Isotta Nogarola

Isotta Nogarola (1418–1466) was an Italian writer and intellectual who is said to be the first major female humanist and one of the most important humanists of the Italian Renaissance. She inspired generations of artists and writers, among them Lauro Quirini and , and contributed to a centuries-long debate in Europe on gender and the nature of women.

Despite being illiterate herself, Nogarola's mother ensured that her children all received fine humanist educations, including her daughters.

Nogarola's first tutor was Martino Rizzoni, who was himself taught by Guarino da Verona, one of the leading humanists at that time. Nogarola proved an extremely able student, attaining respect for her eloquence in Latin, and by the age of 18, she had become famous.

Hostile reception of humanistic work The reception of her activities was condescending, with her work considered primarily to be that of a woman and not belonging to the intellectual world into which she sought entry. Niccolo Venier thought the whole female sex should rejoice and consecrate statues to Isotta as the ancient Egyptians had to Isis.

In 1438, after receiving praise from Guarino da Verona, Nogarola wrote him a letter, calling him a "wellspring of virtue and probity." She likened herself to a Cicero to his Cato, and a Socrates to his Plato. A year passed without a reply, and she wrote again to Guarino, saying:

"Why... was I born a woman, to be scorned by men in words and deeds? I ask myself this question in solitude... Your unfairness in not writing to me has caused me much suffering, that there could be no greater suffering... You yourself said there was no goal I could not achieve. But now that nothing has turned out as it should have, my joy has given way to sorrow... For they jeer at me throughout the city, the women mock me."

This time, Guarino da Verona replied in a letter, saying: "I believed and trusted that your soul was manly... But now you seem so humbled, so abject, and so truly a woman, that you demonstrate none of the estimable qualities I thought you possessed." Upon the death of her father the next year, she travelled with her family to Venice, where she remained until 1441. “An eloquent woman is never chaste,” was one such allegation made against her. Using a reductio ad absurdum argument, Nogarola demonstrated that women could not be held to be weaker in nature and more culpable in original sin.

Isotta died in 1466, aged 48.

Known works As well as her famous dialogues, Nogarola's works include a biography of St. Jerome, a letter urging a Crusade (1459), and a consolatory letter to a father after the death of his child.