Baptista Malatesta, also known as Baptista di Montefeltro (c. 1383 - 1450) was an Italian Renaissance poet.
Baptista Malatesta was the daughter of Antonio, Count of Urbino. On 14 June 1405 she married Galeazzo Malatesta, the heir to the lordship of Pesaro. 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 thereupon found a refuge in her old home at Urbino. She ...
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Baptista Malatesta, also known as Baptista di Montefeltro (c. 1383 - 1450) was an Italian Renaissance poet.
Baptista Malatesta was the daughter of Antonio, Count of Urbino. On 14 June 1405 she married Galeazzo Malatesta, the heir to the lordship of Pesaro. 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 thereupon found a refuge in her old home at Urbino. She lived for some twenty years a widowed and secluded life. She died, as a Sister of the Franciscan Order of Santa Chiara, in 1450.
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 litiris, was written in the early 1400s. In it Bruni describes a course of study suitable for women, illustrating the belief, early on held by humanists,...
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