This Element showcases that her claim of superiority is intended ultimately to justify the possibility of political rule by women.

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Margherita Cantelmo and the Worth of Women in Renaissance Italy

Cited by 4 publications

References 6 publications

Resisting Marriage, Reclaiming Right: An (Early) Modern Critique of Marriage

Resisting Marriage, Reclaiming Right: An (Early) Modern Critique of Marriage

Marriage by Correspondence: Politics and Domesticity in the Letters of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga, 1490–1519^*

Lucrezia Marinella

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Margherita Cantelmo and the Worth of Women in Renaissance Italy

Cited by 4 publications

References 6 publications

Resisting Marriage, Reclaiming Right: An (Early) Modern Critique of Marriage

Resisting Marriage, Reclaiming Right: An (Early) Modern Critique of Marriage

Marriage by Correspondence: Politics and Domesticity in the Letters of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga, 1490–1519*

Lucrezia Marinella

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Marriage by Correspondence: Politics and Domesticity in the Letters of Isabella d’Este and Francesco Gonzaga, 1490–1519^*