Culture and Self-Representation in the Este Court: Ercole
CULTURE AND SELF-REPRESENTATION IN THE ESTE COURT: ERCOLE STROZZI’S FUNERAL ELEGY OF ELEONORA OF ARAGON, A TEXT, TRANSLATION, AND COMMENTARY Dean Marcel Cassella, B.A., B.A., M.A. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2010 APPROVED: Laura Stern, Major Professor Guy Chet, Committee Member Christopher Fuhrmann, Committee Member Craig Kallendorf, Committee Member Steven Forde, Committee Member Richard McCaslin, Chair of the Department of History James D. Meernik, Acting Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Cassella, Dean Marcel. Culture and self-representation in the Este court: Ercole Strozzi’s funeral elegy of Eleonora of Aragon, a text, translation, and commentary. Doctor of Philosophy (History), December 2010, 206 pp., references, 138 titles. This dissertation presents a previously unedited text by one of the most distinguished— yet neglected—Latin writers of the Italian Renaissance, Ercole Strozzi (1471–1508), a poet and administrator in the court of Ferrara. Under the Este Dukes, Ferrara became a major center of literary and artistic patronage. The Latin literary output of the court, however, has received insufficient scholarly scrutiny. The text is a verse funeral elegy of Eleonora of Aragon (1450–1493), the first Duchess of Ferrara. Eleonora was a remarkable woman whose talents and indefatigable efforts on behalf of her husband, her children, and her state, won her accolades both at home and abroad. She also served as a prototype for the remarkable careers of her two daughters, Isabella d’Este, and Beatrice d’Este, who are celebrated for their erudition and patronage of arts and letters.
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