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Summary
The women of the Renaissance, like women of the Middle Ages, were denied all political rights and considered legally subject to their husbands. Women of all classes were expected to perform, first and foremost, the duties of housewife. Peasant women worked in the field alongside their husbands and ran the home, while the wives of middle-class merchants often helped run their husbands' businesses. Even women of the highest class, though attended by servants, also engaged in the tasks of the household, such as sewing, cooking, and entertaining. Women who did not marry were not permitted to live independently. Instead, they lived in the households of their male relatives or, more often, joined a convent.
A few wealthy women of the time were able to break the mold of subjugation to achieve at the least fame, if not independence. Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, was one such woman. As pope, Alexander VI attempted to use Lucrezia as a pawn in his game of political power. To further his political ambitions, he arranged her marriage to Giovanni Sforza of Milan in 1493. Four years later, when he no longer needed Milan's political support to as great a degree, he annulled the marriage, then married Lucrezia to the illegitimate son of the King of Naples. In 1502, Lucrezia was again divorced and remarried, this time to the duke of Ferrara, Alfonso d’Este. She remained in Ferrara until her death in 1519, where she became a devoted wife and mother, an influence in Ferrara politics and social life, and a noted patron of the arts.
Lucrezia Borgia's sister-in-law, Isabella d’Este, was one of the strongest, most intelligent women of the Renaissance period. She mastered Greek and Latin, memorized the works of the ancient scholars, and frequently gave public performances, during which she sang, danced, and played musical instruments. In 1490, she was married to Francesco Gonzaga, the duke of Mantua, and exerted a great amount of influence over the Mantua court. It was due in great part to her presence that Mantua became known as a major center of wit, elegance, and artistic genius. After her husband was captured in battle, she ruled Mantua herself and encouraged the development of the textile and clothing industry that became the cornerstone of the Mantua economy.
Analysis
The theme of the life of a Renaissance woman was subjugation. A woman was controlled by her parents throughout her childhood, and then handed directly into the hands of a husband whom she most likely had not chosen herself, and who would exercise control over her until her death or his. Women who did not marry were likewise granted no independence, living instead in the home of a male relative or in a convent as a nun. Women were frequently discouraged from participating in the arts and sciences, barring them from participating in an age in which the spirit of expression was the defining characteristic.
Only women of the highest class were given the chance to distinguish themselves, and even then, only rarely. Lucrezia Borgia was considered to be a powerful woman in her time, but, upon historical review, it becomes quite clear that Lucrezia was not in control of her life so much as she was a pawn in Alexander VI’s master plan for the success and wealth of the Borgia family. In fact, history shows that Lucrezia only truly exercised power after she had entered into a happy marriage with Alfonso d’Este, who allowed her to participate to a great extent in the politics and society of Ferarra. Even this small measure of actual power which she was eventually granted grew only out of her traditional position as a devoted wife and mother.
Isabella d’Este differed from Lucrezia Borgia in that she broke down the barriers to power and influence by virtue of her own independent spirit, strength, and talent. Isabella was remarkable in that she was one of few women who expressed themselves in the arts to any extent, and, even more so, in that she, in effect, became the first female head of an Italian city-state after her husband was captured in war. Isabella gladly assumed the role of devoted wife, but did not allow that role to restrict the realm in which she held influence, proving herself capable in many fields. Isabella stands out as one of the only recorded female representatives of the spirit of humanism.
