UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Female Biographies In
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Female Biographies in Renaissance and Post-Tridentine Italy A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Italian by Sienna Star Hopkins 2016 © Copyright by Sienna Star Hopkins 2016 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Female Biographies in Renaissance and Post-Reformation Italy by Sienna Star Hopkins Doctor of Philosophy in Italian University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Massimo Ciavolella, Chair This dissertation explores the development of female biography in Renaissance Italy, particularly highlighting the thematic changes the genre experienced as a result of the Counter Reformation, and how the female ideals it portrayed often conflicted with the societal expectations of the donna illustre. The first chapters lay the groundwork for this investigation by providing a survey of the biographical genre in Italy and its ancient Greek and Roman influences, then highlighting the cultural attitudes about women as portrayed in querelle literature and female conduct manuals of 16th and 17th-century Italy. These communicate the standard of expected behavior for women in the Italian Renaissance, by which the female protagonists of biographies are measured, and the juxtaposition reveals that while the protagonists in the earlier biographies generally conform to the standards of contemporary conduct manuals, those in Post Tridentine ii biographies do not. Their protagonists are instead lauded for their fervent, often extreme, religious practices and for their inward search for humility. The investigation thus reveals the genre’s shift in focus to be one that moves from the civic to the religious, from the public donna illustre to the private donna umile. The biographies discussed in this study are: Sabadino degli Arienti’s Gynevera delle clare donne (1483) and Vita di Anna Sforza (1500); Sebastiano Morales’ Vita, et morte della serenissima Maria di Portogallo principessa di Parma, & Piacenza (1577); Giovanni Petruccini’s Relazione della vita esemplare della Signora Sestilia Sabolini (1621); Hippolito Porro’s Vita, e morte della sig. Cornelia Lampugnana Ro gentildonna Milanese (1624); Gregorio Leti’s Vita di Donna Olimpia Maldachini, che gouernò la Chiesa, durante il Ponteficato d'Innocentio X (1666); and Antonio Lupis’ L'eroina veneta, ouero la vita di Elena Lucretia Cornara Piscopia (1689). Three of these women’s stories have survived history and accounts of their lives and influence can be found in multiple Renaissance texts: Ginevra Sforza is known as a domineering and vindictive tyrant of Bologna; Olimpia Maidalchini as the “popess” who controlled the Vatican during her brother-in-law, Pope Innocent X’s reign; and Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia as the first woman ever to earn a doctoral degree. The lives of the other female protagonists, Princess Maria of Parma, Cornelia Lampugnana Ro, and Sestilia Sabolini, have only one historical voice, their biographies. iii The dissertation of Sienna Star Hopkins is approved. Thomas Harrison Janet Smarr Massimo Ciavolella, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2016 iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my family, and what a wonderful family it is. To my husband, whose support has been immeasurable and unwavering, and who has borne the journey with steadfastness and selfless sacrifice. To my sons, who have kept me grounded in their unconditional love and have filled my life with laughter. To my father, who shared his love for literature by reading me the classics on many a night when he was likely more exhausted than I will ever know, and whose praises have always eclipsed that of any parents past. To my mother, whose exuberant and contagious joy has sustained me, and whose hours spent watching the boys while I worked will never be forgotten. To my brother, whose irony and intellect have always surpassed my own and whose example made me aspire to greater heights. To my grandmother, who both financed a year of my research, and whose pressure to finish further fueled my fire. To them and all my extended family and friends, whose love never depended upon scholarly or worldly success, I am eternally grateful. You have been God’s greatest gift in this life. Per quanto un albero possa diventare alto, le sue foglie, cadendo, ritorneranno sempre alle radici For no matter how tall a tree may grow, its leaves always fall and return to its roots. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page ............................................................................................................................ i Abstract of the Dissertation ............................................................................................... ii Committee Page ................................................................................................................ iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................... viii Biographical Sketch .......................................................................................................... xi Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Endnotes ....................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: The Development of the Biographical Genre from Ancient Greece and Rome to Renaissance Italy ........................................................................... 9 Endnotes ..................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 2: Querelle Literature and Conduct Manuals: Paradoxes and Unearthed Realities ...................................................................................................... 50 Endnotes ..................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 3: Sabadino degli Arienti’s Gynevera delle clare donne and Vita di Anna Sforza: Courtly Ideals and Veiled Admonishment .................................... 102 Appendix A .............................................................................................. 137 Appendix B ............................................................................................... 138 Epilogue .................................................................................................... 139 Endnotes ................................................................................................... 149 Chapter 4: Female Biography in Renaissance and Post-Tridentine Italy: Typologies and Ideologies ........................................................................ 155 Appendix A .............................................................................................. 230 Endnotes ................................................................................................... 231 vi Chapter 5: Serious Reproach and Comedic Play in Gregorio Leti’s La Vita di Donna Olimpia Maidalchini ...................................................................... 244 Endnotes ................................................................................................... 302 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 318 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My network of support has been so vast, deep, and varied, that the below acknowledgements only skim the surface. Yet this very truth, that thanking all of those who have helped me along the way is a daunting task, indicates that my life is full of unparalleled gifts and blessings. For that reason alone, I am humbly grateful. The chair of my committee, Dr. Massimo Ciavolella, has been an instrumental advisor and contributor to my studies, as well as an informative and interesting teacher (nobody can teach Gli Straccioni like he does). He was also the original inspiration for my journey into women’s studies in Renaissance Italian Literature; he was the first to suggest I explore the querelle des femmes as it pertained to Boccaccio’s Corbaccio, and I have never looked back. Dr. Janet Smarr, who I fortuitously met at a Renaissance conference, and whose work I had already consumed with great interest, has proven to be a formidable proof-reader, critic, and encourager of my work; her keen eye and attention to details (and metaphors) has contributed significantly to this work. Dr. Harrison, with whom I worked as a TA during my first year of graduate school, has been influential in my academic formation, both as a student of theory, as a writer, and as a teacher. I am ever grateful to them for their input and assistance along the way, and, most importantly, for always helping, never hindering. There are those who sometimes place roadblocks in your way without offering counsel or assistance. My committee, in contrast, has helped me clear the road so I can drive speedily to the end. I can only say that I will remember their kindness and will do likewise with my own students. viii Special thanks also to Dr. Elissa Tognozzi, who gave me not just a formation and foundation in the art of language instruction while at UCLA (yes, it is, in fact, an art form, full of vibrant possibilities) but who also expected much from her TAs. Her exigencies gave me confidence in the classroom and helped