BellaOnline Forums Education Renaissance Renaissance Women

Hi All,

This weeks article was so inspirational to research and write: Renaissance Women of Influence .

I plan to continue this topic in future articles. There is an amazing number of women who had great influence in their world and in ours.

If there is a particular Renaissance or Medieval woman you would like to know more about, please let me know so I can include her in a future article.

What varied and interesting women Helen. Thank you for such an informative article. I look forward to reading further articles on Renaissance women.

Thanks Trish! It will be my pleasure. There are many more fascinating women of the Renaissance and Medieval Periods than I ever realized until I started doing this research.

LOL, I actually know a descendent of The Pirate Queen (a great gal in my husband's family). Her name is Grace and if I remember it right every generation/family in the clan has named a daughter Grace after The Pirate Queen. I'm sending her a link to the story. She'll get a kick out of it.

Hi Helen. I would love to hear about any women from the Renaissance Period. Where there any women in Michaelanglo's life?

Hi Violette,
Wow, thanks for adding that info about Grace O'Malley! How cool is that!

Hi Phyllis,
Well... there are several people who were connected with Michelangelo romantically. But he never married. Michelangelo was a poet as well as all his other accomplishments. The largest number of works written by him were dedicated to Tomaso dei Cavalieri.

In his later years he also had a written relationship with a noble woman named Vittoria Colonna, a poet, in which they exchanged sonnets and letters.

All of his relationships could well have been platonic because he supposedly practiced "monk-like chastity" according to one historian. It is possible that all of his passion was poured into his art. He is also reported to have lived very frugally, even to the point of poverty, though he was able to afford much better.

Michelangelo is known so much more for his work and was a more private person with regard to his non-work life so it's hard to know for sure.

I hope this answers your question.

That is really interesting about Michelangelo, Helen. Thanks!

In another of your threads I posted about a beautiful hand-made and hand-embroidered jacket I have that is really old. No one has ever worn it. The style and the embroidery remind me of the Renaissance period.

I would love to hear more about women's apparel from that era.