The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 39

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Isotta, who wanted to pursue a vocation
as a humanist scholar, rather than being
a wife and mother or entering a convent
as a nun. 10 Humanist scholars were traditionally
men who studied ancient and
classical texts, philosophies, and rhetoric
and applied their lessons to fourteenth
and fifteenth century problems
in order to promote moral character
and civil service. They also used those
texts to pursue the theoretical dilemma
of whether or not women could be virtuous
and fulfill their civic duty. Despite
that tradition, Isotta pursued a career as
a humanist scholar after the praise she
earned as a teenager elevated her to a
public platform outside of her intellectual
family. Since she was unmarried,
however, she remained an outsider in
the humanist realm and to her society,
yet Isotta was already seen as an outsider
for being highly intelligent and educated
in humanist studies.
As a daughter from a noble Veronese
family in quattrocento Italy, Isotta’s
education took place in the private
sphere of domesticity under the guidance
of her parents. 11 She was taught
the domestic arts, such as embroidery,
and to read and write in the vernacular,
preparing her for marriage and raising
children. Her father, Leonardo Nogarola,
a theologian and philosopher, however,
also provided Isotta and her sisters
with a humanist education from an early
age. 12 A humanist education included
the learning of classical languages,
history, grammar, philosophy, and poetry,
but for girls it was not to include
classical oratorial practices or rhetoric;
patriarchal ideology demanded that
women be seen and not heard in pub-