WEBVTT - The Example of an Honest Courtesan 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:11.119 and Mild from Aaron Manky Listener discretion advised. Around the 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:15.720 halfway point of the nineteen ninety eight drama film Dangerous Beauty, 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.880 the movie's protagonist points a sword at the throat of 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.799 the man who has just publicly mocked her, and she 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:28.320 challenges him to a duel. What follows is a battle 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.640 of both body and wit, as the swordsman and swordswoman 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.320 trade poetic verses while. 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:39.120 Engaging in a flamboyant fencing match that ends on a 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:43.479 boat in a Venetian canal. It's very cinematic and an 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:47.440 incredibly fun scene to watch. I'm especially fond of the 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.279 classic moment when our heroine finds the fabric of her 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.600 dress punctured, so she removes the skirt to reveal a 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.480 pair of pants underneath in a bit of delightful nineties 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:03.160 feminist revisionistm The fight in the movie is a turning 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:07.319 point for these two characters, who have previously been cordial. 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.240 Earlier in the film, both of them poets had worked 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:16.880 in harmony to exalt Venice's beauty. Now our heroine's lines 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.319 are criticizing her partner's disregard for the minds of women 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:27.520 while he's calling her a whore. He is Mafio Venier 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:33.199 and she is Veronica Franco, and as it happens, both 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:38.319 of their accusations about the other are true. The movie 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.160 Dangerous Beauty takes a lot of artistic liberty as a 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:47.680 biopic of the Venetian courtesan and writer Veronica Franco, though 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.360 it does pull from the true history found at its 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:57.560 source material, the biography The Honest Courtesan by Margaret Rosenthal. 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:03.080 The basic story of the movie is factual. Veronica Franco, 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:07.240 the daughter of a cortesan, rose from obscurity to the 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:13.760 heights of Venetian society, entertaining and serving many high ranking men, 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.520 including a young Henry the Third of France. The film 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:25.080 depicts imagined details of their let's say, exploratory encounter in 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:30.960 a scene you will have to watch for yourself. More extraordinarily, though, 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:36.760 in real life, Veronica used her accumulated influence to publish 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:40.040 her own writing and advocate for the rights of her 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:45.360 fellow Venetian women. Where truth and fiction diverge is in 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:50.760 the details. For example, the film's central love story between 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:56.840 Veronica and Mafio's cousin, Marco, was based on a real relationship, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.000 just not one that would have been quite as swoonworthy 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.880 without embellishment. The movie also takes a few liberties with 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:11.440 regards to that battle between Veronica and Mafio. In real life, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:16.440 it was only scathing poems going back and forth, not swords, 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.040 while blood may have been drawn on screen. The film 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.960 keeps things lighter with regards to the intellectual violence of 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:31.880 the real Mafio's virulent and darkly misogynistic verses about Franco 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:37.400 in real life, where did his extreme hatred of Veronica 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:42.600 stem from? There's some crossover between art and history. The 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:47.200 movie portrays him as jealous that Dominico, his wealthy uncle, 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:52.880 was more supportive of Veronica's literary ambitions rather than his own, 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.840 and it portrays him as bitter that Veronica rejected his 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:02.920 advances years earlier. Seems to be quite true, but there's 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:07.000 no evidence to support the latter. The sword fighting scene 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.640 in the movie ends with Veronica triumphant, but Mafio, now 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.680 on the other side of the court's laughter, delivers a 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:20.120 sucker punch to her jaw. It's an apt metaphor for 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.240 life as a courtesan. For all of her success and 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:29.760 status in Venetian high society, Veronica was never safe from 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:34.600 the violent whims of men. It was those violent whims 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.760 that would eventually place Veronica Franco in front of the 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:45.400 Catholic Inquisition, accused of witchcraft. I'm Danas Schwartz and this 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:53.239 is noble blood. Veronica Franco was born in fifteen forty 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:58.440 six to Paula Fracassa and Francesco Franco, and she was 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:03.360 the only daughter of of their four children. While not noble, 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.440 the Franco family were part of a cast known as 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.880 the citizens by birth, which is a group that made 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:14.920 up much of Venice's salaried bureaucracy at the time. Though 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:19.880 this citizen try were denied noble privileges, including high governmental 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:24.279 positions or a vote in the Great Council. They could 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:28.640 also be members of the co fraternities or Great Schools 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:34.400 of Venice, which were powerful lay religious societies. It's unknown 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.880 whether or not Veronica received an education as a girl, 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.360 but it's likely that she was able to sit in 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:46.320 on lessons with her three brothers' private tutor. Even that 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:51.080 small liberty, though was more than most women received. In fact, 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.880 any access to education was outside of the norm. For reference, 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:01.200 the Italian Renaissance scholar Paul F. Grendler sites that fewer 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.760 than four percent of Venetian women had any public schooling 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.719 in the fifteen eighties, and only ten to twelve percent 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:14.960 were literate. Men, by contrast, had a thirty percent literacy 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:19.000 rate during the same period. The women who did receive 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.920 education were from the nobility and upper classes, but even 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:29.360 then their schooling was typically limited to rudimentary reading and writing, 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.679 just enough to learn religious principles and prepare to run 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:39.960 a major household. Veronica's rise to prominence as a writer 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:44.640 and courtesan was as a result, fueled by her determination 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.560 to educate herself later in life. It makes a little 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.920 sense to pause here and define what and who exactly 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:59.520 a courtesan is in the context of today's episode. Just 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:03.440 as the English word courtizan derives from the masculine courtier, 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.200 meaning a man who serves at court, the Italian cortegiana 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:14.720 derives from the masculine cortegiano. The distinction between the cortegiana 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:19.440 and the meretrice or traditional prostitute can be a bit 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:25.160 blurry at times, but there were some key distinctions. For example, 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:31.440 the courtesant clientele would be of the elite classes, noblemen, merchants, 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.240 even men of the cloth. She would attract this clientele 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.560 through her beauty and luxurious dress, as well as her 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.760 cultural knowledge. She could play music, recite poetry, or recall 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.000 the Greek and Roman classics. The best could do all 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.920 of the above. Sex was, of course at the core 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:57.360 of the relationship between a courtizan and her patron, but 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:02.200 it was her unique skill as a conversation partner that 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.840 would lead a man of means to seek her services 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:10.520 as opposed to the services of a maritrice. The courtisan 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:14.559 is in many ways similar to the Japanese geisha, who's 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.800 a good reference point thanks to her enduring cultural legacy. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:24.400 Their intellectual talents are also what earned these women the 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:29.720 title of quote honest courtisan. Honest in this instance can 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:35.240 be defined as respected or recognized. After all, courtisans were 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:41.240 expected to sell a fantasy, not deliver harsh truths, as 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:46.160 the name courtisan implies. She also attended social functions of 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.959 the court and was often allowed in spaces that even 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:55.400 noble women were prohibited from. While a Venetian noblewoman would 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.480 have greater power and status than a courtesan, her life 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:05.839 would be confined to the private, domestic sphere. Despite their differences, 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:11.600 the courtesan and the noble women were sometimes visually indistinguishable 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:16.560 thanks to their comparable means and taste. In his famed 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:22.640 fifteen ninety book of Costumes, the publisher Cesare Verrelio notes 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:27.360 that quote, Indeed, at times, some of these courtesans dressed 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.760 like widows and look very much like Venetian noblewomen to 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.560 those who are not familiar with their condition end quote. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:41.600 This was very concerning to Venetian authorities, who made frequent 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:47.120 attempts to distinguish sex workers from other women by mandating 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.160 that they wear a yellow scarf in public or forbidding 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:55.560 them from wearing certain fabrics and materials, laws which were 0:09:55.600 --> 0:10:03.079 repeatedly soundly ignored, especially by the courtesan. The Republic repeatedly 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:08.360 attempted to construct legal qualifications as to what separated a 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.319 courtesan from a noble woman, as well as a courtesan 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:17.160 from a meritrice, but throughout the first half of the 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:22.839 sixteenth century, their efforts were in vain. While many rejected 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.880 the courtesan place in society, and many more would in 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.400 the latter half of the century. Courtesans at this time 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:35.000 were integral to the city's identity. Venice, known for its 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.800 beauty and luxury goods, prized the courtesan as a jewel 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:45.360 of society. Visitors sought to gaze upon Venice's courtesans as 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:50.880 one would any tourist attraction, as the eccentric English travel 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:56.320 writer Thomas Corriet described in sixteen o eight quote as 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:59.760 for the number of these Venetian courtesans, it is very 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:04.240 good rate, at the least twenty thousand, whereof many are 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:08.640 esteemed so loose they are said to open their quivers 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:14.400 to every arrow end quote. The number is certainly an exaggeration, 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:20.200 but such a figure fits with Venice's historical reputation as 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:26.400 a city of pleasure. So now let's return to Veronica's life. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.720 The Francos were not of the lowest economic class, as 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.920 has been theorized by some historians in the past. But 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:38.600 it does not appear Francesco had any government position, and 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.239 so the family certainly would need to work to support themselves. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.640 For women who needed to do that, options were quite limited. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:52.360 In Veronica's mother Paula's case, she supported herself as a courtesan. 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.200 It was Paula who introduced her daughter to the profession, 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.480 and we know Veronica established herself as a courtesan by 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:05.280 around age eighteen. The Catalog of All the Principal and 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:10.400 most Honored Courtesans of Venice, printed likely around fifteen sixty five, 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:15.200 is a famed published list of two hundred and twelve 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:22.520 actively working courtesans, including Veronica Franco. Each woman is identified 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:27.280 by name, location, fee, and who there pizza or go 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:32.079 between is. For Veronica, the listed go between is her 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:37.240 mother Paula. Talk about Mamager, you can imagine the you're 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:43.280 doing amazing sweetie of the sixteenth century. While Veronica enjoyed 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:48.000 great success in her career, evidence from her published collection 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:53.240 Familiar Letters reveals that she may have wanted to choose 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:57.680 a different path for herself. In one letter, she implores 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.959 a friend and fellow courtesan not to introduce her daughter 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.520 to their profession, offering instead to pay the daughter's way 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:12.679 to a home dedicated to young impoverished women. Veronica wrote, quote, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.480 to make one's self prey to so many men, at 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:20.800 the risk of being stripped, robbed, even killed, along with 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:26.280 so many other dangers of injury and dreadful, contagious diseases. 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:31.840 To eat with another's mouth, sleep with another's eyes, move 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:36.680 according to another's will, obviously rushing toward the shipwreck of 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:41.520 your mind and your body. What greater misery, what wealth, 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:48.160 what luxuries, what delights? Can outweigh all this? Published in 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:52.920 fifteen eighty. In that letter, Veronica reflects on her life 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:57.400 not simply with cynicism, but with wisdom and a greater 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:03.480 awareness of Venice's exist social conditions. Glamorous as it might 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:07.840 be to imagine the luxurious life of a courtesan, it 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:12.480 simply wasn't the case, even for someone like Veronica, who 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:18.640 was successful. In Veronica's earliest years, before her career began, 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:23.760 she briefly did live a more traditional lifestyle. Sometime in 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:29.240 the early fifteen sixties, a teenage Veronica entered an arranged 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:34.080 marriage with a doctor, Paolo Paniza, who possessed what is 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:38.880 possibly the most stereotypically Italian name I've come across in 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.720 the history of this podcast. It was evidently not a 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.120 great match, as the couple separated not long after they 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:51.840 were married. Such knowledge comes from Veronica's unusual request for 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:55.960 the return of her dowry in her fifteen sixty four will, 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:02.320 an important document for our understanding of Veronica's life. Reading 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.000 a will may seem like an odd place to begin 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:11.520 telling someone's life story, but Veronica's two written wills from 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:17.120 fifteen sixty four and from fifteen seventy ironically provide us 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:21.360 with some of the earliest details of her life. More saliently, 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.560 they tell us a lot about who she was and 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.200 who she would become, despite the fact that they were 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:34.720 written at the incredibly young ages of eighteen and twenty four, respectively. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.040 For one thing, we know that she was writing her 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.680 first will in fifteen sixty four when she was eighteen 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:46.440 years old, because she was pregnant. This was common practice 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.960 at the time as necessary insurance in case a mother 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:57.160 died in childbirth. Notably, Veronica declares that Paulo is not 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.600 the father of her unborn child. She believed, with the 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:06.160 qualification that only God knows for certain. The baby's father 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:11.600 was Yakimo Dibabali, a noble merchant from modern day Croatia. 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:16.160 It's unknown whether or not he was a lover, a client, 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:21.280 or both, but it is highly probable that Veronica had 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.000 already begun her career as a courtesan by the time 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.720 of the will, writing as her support from several patrician 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.920 and noble families of Venice is noted. Veronica writes that 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:39.560 in honor of the love shared between them, Dibabali should 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.600 take responsibility for the child in the case of her death. 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:48.120 She also bequeathed him a diamond quote as a symbol 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:52.320 of her love. Veronica orders her executors to leave her 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:57.000 accumulated capital in the care of Dibabali, but only under 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.920 the condition that he matches the amount with five percent 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.960 interest for the benefit of their son or daughter until 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:08.440 he or she reaches legal age. If they have a daughter. 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.880 Franco insists that at such a point, the remaining capital 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.320 plus interest be given directly to her in the form 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:21.919 of a dowry. Making sure that women have money and 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:26.119 importantly access to that money is a recurring point of 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:31.560 order in Veronica's will. For example, she leaves ten ducats 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:36.119 to Agnesina, the daughter of her brother's wetners, to be 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:42.320 repeated any time Agnesina marries. Additionally, when Veronica requests the 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:46.399 return of her dowry from Paolo, she asks that it 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.840 be given to her mother to do with as she pleases, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.200 quote like her who gave it to me. This implies 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:58.320 that the money for Veronica's dowry was provided not by 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.520 her father, but by her her mother, and her mother's 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:05.800 work as a courtesan. By the time Veronica wrote her 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:10.440 second will six years later, in fifteen seventy, her life 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:15.640 had changed considerably. For one, her mother was dead. It's 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:20.800 unlikely Veronica found a new pieza and instead began managing 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:25.040 her own transactions. It's clear that she had become a 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:29.919 sought after courtesan by this point, evidenced by a considerable 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.600 rise in means and the appearance of higher ranking associates 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:39.480 in her will. Veronica's literary career would not begin for 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:43.080 a few more years, but we see she had already 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:48.199 endeared herself to Venice's elite. In this new will, she 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.480 dictates that the majority of her capital is to be 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:55.920 left to the care and education of her two epically 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:00.199 named sons, Akille, the child with whom she was pregnant 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.600 at the time of writing her first will, and Ennio. 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:08.840 According to Veronica, Ennio is the son of Andrea Tron, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:14.840 a Venetian nobleman. Andre himself a son of a prominent senator, 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:19.000 was already married to a noblewoman at the time of 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.800 their son's birth, and it's unknown whether or not he 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:27.119 ever claimed their son as his own. This will is 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:31.120 more detailed than the first. We see how Veronica has 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:35.320 carefully divided her capital between her two children, the children 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.639 of those she's close to, and her brother's family. She 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:43.919 once again designates money for the dowries of young women 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:49.080 in need, but this time she circumvents the balloting system. Instead, 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.160 she directs the quote surplus of her capital to provide 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:58.040 for the marriages of quote two worthy maidens. She adds 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:02.919 an additional clause that if her executors confined to prostitutes 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.880 who want to quote leave their wicked life by marrying 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:11.000 or entering a convent end quote, then they should be 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:16.320 embraced rather than the two maidens wicked here is not 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:21.320 necessarily a moral judgment in this instance, rather a reflection 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:25.159 of the hardships endured by the sex workers during this 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:29.639 time in Venice. Veronica was evidently successful enough that she 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.199 had her own home and the luxury of employing a 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:37.080 small staff. Because her will also designates money to be 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:41.360 left to her cook, her maid, and a former maid. 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:46.399 It was in her own home that the courtesan welcomed 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.760 the young king Henry the third of Vlois, son of 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:55.240 Catherine de Medici, who visited Venice in July of fifteen 0:20:55.440 --> 0:21:00.280 seventy four during his journey from Poland to France to 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:03.920 claim the throne there following the death of his older brother. 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:09.480 Henry's stay in Venice marked the most extravagant reception of 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:14.320 a foreign dignitary that the city had ever witnessed. The 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.120 then twenty three year old Henri and his cousin spent 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:23.479 the evenings attending balls and theatrical performances, before spending the 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:30.440 nights seeking out Venice's other most famous attractions. It's unknown 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:35.359 how Henry came to meet Veronica specifically, but it's likely 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.879 he was introduced through one of the nobles assigned to 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:43.639 attend to him, Andrea tron, the father of her second child. 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:49.920 Henry is mainly known for two things, his assassination, which 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:53.320 ultimately marks the end of the House of Blois, and 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:57.840 his sexuality. It is believed that he enjoyed cross dressing 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:02.199 at masquerades, and that he had sexual relationships with his 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:09.680 male favorites. However, because rumors surrounding his bisexuality and quote 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:14.239 effeminacy were used by Catholic detractors to prove that he 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:18.360 was unfit for the throne, historians have never entirely been 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:23.480 able to distinguish fact from fiction with certainty what's real 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:29.440 and what's propaganda. By the time of his and Veronica's encounter, 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:34.240 even before taking the French throne, Henry had already gained 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:39.480 something of a reputation, though their encounter was almost certainly 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:45.600 sexual in nature. Veronica later published a sonnet platonically singing 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:50.760 the young King's praises quote, So to my modest dwelling, 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:55.479 without the shine and dazzle of royal pomp, came Henri 0:22:56.040 --> 0:23:00.320 called to so vast a kingdom that one world alone 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:05.679 cannot contain it. Although he came disguised, he nonetheless so 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:10.800 imprinted upon my heart his heavenly merit, that my natural 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:16.919 strength abandoned me. It was a combination of luck, her status, 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:20.840 and skill that led Veronica to live the life of 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:25.080 a courtesan who would host foreign kings, rather than a 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:30.159 life as a simple meritrece She seems to understand that, 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:34.280 and it may have informed why she would choose to 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:39.080 pursue another kind of work at this time that seemed 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:45.320 untouchable for most women of her time and place. Sometime 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:49.359 in the early fifteen seventies, Veronica became a member of 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:54.000 the intellectual circle cultivated by one of the most powerful 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:58.480 noble clans of Venice, the Vinyer family. At the top 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:03.960 of the familial higherarchy sat Domenico, the patron and protector. 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:09.320 After relinquishing his duty as Senator in fifteen forty six 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:14.359 because of his painful chronic gout, Domenico devoted his time 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:20.280 to establishing an informal literary academy that met regularly at 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:25.280 his residence. What set Domenico apart from other patrons and 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:31.720 hosts was his sponsorship of numerous female artists and intellectuals. 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:35.679 It does not appear that his support of these women, 0:24:36.080 --> 0:24:42.320 including Veronica, was dependent on sexual relationships. As noted earlier, 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:46.399 only around ten percent of Venetian women were literate during 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:50.440 this time period, and an even smaller percentage were publishing 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:55.000 written work. In the absence of a powerful and extremely 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:59.880 progressive father, women who sought to not only cultivate into 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:03.919 coellectual lives, but also publish would need to rely on 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:10.560 the generosity of patrons like Domenico. Originally, Veronica's literary career 0:25:10.760 --> 0:25:15.160 was dedicated to compiling the poems of other members of 0:25:15.200 --> 0:25:19.359 the circle for volumes, a unique role for a woman. 0:25:20.040 --> 0:25:24.520 Letters reveal she acted as the organizer of numerous collections 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:30.760 throughout the fifteen seventies. The Patriarch's influence on Veronica and 0:25:30.880 --> 0:25:35.879 this circle at large is evident in her first published 0:25:36.040 --> 0:25:42.920 collection of poetry, fifteen seventy five's Poems in Terzarma. Domenico 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:48.719 was interested in pre Petrarchan poetic forms, which encouraged a 0:25:48.840 --> 0:25:54.359 revival of Dante's third rhyme structure first seen in The 0:25:54.480 --> 0:26:00.600 Divine Comedy. This collection consisted of eighteen poems, with some 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:06.479 in the format of proposta and riposta between Veronica and 0:26:06.760 --> 0:26:11.919 anonymous male poets, a back and forth. By publishing a 0:26:11.960 --> 0:26:17.840 collection including poetic exchanges instead of merely her own compositions, 0:26:18.280 --> 0:26:22.600 Veronica was seeking to elevate her status by putting her 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:28.200 work on the same level as her male contemporaries. Typically 0:26:28.280 --> 0:26:35.000 preferred for academic, satirical and comic compositions. Veronica utilizes that 0:26:35.280 --> 0:26:40.159 back and forth format to wittily and critically engage with 0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:46.080 both her lovers and her detractor's perceptions of her. Take 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:50.400 the first two poems in the collection, Capitulo one, credited 0:26:50.440 --> 0:26:54.240 to an unknown author, is written in the tradition of 0:26:54.280 --> 0:26:58.719 the petrarchian lover desperate for his feelings to be requited. 0:26:59.359 --> 0:27:03.600 Unlike the other works in poems credited to unknown authors, 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:08.159 we actually do have the identity of this forlorn man. 0:27:08.680 --> 0:27:14.800 He was Marco Venier, Dominico's nephew and Veronica's lover. The 0:27:15.080 --> 0:27:19.639 first copies of Poems identified him as the author of 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:24.919 this poem, but then subsequent printings anonymize him alongside the 0:27:24.960 --> 0:27:31.320 other writers for reasons unexplained. His poem rhapsodizes Veronica's cruel 0:27:31.800 --> 0:27:37.479 or perhaps even dangerous beauty, but also flatters her writing talent, 0:27:37.880 --> 0:27:43.400 which Marco calls a gift from Apollo himself. Quote, and 0:27:43.640 --> 0:27:47.480 so among beauties, you are famous for your learning, and 0:27:47.560 --> 0:27:51.280 among learned women you are known for your beauty, and 0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:55.760 in both you excel one group and the other. He however, 0:27:55.880 --> 0:28:00.280 follows this praise with a question, but if knowledge in 0:28:00.320 --> 0:28:04.360 you is so nobly fruitful, why is it that beauty. 0:28:04.560 --> 0:28:08.959 Also a treasure comes to ruin through your hard heart. 0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:14.640 Marco's seduction hinges on the argument that Veronica has been 0:28:14.720 --> 0:28:19.280 blessed by both Venus and Apollo, but by denying him 0:28:19.359 --> 0:28:25.080 her love, she squanders Venus's gift. He declares, you must 0:28:25.200 --> 0:28:28.760 put to good use all the gifts that she made you, 0:28:29.320 --> 0:28:32.600 as you do with the gifts granted you by Apollo. 0:28:33.160 --> 0:28:37.439 You'll make your name immortal through Venus's gifts no less 0:28:37.480 --> 0:28:42.320 than you will do with your ink. Veronica's reply uses 0:28:42.400 --> 0:28:48.040 her apollo given a wit to turn Marco's arguments against him. Quote, 0:28:48.520 --> 0:28:51.560 if you think I'm so dear to Phoebus for composing 0:28:51.760 --> 0:28:55.360 poems in the works of love, you'll find me dear 0:28:55.560 --> 0:28:59.320 still to Venus. With this assurance that she is a 0:28:59.400 --> 0:29:04.280 perfectly skilled and confident lover, Veronica makes it clear that 0:29:04.320 --> 0:29:07.480 she does not hold back her affection out of cruelty 0:29:07.600 --> 0:29:11.920 or flippancy, but rather because she is too wise to 0:29:11.960 --> 0:29:16.280 be persuaded by words alone. She asks her lover to 0:29:16.400 --> 0:29:21.760 show the extent of his feelings through deeds instead, quote 0:29:22.120 --> 0:29:25.400 prove your love to me by other means than compliments, 0:29:25.720 --> 0:29:28.800 For I take care not to be fooled by them. 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:34.960 Please me more with deeds and praise me less. She 0:29:35.160 --> 0:29:39.360 specifies exactly what that means. Quote, I do not ask 0:29:39.440 --> 0:29:42.400 you now to express your love with gold or silver. 0:29:42.920 --> 0:29:46.280 For to have an understanding with a noble man in 0:29:46.400 --> 0:29:50.680 order to extract from him a treasure is most unsuited 0:29:50.680 --> 0:29:54.720 to the decorum of any but an utterly venal soul. 0:29:55.400 --> 0:30:00.479 Such behavior does not befit my profession. But leaving words aside, 0:30:00.680 --> 0:30:05.120 I clearly state that deeds must prove your love. You 0:30:05.240 --> 0:30:09.480 know quite well what I like best. Persevere in this 0:30:09.880 --> 0:30:13.240 as I already told you before, and you shall be 0:30:13.360 --> 0:30:19.640 my unique and only lover. Here she subverts popular expectations 0:30:19.680 --> 0:30:23.800 of the courtesan by affirming that it's not gold or 0:30:23.840 --> 0:30:26.600 silver that draws her to a lover, but what she 0:30:26.880 --> 0:30:31.240 likes quote best, which, despite what you may be thinking, 0:30:31.440 --> 0:30:35.040 that it's something salacious, she defines later in the poem 0:30:35.360 --> 0:30:41.200 as creative literary collaboration, and who can blame her. Still, 0:30:41.360 --> 0:30:46.320 she assures Marco that their collaboration as lovers will be 0:30:46.640 --> 0:30:52.320 just as rewarding as their collaboration as writers. Quote Whenever 0:30:52.400 --> 0:30:55.520 I am in bed with one who, as I sense, 0:30:55.720 --> 0:30:59.960 loves and enjoys me. I become so delectable and tender 0:31:00.400 --> 0:31:05.120 that my pleasure surpasses all other delights, and what appeared 0:31:05.240 --> 0:31:09.320 to be a very tight knot of love grows even tighter. 0:31:09.880 --> 0:31:13.480 I perform so well in bed that this form of 0:31:13.680 --> 0:31:19.800 art proves vastly superior to the art of Apollo. There 0:31:19.920 --> 0:31:24.719 is obviously some sexual meaning there, which was not uncommon 0:31:24.840 --> 0:31:28.680 in the works of courtiers, but stands out to historians 0:31:28.760 --> 0:31:33.880 as a rare instance of a sixteenth century woman describing 0:31:33.960 --> 0:31:41.920 her own sexuality in such unabashed terms. Veronica additionally subverts 0:31:42.000 --> 0:31:46.640 the dominant erotic language of Marco's poem. I would like 0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:50.320 to take the burnished gold of those tresses in my 0:31:50.440 --> 0:31:54.480 hand and pull that fine treasure ever so gently, to 0:31:54.560 --> 0:31:59.840 avenge my hurt by portraying sex as more pleasurable when 0:31:59.840 --> 0:32:04.360 it is an equal experience. Quote, let me see the 0:32:04.360 --> 0:32:08.240