Battista Malatesta (c. 1384 – 1448), also known as Battista di Montefeltro forename also called Baptista, was an Italian Renaissance poet.

Life

Baptista Malatesta was the daughter of

Antonio II da Montefeltro Antonio II da Montefeltro (1348–1404) was an Italian condottiero and count of Urbino. Born at Urbino, he was a grandson to count Nolfo da Montefeltro and the son to Federico II da Montefeltro. He occupied Urbino in 1375 and also owned Cagli. ...

, Count of Urbino, and the granddaughter of

Federico II da Montefeltro Federico II Paolo Novello da Montefeltro (died c. 1370) was the reigning Count of Urbino from 1364 until his death. Early life He was the son of Nolfo da Montefeltro and his wife, Margherita Gabrielli, daughter of Italian nobleman and cond ...

. On 14 June 1405 she married

Galeazzo Malatesta Galeazzo Malatesta (1385–1461) was an Italian condottiero and lord of Pesaro and Fossombrone. He was the elder son of Malatesta IV Malatesta and Elisabetta da Varano. In 1405 he married Battista da Montefeltro. He was nicknamed "the inept" due ...

, the heir to the lordship of

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

. Galeazzo came to power in 1429 but was so hated as a ruler that, after two years of power in 1431, he was driven from his city. His wife then returned to her old home at Urbino. She lived for some twenty years a widowed and secluded life. She died, as a Sister of the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

Order of Santa Chiara, in 1448.

''De studiis et litteris''

She was a learned woman of the aristocracy who was educated in philosophy and languages, and was a poet and orator. She corresponded with other scholars of her time such as Leonardo Bruni. Bruni's letter to Baptista Malatesta of Montefeltro, entitled ''De studiis et litteris'', was written in 1424. In it, Bruni describes a course of study suitable for women, illustrating the belief, early on held by

humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanis ...

, that

classical studies Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

are "worthy to be pursued by men and women alike." ''De studiis et litteris'' is the earliest known example of a humanist inter-gender dialogue about women's education. The

Emperor Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia ('' jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in ...

, when passing through Urbino in 1433, was greeted by her in a Latin oration, which half a century later was still thought worthy of print.

References

External links

Leonardo Bruni letter to Baptista di Montefeltro
Leonardo Bruni d'Arezzo De Studiis et Litteris W.H. Woodward, ed., Vittorino da Feltre and Other Humanist Educators (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912), 119-33. Accessed September 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Malatesta, Battista 1380s births 1448 deaths Montefeltro family Italian Renaissance humanists Italian Renaissance writers Italian women poets Medieval women poets 15th-century Latin writers 15th-century Italian women writers

Battista Battista is a given name and surname which means Baptist in Italian. Given named * Battista Agnese (died 1564), cartographer from the Republic of Genoa, who worked in the Venetian Republic * Battista Dossi, also known as Battista de Luteri, Ital ...