The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 54

The Saber
eloquence and accusations of sexual
promiscuity, homosexuality, and incest
were damning. Even though Isotta
was never accused of witchcraft, being
called unchaste and accused of incest
was bad enough that it would have been
something she would have wanted to
avoid at all costs. Consequently, combined
with her culture’s intensification
of Aristotelian philosophies in early
quattrocento Venice and being called
unchaste through sexual deviance as
she entered the public sphere of humanism,
Isotta was ultimately defeated
by the Aristotelian-saturated society in
which she lived.
By 1441, rather than facing
daunting obstacles by continuing her
pursuit in secular humanist studies, she
was forced by the deeply-entrenched
Aristotelian philosophies of her society,
scorn, and the foul accusations
made against her from 1436 to 1439 to
follow a path deemed more appropriate
for her gender, so as not to upset her
society’s traditions and values, prove
she was not a threat in any way, and
save her reputation. That path was that
of a holy woman.
Isotta Nogarola: Holy
Woman and Humanist
Scholar (1441-1466)
As a noble Renaissance woman
living in the Venetian empire
in the early quattrocento, Isotta
had two career paths before her: become
a wife and mother or enter the
convent as a nun. King’s research shows
that most Renaissance women, no matter
their class, chose to marry and be-
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