The beautiful Isabella de Luna, of Spanish extraction, who was reckoned amusing company, seems to have been an odd compound of a kind heart with a shockingly foul tongue, which latter sometimes brought her into trouble.At Milan, Bandello knew the majestic Caterina di San Celso, who played and sang and recited superbly.It is clear from all we read on the subject that the distinguished people who visited these women, and from time to time lived with them, demanded from them a considerable degree of intelligence and instruction, and that the famous courtesans were treated with no slight respect and consideration.Even when relations with them were broken off, their good opinion was still desired, which shows that departed passion had left permanent traces behind.But on the whole this intellectual intercourse is not worth mentioning by the side of that sanctioned by the recognized forms of social life, and the traces which it has left in poetry and literature are for the most part of a scandalous nature.
We may well be astonished that among the 6,800 persons of this class, who were to be found in Rome in 1490--that is, before the appearance of syphilis--scarcely a single woman seems to have been remarkable for any higher gifts.Those whom we have mentioned all belong to the period which immediately followed.The mode of life, the morals and the philosophy of the public women, who with all their sensuality and greed were not always incapable of deeper passions, as well as the hypocrisy and devilish malice shown by some in their later years, are best set forth by Giraldi, in the novels which form the introduction to the 'Hecatommithi.' Pietro Aretino, in his 'Ragionamenti,' gives us rather a picture of his own depraved character than of this unhappy class of women as they really were.
The mistresses of the princes, as has been pointed out, were sung by poets and painted by artists, and thus have become personally familiar to their contemporaries and to posterity.But we hardly know more than the name of Alice Perries; and of Clara Dettin, the mistress of Frederick the Victorious, and of Agnes Sorel we have only a half-legendary story.With the concubines of the Renaissance monarchs--Francis I and Henry II--the case is different.
Domestic Life After treating of the intercourse of society, let us glance for a moment at the domestic life of this period.We are commonly disposed to look on the family life of the Italians at this time as hopelessly ruined by the national immorality, and this side of the question will be more fully discussed in the sequel.For the moment we must content ourselves with pointing out that conjugal infidelity has by no means so disastrous an influence on family life in Italy as in the North, so long at least as certain limits are not overstepped.
The domestic life of the Middle Ages was a product of popular morals, or if we prefer to put it otherwise, a result of the inborn tendencies of national life, modified by the varied circumstances which affected them.Chivalry at the time of its splendor left domestic economy untouched.The knight wandered from court to court, and from one battlefield to another.His homage was given systematically to some other woman than his own wife, and things went how they might at home in the castle.The spirit of the Renaissance first brought order into domestic life, treating it as a work of deliberate contrivance.
Intelligent economical views, and a rational style of domestic architecture served to promote this end.But the chief cause of the change was the thoughtful study of all questions relating to social intercourse, to education, to domestic service and organization.
The most precious document on this subject is the treatise on the management of the home by Agnolo Pandolfini (actually written by L.B.
Alberti, d.1472).He represents a father speaking to his grown-up sons, and initiating them into his method of administration.We are introduced into a large and wealthy household, which, if governed with moderation and reasonable economy, promises happiness and prosperity for generations to come.A considerable landed estate, whose produce furnishes the table of the house, and serves as the basis of the family fortune, is combined with some industrial pursuit, such as the weaving of wool or silk.The dwelling is solid and the food good.All that has to do with the plan and arrangement of the house is great, durable and costly, but the daily life within it is as simple as possible.All other expenses, from the largest in which the family honour is at stake, down to the pocket-money of the younger sons, stand to one another in a rational, not a conventional relation.Nothing is considered of so much importance as education, which the head of the house gives not only to the children, but to the whole household.He first develops his wife from a shy girl, brought up in careful seclusion, to the true woman of the house, capable of commanding and guiding the servants.The sons are brought up without any undue severity, carefully watched and counselled, and controlled 'rather by authority than by force.' And finally the servants are chosen and treated on such principles that they gladly and faithfully hold by the family.
