Tullia d'Aragona

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Tullia d'Aragona, portrayed by Alessandro Moretto around 1537 dressed as Salomé .

Tullia d'Aragona (* around 1510 in Rome ; † 1556 there ) was an Italian courtesan ; as well as poet and philosopher of the Renaissance .

Origin and childhood

Tullia was the daughter of the courtesan Giulia Ferrarese, according to her own information from her lover, Archbishop and Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona , himself an illegitimate grandson of King Ferdinand I of Naples . She took his patronymic herself; he died in 1519 after traveling for a year through Switzerland , France and the Netherlands . Also in 1519 Tullia left Rome accompanied by her mother and spent seven years in Siena until she returned to Rome and took up her mother's profession.

Life as a courtesan

As a courtesan in Italy in the 16th century , Tullia enjoyed privileges such as freedom of movement and business skills, but was also subject to publicly sanctioned restrictions, for example with regard to her clothing. She had received extensive training in literature and philosophy and spoke several languages. Tullia d'Aragona earned the reputation of a cortigiana onesta , an intellectual courtesan who also wrote and poetry. It is said to have not corresponded to the ideal of beauty of its time, to have been too big and "disproportionate", according to Giambattista Giraldi , who was a sharp critic. Other voices condemned them as the most depraved of the Florentine prostitutes or spoke out against poets mentioning them ( Pietro Aretino ). However, she was also highly valued as an excellent entertainer. She mastered Francesco Petrarca's poetry style ( sonnet ) very well, which was particularly revered in her time. The most distinguished men of the Roman clergy, politics, poets and scholars frequented their salons, including Giulio Camillo , Francesco Maria Molza , Filippo Strozzi , Ippolito de 'Medici , Benedetto Varchi and Girolamo Muzio .

After the Sacco di Roma , Tullia probably moved to Bologna ; in 1529 she was resident again in Rome and was listed there as a prostitute on the tax list. In the late 1530s, however, she first moved to Venice , then to Ferrara and then again to Siena. Now striving to be recognized as respectable in the upper social classes, she married Silvestro de'Guiciardi from Ferrara on January 8, 1543, who was not, however, one of the city's elite. In 1544 a son was born. In Siena, Tullia d'Aragona was tried as a courtesan because she dressed like a decent woman in spite of her trade. The judge acquitted her on the basis of a virtuous way of life, but she barely escaped the unrest in Siena in 1545 and fled without her possessions to Florence , where she was again recognized. Again she was confronted with dress codes because Cosimo I de 'Medici prescribed a yellow veil for courtesans, which she should also wear.

As a widow she came under the protection of the Duchess Eleonora of Toledo . With their support, she brought out a book of verses and poems containing dialogues with Benedetto Varchi and Lattanzio Benucci on the infinite love ( Dialogo dell 'Infinità d'Amore , 1547). The theme is Plato's conception of love and her own conception and understanding of it. Her dialogues were not without role models, but the decidedly feminine and cultivated point of view was considered new in the spiritual world. This publication gave her the opportunity to petition Cosimo. In recognition of her status as a poet, on May 1, 1547, he gave her the special permit not to use the yellow cloth in public. Afterwards she was able to enjoy her newfound reputation in Florence for several years.

Little is known about their time after their return to Rome. Tullia d'Aragona died impoverished as a prostitute in Rome in 1556 .

See also

literature

  • Elizabeth Pallitto: Sweet Fire: Tullia D'Aragona's Poetry of Dialogue and Selected Prose , George Braziller (2006) ISBN 0-8076-1562-5
  • Monika Antes: The courtesan Tullia d'Aragona. With the original Italian text Della infinità d'amore , Verlag Königshausen / Neumann (2006) ISBN 978-3-8260-3333-9
  • Monica Kurzel-Runtscheiner: Daughters of Venus , CH Beck (1995) ISBN 3-406-39757-3
  • Tullia d'Aragona: Dialogue on the infinity of love. Translated by Rinaldina Russell and Bruce Merry . University of Chicago Press, 1997, ISBN 0-226-13639-6 , book advertisement
  • Rainer Maria Rilke: The Lute [1]
  • Rinaldina Russell: "Tullia d'Aragona", Italian Women Writers: London: Greenwood (1994) ISBN 0-313-28347-8

Web links

Commons : Tullia d'Aragona  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Aragona, Tullia d '
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Palmierie, Tullia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian courtesan, poet and philosopher of the Renaissance
DATE OF BIRTH around 1510
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH 1556
Place of death Rome