Joana Vaz (–after 1570) was a

Renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

and poet in the court of

Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal Catherine of Austria ( pt, Catarina; 14 January 1507 – 12 February 1578) was Queen of Portugal as wife of King John III, and regent during the minority of her grandson, King Sebastian, from 1557 until 1562. Early life An Infanta of Castile a ...

. Catherine's court included a number of scholarly women, including Vaz, Catherine's cousin

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, and the sisters Angela and

Luisa Sigea de Velasco Luisa Sigea de Velasco (1522 in Tarancón – October 13, 1560 in Burgos), also known as Luisa Sigeia, Luisa Sigea Toledana and in the Latinized form Aloysia Sygaea Toletana, was a poet and intellectual, one of the major figures of Spanish hum ...

. Vaz served as a

maid of honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Role Traditionally, a queen r ...

to Catherine and was reportedly director of the ''

aula regia An ''aula regia'' ( lat. for "royal hall"), also referred to as a ''palas hall'', is a name given to the great hall in an imperial or royal palace (German ''Kaiserpfalz''). In the Middle Ages the term was also used as a synonym for the ''Pfalz'' i ...

''. Vaz was fluent in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and is reported to have written extensively in the first. She served as a tutor to Catherine's cousin and to the princess, also called

. Vaz was clearly considered to be an authority by her contemporary scholars: the poet Francisco de Sá de Meneses referred to her as such in a letter, and

Pope Paul III Pope Paul III ( la, Paulus III; it, Paolo III; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death in November 1549. He came to ...

was reported to have admired her writing. The poet Clenardus described her as "elegantly trained in literature" and asked her to contribute a poem for the funeral of

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaz, Joana People from Coimbra 1500 births 1570 deaths 16th-century Portuguese writers Portuguese ladies-in-waiting 16th-century Portuguese women writers Renaissance people Renaissance women