The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 62

The Saber
her Aristotelian culture, never rejoining
society to marry, based on letters
between Foscarini and Isotta beginning
in 1453; he acknowledged that she held
a “contempt for life” when she “chose
to be dissolved with Paul and to be one
with Christ.” 70 A later letter by Foscarini
to Isotta mentioned that she, who was
“constantly occupied in sacred studies,”
was in “poor health” because she was
“neglectful of herself.” 71 Nevertheless,
Isotta showed strength and resolve and
continued to produce some of the most
sophisticated philosophical works of
the Italian Renaissance. 72 Including the
Dialogue, she significantly contributed
to the humanist intellectual movement.
As a result of that contribution, Isotta
Nogarola became not only the most
learned female of the Renaissance, but
also the first female humanist of the
Italian Renaissance.
The path to becoming a humanist
scholar in early quattrocento Venice was
not an easy one for Isotta Nogarola. The
Venetian empire was solidly entrenched
in Aristotelian philosophies from the
Middle Ages to the late fifteenth century,
which held that women were to be
silent, submissive, and relegated to the
home or convent, due to their inferior
nature. Although Platonism opened up
a dialogue between humanists about a
new concept of woman, noblewomen
who did not marry or enter the convent
were social deviants and seen as exceeding
their sex. Consequently, when
a single Isotta entered the male-dominated
realm of humanism in Verona
and Venice between 1436 and 1439, she
was forced, through condemnation and
vilification, to abandon her career as a
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