NUNS, WIVES, and COURTESANS in the ITALIAN RENAISSANCE PERIOD - PROFESSE - MOGLIE - CORTIGIANA

ANNAS RENAISSANCE ITALIAN : EXCELLENT WRITING ON ITALIAN WOMEN 

I was so impressed with this brief but intelligent piece about women in Renaissance Italy that includes Tullia D'Aragona.  And very good pictures too.

Excerpt: The primary female role in the domestic sphere was expanded by notable women who, by virtue of Renaissance education and new society=al expectations, became art patrons, writers, orators, and simply women of intellect.  Wives assumed a background role in the sustenance of political stability for a spouse.  Women who entered the convent participated in Renaissance cultural novelties; some nuns, professe, received a full humanistic education.  Courtesans, cortigiana, enjoyed a glamourous lifestyle augmented by an education that enabled intellectual interactions in a secular rather than a religious domain.  Whether in marriage, in the convent, in court or in a position of service, each group of women were integral in shaping cultural and societal changes through the Italian Renaissance period.