November 11, 2025 • 48 mins
As a courtesan, Veronica Franco would entertain Henry III of Valois in her Venetian home. But her greatest accomplishments would be a literary career that defied public expectation and defended her honor from men who would mock and diminish her.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky Listener discretion advised. Around the
halfway point of the nineteen ninety eight drama film Dangerous Beauty,
the movie's protagonist points a sword at the throat of
the man who has just publicly mocked her, and she
(00:24):
challenges him to a duel. What follows is a battle
of both body and wit, as the swordsman and swordswoman
trade poetic verses while.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Engaging in a flamboyant fencing match that ends on a
boat in a Venetian canal. It's very cinematic and an
incredibly fun scene to watch. I'm especially fond of the
classic moment when our heroine finds the fabric of her
dress punctured, so she removes the skirt to reveal a
pair of pants underneath in a bit of delightful nineties
(00:58):
feminist revisionistm The fight in the movie is a turning
point for these two characters, who have previously been cordial.
Earlier in the film, both of them poets had worked
in harmony to exalt Venice's beauty. Now our heroine's lines
are criticizing her partner's disregard for the minds of women
(01:21):
while he's calling her a whore. He is Mafio Venier
and she is Veronica Franco, and as it happens, both
of their accusations about the other are true. The movie
Dangerous Beauty takes a lot of artistic liberty as a
(01:42):
biopic of the Venetian courtesan and writer Veronica Franco, though
it does pull from the true history found at its
source material, the biography The Honest Courtesan by Margaret Rosenthal.
The basic story of the movie is factual. Veronica Franco,
(02:03):
the daughter of a cortesan, rose from obscurity to the
heights of Venetian society, entertaining and serving many high ranking men,
including a young Henry the Third of France. The film
depicts imagined details of their let's say, exploratory encounter in
(02:25):
a scene you will have to watch for yourself. More extraordinarily, though,
in real life, Veronica used her accumulated influence to publish
her own writing and advocate for the rights of her
fellow Venetian women. Where truth and fiction diverge is in
(02:45):
the details. For example, the film's central love story between
Veronica and Mafio's cousin, Marco, was based on a real relationship,
just not one that would have been quite as swoonworthy
without embellishment. The movie also takes a few liberties with
(03:06):
regards to that battle between Veronica and Mafio. In real life,
it was only scathing poems going back and forth, not swords,
while blood may have been drawn on screen. The film
keeps things lighter with regards to the intellectual violence of
(03:26):
the real Mafio's virulent and darkly misogynistic verses about Franco
in real life, where did his extreme hatred of Veronica
stem from? There's some crossover between art and history. The
movie portrays him as jealous that Dominico, his wealthy uncle,
(03:47):
was more supportive of Veronica's literary ambitions rather than his own,
and it portrays him as bitter that Veronica rejected his
advances years earlier. Seems to be quite true, but there's
no evidence to support the latter. The sword fighting scene
in the movie ends with Veronica triumphant, but Mafio, now
(04:11):
on the other side of the court's laughter, delivers a
sucker punch to her jaw. It's an apt metaphor for
life as a courtesan. For all of her success and
status in Venetian high society, Veronica was never safe from
the violent whims of men. It was those violent whims
(04:34):
that would eventually place Veronica Franco in front of the
Catholic Inquisition, accused of witchcraft. I'm Danas Schwartz and this
is noble blood. Veronica Franco was born in fifteen forty
six to Paula Fracassa and Francesco Franco, and she was
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the only daughter of of their four children. While not noble,
the Franco family were part of a cast known as
the citizens by birth, which is a group that made
up much of Venice's salaried bureaucracy at the time. Though
this citizen try were denied noble privileges, including high governmental
(05:19):
positions or a vote in the Great Council. They could
also be members of the co fraternities or Great Schools
of Venice, which were powerful lay religious societies. It's unknown
whether or not Veronica received an education as a girl,
but it's likely that she was able to sit in
(05:41):
on lessons with her three brothers' private tutor. Even that
small liberty, though was more than most women received. In fact,
any access to education was outside of the norm. For reference,
the Italian Renaissance scholar Paul F. Grendler sites that fewer
than four percent of Venetian women had any public schooling
(06:05):
in the fifteen eighties, and only ten to twelve percent
were literate. Men, by contrast, had a thirty percent literacy
rate during the same period. The women who did receive
education were from the nobility and upper classes, but even
then their schooling was typically limited to rudimentary reading and writing,
(06:30):
just enough to learn religious principles and prepare to run
a major household. Veronica's rise to prominence as a writer
and courtesan was as a result, fueled by her determination
to educate herself later in life. It makes a little
sense to pause here and define what and who exactly
(06:54):
a courtesan is in the context of today's episode. Just
as the English word courtizan derives from the masculine courtier,
meaning a man who serves at court, the Italian cortegiana
derives from the masculine cortegiano. The distinction between the cortegiana
(07:15):
and the meretrice or traditional prostitute can be a bit
blurry at times, but there were some key distinctions. For example,
the courtesant clientele would be of the elite classes, noblemen, merchants,
even men of the cloth. She would attract this clientele
(07:35):
through her beauty and luxurious dress, as well as her
cultural knowledge. She could play music, recite poetry, or recall
the Greek and Roman classics. The best could do all
of the above. Sex was, of course at the core
of the relationship between a courtizan and her patron, but
(07:57):
it was her unique skill as a conversation partner that
would lead a man of means to seek her services
as opposed to the services of a maritrice. The courtisan
is in many ways similar to the Japanese geisha, who's
a good reference point thanks to her enduring cultural legacy.
(08:19):
Their intellectual talents are also what earned these women the
title of quote honest courtisan. Honest in this instance can
be defined as respected or recognized. After all, courtisans were
expected to sell a fantasy, not deliver harsh truths, as
(08:41):
the name courtisan implies. She also attended social functions of
the court and was often allowed in spaces that even
noble women were prohibited from. While a Venetian noblewoman would
have greater power and status than a courtesan, her life
would be confined to the private, domestic sphere. Despite their differences,
(09:06):
the courtesan and the noble women were sometimes visually indistinguishable
thanks to their comparable means and taste. In his famed
fifteen ninety book of Costumes, the publisher Cesare Verrelio notes
that quote, Indeed, at times, some of these courtesans dressed
(09:27):
like widows and look very much like Venetian noblewomen to
those who are not familiar with their condition end quote.
This was very concerning to Venetian authorities, who made frequent
attempts to distinguish sex workers from other women by mandating
that they wear a yellow scarf in public or forbidding
(09:51):
them from wearing certain fabrics and materials, laws which were
repeatedly soundly ignored, especially by the courtesan. The Republic repeatedly
attempted to construct legal qualifications as to what separated a
courtesan from a noble woman, as well as a courtesan
(10:12):
from a meritrice, but throughout the first half of the
sixteenth century, their efforts were in vain. While many rejected
the courtesan place in society, and many more would in
the latter half of the century. Courtesans at this time
were integral to the city's identity. Venice, known for its
(10:35):
beauty and luxury goods, prized the courtesan as a jewel
of society. Visitors sought to gaze upon Venice's courtesans as
one would any tourist attraction, as the eccentric English travel
writer Thomas Corriet described in sixteen o eight quote as
(10:56):
for the number of these Venetian courtesans, it is very
good rate, at the least twenty thousand, whereof many are
esteemed so loose they are said to open their quivers
to every arrow end quote. The number is certainly an exaggeration,
but such a figure fits with Venice's historical reputation as
(11:20):
a city of pleasure. So now let's return to Veronica's life.
The Francos were not of the lowest economic class, as
has been theorized by some historians in the past. But
it does not appear Francesco had any government position, and
so the family certainly would need to work to support themselves.
(11:42):
For women who needed to do that, options were quite limited.
In Veronica's mother Paula's case, she supported herself as a courtesan.
It was Paula who introduced her daughter to the profession,
and we know Veronica established herself as a courtesan by
around age eighteen. The Catalog of All the Principal and
(12:05):
most Honored Courtesans of Venice, printed likely around fifteen sixty five,
is a famed published list of two hundred and twelve
actively working courtesans, including Veronica Franco. Each woman is identified
by name, location, fee, and who there pizza or go
(12:27):
between is. For Veronica, the listed go between is her
mother Paula. Talk about Mamager, you can imagine the you're
doing amazing sweetie of the sixteenth century. While Veronica enjoyed
great success in her career, evidence from her published collection
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Familiar Letters reveals that she may have wanted to choose
a different path for herself. In one letter, she implores
a friend and fellow courtesan not to introduce her daughter
to their profession, offering instead to pay the daughter's way
to a home dedicated to young impoverished women. Veronica wrote, quote,
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to make one's self prey to so many men, at
the risk of being stripped, robbed, even killed, along with
so many other dangers of injury and dreadful, contagious diseases.
To eat with another's mouth, sleep with another's eyes, move
according to another's will, obviously rushing toward the shipwreck of
(13:36):
your mind and your body. What greater misery, what wealth,
what luxuries, what delights? Can outweigh all this? Published in
fifteen eighty. In that letter, Veronica reflects on her life
not simply with cynicism, but with wisdom and a greater
(13:57):
awareness of Venice's exist social conditions. Glamorous as it might
be to imagine the luxurious life of a courtesan, it
simply wasn't the case, even for someone like Veronica, who
was successful. In Veronica's earliest years, before her career began,
(14:18):
she briefly did live a more traditional lifestyle. Sometime in
the early fifteen sixties, a teenage Veronica entered an arranged
marriage with a doctor, Paolo Paniza, who possessed what is
possibly the most stereotypically Italian name I've come across in
the history of this podcast. It was evidently not a
(14:42):
great match, as the couple separated not long after they
were married. Such knowledge comes from Veronica's unusual request for
the return of her dowry in her fifteen sixty four will,
an important document for our understanding of Veronica's life. Reading
a will may seem like an odd place to begin
(15:06):
telling someone's life story, but Veronica's two written wills from
fifteen sixty four and from fifteen seventy ironically provide us
with some of the earliest details of her life. More saliently,
they tell us a lot about who she was and
who she would become, despite the fact that they were
(15:28):
written at the incredibly young ages of eighteen and twenty four, respectively.
For one thing, we know that she was writing her
first will in fifteen sixty four when she was eighteen
years old, because she was pregnant. This was common practice
at the time as necessary insurance in case a mother
(15:51):
died in childbirth. Notably, Veronica declares that Paulo is not
the father of her unborn child. She believed, with the
qualification that only God knows for certain. The baby's father
was Yakimo Dibabali, a noble merchant from modern day Croatia.
(16:12):
It's unknown whether or not he was a lover, a client,
or both, but it is highly probable that Veronica had
already begun her career as a courtesan by the time
of the will, writing as her support from several patrician
and noble families of Venice is noted. Veronica writes that
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in honor of the love shared between them, Dibabali should
take responsibility for the child in the case of her death.
She also bequeathed him a diamond quote as a symbol
of her love. Veronica orders her executors to leave her
accumulated capital in the care of Dibabali, but only under
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the condition that he matches the amount with five percent
interest for the benefit of their son or daughter until
he or she reaches legal age. If they have a daughter.
Franco insists that at such a point, the remaining capital
plus interest be given directly to her in the form
of a dowry. Making sure that women have money and
(17:22):
importantly access to that money is a recurring point of
order in Veronica's will. For example, she leaves ten ducats
to Agnesina, the daughter of her brother's wetners, to be
repeated any time Agnesina marries. Additionally, when Veronica requests the
(17:42):
return of her dowry from Paolo, she asks that it
be given to her mother to do with as she pleases,
quote like her who gave it to me. This implies
that the money for Veronica's dowry was provided not by
her father, but by her her mother, and her mother's
work as a courtesan. By the time Veronica wrote her
(18:05):
second will six years later, in fifteen seventy, her life
had changed considerably. For one, her mother was dead. It's
unlikely Veronica found a new pieza and instead began managing
her own transactions. It's clear that she had become a
sought after courtesan by this point, evidenced by a considerable
(18:30):
rise in means and the appearance of higher ranking associates
in her will. Veronica's literary career would not begin for
a few more years, but we see she had already
endeared herself to Venice's elite. In this new will, she
dictates that the majority of her capital is to be
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left to the care and education of her two epically
named sons, Akille, the child with whom she was pregnant
at the time of writing her first will, and Ennio.
According to Veronica, Ennio is the son of Andrea Tron,
a Venetian nobleman. Andre himself a son of a prominent senator,
(19:15):
was already married to a noblewoman at the time of
their son's birth, and it's unknown whether or not he
ever claimed their son as his own. This will is
more detailed than the first. We see how Veronica has
carefully divided her capital between her two children, the children
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of those she's close to, and her brother's family. She
once again designates money for the dowries of young women
in need, but this time she circumvents the balloting system. Instead,
she directs the quote surplus of her capital to provide
for the marriages of quote two worthy maidens. She adds
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an additional clause that if her executors confined to prostitutes
who want to quote leave their wicked life by marrying
or entering a convent end quote, then they should be
embraced rather than the two maidens wicked here is not
necessarily a moral judgment in this instance, rather a reflection
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of the hardships endured by the sex workers during this
time in Venice. Veronica was evidently successful enough that she
had her own home and the luxury of employing a
small staff. Because her will also designates money to be
left to her cook, her maid, and a former maid.
(20:42):
It was in her own home that the courtesan welcomed
the young king Henry the third of Vlois, son of
Catherine de Medici, who visited Venice in July of fifteen
seventy four during his journey from Poland to France to
claim the throne there following the death of his older brother.
(21:04):
Henry's stay in Venice marked the most extravagant reception of
a foreign dignitary that the city had ever witnessed. The
then twenty three year old Henri and his cousin spent
the evenings attending balls and theatrical performances, before spending the
nights seeking out Venice's other most famous attractions. It's unknown
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how Henry came to meet Veronica specifically, but it's likely
he was introduced through one of the nobles assigned to
attend to him, Andrea tron, the father of her second child.
Henry is mainly known for two things, his assassination, which
ultimately marks the end of the House of Blois, and
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his sexuality. It is believed that he enjoyed cross dressing
at masquerades, and that he had sexual relationships with his
male favorites. However, because rumors surrounding his bisexuality and quote
effeminacy were used by Catholic detractors to prove that he
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was unfit for the throne, historians have never entirely been
able to distinguish fact from fiction with certainty what's real
and what's propaganda. By the time of his and Veronica's encounter,
even before taking the French throne, Henry had already gained
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something of a reputation, though their encounter was almost certainly
sexual in nature. Veronica later published a sonnet platonically singing
the young King's praises quote, So to my modest dwelling,
without the shine and dazzle of royal pomp, came Henri
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called to so vast a kingdom that one world alone
cannot contain it. Although he came disguised, he nonetheless so
imprinted upon my heart his heavenly merit, that my natural
strength abandoned me. It was a combination of luck, her status,
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and skill that led Veronica to live the life of
a courtesan who would host foreign kings, rather than a
life as a simple meritrece She seems to understand that,
and it may have informed why she would choose to
pursue another kind of work at this time that seemed
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untouchable for most women of her time and place. Sometime
in the early fifteen seventies, Veronica became a member of
the intellectual circle cultivated by one of the most powerful
noble clans of Venice, the Vinyer family. At the top
of the familial higherarchy sat Domenico, the patron and protector.
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After relinquishing his duty as Senator in fifteen forty six
because of his painful chronic gout, Domenico devoted his time
to establishing an informal literary academy that met regularly at
his residence. What set Domenico apart from other patrons and
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hosts was his sponsorship of numerous female artists and intellectuals.
It does not appear that his support of these women,
including Veronica, was dependent on sexual relationships. As noted earlier,
only around ten percent of Venetian women were literate during
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this time period, and an even smaller percentage were publishing
written work. In the absence of a powerful and extremely
progressive father, women who sought to not only cultivate into
coellectual lives, but also publish would need to rely on
the generosity of patrons like Domenico. Originally, Veronica's literary career
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was dedicated to compiling the poems of other members of
the circle for volumes, a unique role for a woman.
Letters reveal she acted as the organizer of numerous collections
throughout the fifteen seventies. The Patriarch's influence on Veronica and
(25:30):
this circle at large is evident in her first published
collection of poetry, fifteen seventy five's Poems in Terzarma. Domenico
was interested in pre Petrarchan poetic forms, which encouraged a
revival of Dante's third rhyme structure first seen in The
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Divine Comedy. This collection consisted of eighteen poems, with some
in the format of proposta and riposta between Veronica and
anonymous male poets, a back and forth. By publishing a
collection including poetic exchanges instead of merely her own compositions,
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Veronica was seeking to elevate her status by putting her
work on the same level as her male contemporaries. Typically
preferred for academic, satirical and comic compositions. Veronica utilizes that
back and forth format to wittily and critically engage with
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both her lovers and her detractor's perceptions of her. Take
the first two poems in the collection, Capitulo one, credited
to an unknown author, is written in the tradition of
the petrarchian lover desperate for his feelings to be requited.
Unlike the other works in poems credited to unknown authors,
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we actually do have the identity of this forlorn man.
He was Marco Venier, Dominico's nephew and Veronica's lover. The
first copies of Poems identified him as the author of
this poem, but then subsequent printings anonymize him alongside the
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other writers for reasons unexplained. His poem rhapsodizes Veronica's cruel
or perhaps even dangerous beauty, but also flatters her writing talent,
which Marco calls a gift from Apollo himself. Quote, and
so among beauties, you are famous for your learning, and
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among learned women you are known for your beauty, and
in both you excel one group and the other. He however,
follows this praise with a question, but if knowledge in
you is so nobly fruitful, why is it that beauty.
Also a treasure comes to ruin through your hard heart.
(28:09):
Marco's seduction hinges on the argument that Veronica has been
blessed by both Venus and Apollo, but by denying him
her love, she squanders Venus's gift. He declares, you must
put to good use all the gifts that she made you,
as you do with the gifts granted you by Apollo.
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You'll make your name immortal through Venus's gifts no less
than you will do with your ink. Veronica's reply uses
her apollo given a wit to turn Marco's arguments against him. Quote,
if you think I'm so dear to Phoebus for composing
poems in the works of love, you'll find me dear
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still to Venus. With this assurance that she is a
perfectly skilled and confident lover, Veronica makes it clear that
she does not hold back her affection out of cruelty
or flippancy, but rather because she is too wise to
be persuaded by words alone. She asks her lover to
(29:16):
show the extent of his feelings through deeds instead, quote
prove your love to me by other means than compliments,
For I take care not to be fooled by them.
Please me more with deeds and praise me less. She
specifies exactly what that means. Quote, I do not ask
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you now to express your love with gold or silver.
For to have an understanding with a noble man in
order to extract from him a treasure is most unsuited
to the decorum of any but an utterly venal soul.
Such behavior does not befit my profession. But leaving words aside,
(30:00):
I clearly state that deeds must prove your love. You
know quite well what I like best. Persevere in this
as I already told you before, and you shall be
my unique and only lover. Here she subverts popular expectations
of the courtesan by affirming that it's not gold or
(30:23):
silver that draws her to a lover, but what she
likes quote best, which, despite what you may be thinking,
that it's something salacious, she defines later in the poem
as creative literary collaboration, and who can blame her. Still,
she assures Marco that their collaboration as lovers will be
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just as rewarding as their collaboration as writers. Quote Whenever
I am in bed with one who, as I sense,
loves and enjoys me. I become so delectable and tender
that my pleasure surpasses all other delights, and what appeared
to be a very tight knot of love grows even tighter.
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I perform so well in bed that this form of
art proves vastly superior to the art of Apollo. There
is obviously some sexual meaning there, which was not uncommon
in the works of courtiers, but stands out to historians
as a rare instance of a sixteenth century woman describing
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her own sexuality in such unabashed terms. Veronica additionally subverts
the dominant erotic language of Marco's poem. I would like
to take the burnished gold of those tresses in my
hand and pull that fine treasure ever so gently, to
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avenge my hurt by portraying sex as more pleasurable when
it is an equal experience. Quote, let me see the
works I've asked for from you, for then you'll enjoy
my sweetness to the full, and I will also take
pleasure in yours, in the way that mutual love allows,
(32:16):
which provides delight free from all pain. This exchange of
poems is not only a debate between lovers, but a
debate as to what it means to be a lover.
In publishing this work, Veronica defines herself and by extension,
the courtesan, as a collaborator first and foremost. This is
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also a direct counter of Marco's declaration that she is
the operah or artifact of his affection and inspiration. Veronica
is not a passive subject in the art of love
and poetry, but rather an active participant in its creation.
The same tactics used in a debate about love would
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be needed in a debate about her honor. When the
first poem mocking Veronica began to circulate, she believed that
the author might have actually been Marco again. But then
the poems continued, and the language got darker, and the
attacks became on her very character, and she realized she
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was wrong. She soon learned that the true author of
these poems was in fact Mafio Vanier, Marco's cousin and
Dominica's nephew, the Mafio from the cinematic fencing match. Mafio
was a courtier and prominent poet, and though he had
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all the privilege afforded to a son of the Venieri clan,
he was something of a black Sheep for his lack
of involvement in politics and his tendency to avoid the
responsibilities bestowed upon him. He did, however, perform one year
of service in the Medici Court. When he returned to
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Venice in fifteen seventy five, the city that greeted him
was not the one he had left, struck by the
plague earlier that year. Venice was in social and financial disorder.
Returning to the Caviennair circle and finding a socially mobile
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courtesan gaining respect in the literary scene, it seems Mafio
found an easy target, representing all of the city's ills
in his mind. His three poems first, believe Me Franca
that by San Mafio, Second, wouldn't you like that? What
sort of game is this? And Veronica Veritably Unique? Or
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begin as more straightforward satire and devolve into a true
display of resentful, misogynistic vitriol. That last poem is the
most deplorable, opening with an imagined depiction of Veronica's quote
monstrous body covered in syphilitic sores. I quote Veronica veritably Unique,
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core franca id est, foxy, flighty, flimsy, flabby, smelly, scrawny,
scrimpy and the biggest scoundrel besides who lives between Costello
Ghetto and the customs. A woman reduced to a monster
made of human flesh, plaster, chalk, cardboard, leather and wooden board,
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A grizzly spook, a scabby ogre, a crocodile, a hippogriff,
an ostrich, a knock kneed mare. To sing of all
that is wrong with you, your flaws, your faults, would
take one hundred concepts, thousands of pens and ink well
and countless poets. Veronica's response opens with a denouncement of
(36:06):
Marco's character, pointing out his lack of chivalry his blows
against an quote unarmed woman. However, she claims that her
vulnerability has diminished and his attacks have only made her
stronger quote and bitter. Medicines likewise bring health, and we
make use of steel and fire to clean and cauterize
(36:30):
infected wounds. By bringing attention to her health, she also
counters Mafio's accusation of disease without needing to directly address it.
Veronica then challenges him to any kind of duel, whether
it be on paper or with swords. She notes that
while he may find it unfair to joust with a woman,
(36:53):
she assures him that he is under an illusion enforced
by societal standards.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
When we women, too have weapons and training, we will
be able to prove to all men that we have
hands and feet and hearts like yours. And though we
may be tender and delicate, some men who are delicate
are also strong, and some, though coarse and rough, are cowards.
(37:19):
And to prove to you that I speak the truth
among so many women, I will act first, setting an
example for them all to follow. Veronica then makes the
argument that perhaps most aligned with our modern times, calling him,
in not so many words, an inceel quote, I undertake
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to defend all women against you who despise them, so
that rightly I'm not alone to protest it. It is
certain that you miss great pleasure by being unable to
savor our sweetness, and I blame your bad habits for
being the cause. Employing another tried and true tactic, she
(38:02):
digs into Mafio's grasp on language. Quote, you called me
tierre unica, veritably unique, and all the rest alluding to
my name, Veronica. But while you meant it as abuse,
According to my dictionary. I fail to see how one
can properly call a thing unique. In other words, she
(38:25):
asserts that unique is in fact a positive word, and
she continues, quote and though you call me prostitute, either
you imply that I'm not one of them, or that
among them some merit praise whatever goodness prostitutes may have,
whatever grace and nobility of soul, the sound of your
word assigned to me, Veronica does not take the root
(38:50):
of distinguishing herself from poor prostitutes. Rather, she's defending them
all as a class. She closes her defense with another
challenge to duel and a threat for good measure, quote,
you will have nowhere to run from me. In fifteen eighty,
Mafio Vanieri contracted syphilis and ultimately succumbed to the illness
(39:14):
six years later, a fact that I will present with
no comment. Unfortunately, there only in person. Sword fight happened
in the movies. Five years after Veronica's debate with Mafio,
Veronica was forced to once again publicly defend her good name,
(39:34):
only this time the stakes were far higher. On October eighth,
fifteen eighty, Veronica was summoned by the Inquisition courts on
charges of performing heretical incantations to curb the unrest caused
by the plague, the Fourth Ottoman Venetian War, and a
series of natural disasters. Venetians of all classes were encouraged
(39:59):
by authorities to support the republic in their fight against heresy,
even if that meant turning in your neighbor or employer.
Courtesans were among a number of marginalized groups, including Jewish
and queer people, denounced for luxuria and frequently targeted. The
(40:20):
language in the accusation against Veronica reflects this influence. Quote
If this whitch, this public masked and cheating prostitute, is
not punished, many others will begin to do the same
things against the Holy Catholic Faith. While the charge was
filed anonymously, we know now that her accuser was Ridolfo Vanitelli,
(40:44):
her children's tutor. The historian Richard Kikaffer has concluded that
many witchcraft trials were born of worldly, petty arguments. He notes,
quote in many cases, the accuser feels guilty and reverses
his guilt by projecting it on the accused. Veronica had
(41:05):
been the victim of more than one robbery by fifteen eighty,
so when another theft occurred that year, she threatened to
withhold her household staff's salaries until the culprit was found,
assuming that the robbery had come from somewhere within in
her version of events, the staff then begged to perform
(41:26):
a magic ritual specifically designed to target thieves. The attempt
was evidently unsuccessful, and Veronica began to point fingers. This
was around the same time Vanitelli filed his accusation, which
doesn't quite feel coincidental. Specifically, he wrote that in order
(41:50):
to recover her lost items, she had invoked the names
of demons in a ritual involving a wedding ring, a
blessed olive branch, blessed kins, handles, and holy water. To
support his accusations, things take a turn for the mafio
esque when he calls her quote a witch and a
(42:10):
public whore, among other unflattering descriptors. He concludes his filing
by calling for the harshest punishment possible to be enacted
as quickly as possible so she can't quote no longer
contaminate the city. This specific line invokes Mafio's accusation that
(42:32):
Veronica was spreading syphilis, calling her a quote the woman
who makes our present century blind and contaminates it. Thus,
when Veronica was summoned to the inquisition courts on October eighth,
fifteen eighty, it was not only to defend herself against
(42:53):
accusations of heresy, but to defend her morality. In court,
Veronica sought to use her command of language to persuade
the inquisitor. For example, when asked why she allowed such
a ritual to take place in her home, she responded
that any sin she may be guilty of was only
(43:15):
with quote effect and not effect, because ultimately she did
not believe in it. The inquisitor was not easily swayed
by such language nitpicking, which led Veronica to employ the
tactics we find in her debate about love back with
Marco and her poetic battle with Mafio, turning her opponent's
(43:38):
argument against him. It was Vanitelli, she claimed, who begged
her to perform the ritual in her home. She reported
threatening him telling him that only quote the cord of
the night patrol without so many candles will find the truth.
In redirecting the accusation of heresy towards her accuser, Veronica
(44:00):
was evidently able to convince the tribunal that while she
was guilty of allowing the ritual to be held in
her home, she was not guilty of performing it. There
was no official sentence in the trial, though it was
not uncommon for trials of this nature to be suspended
after a few days in court. We will never know
(44:22):
if it was the strength of her evidence, the power
of her persuasive performance, or some intervention from Domenico that
ultimately swayed the court in her favor. Fifteen eighty was
also the same year Veronica published Familiar Letters, a collection
of letters written throughout the decade prior, exploring her daily life,
(44:47):
expanding on her poems, and giving advice to friends. These
letters were likely a mix of true correspondence and literary exercise,
but in blending her public and private voice, Veronica challenged
misconceptions of the interior life of a courtesan. As she
(45:08):
did in her poems, her letters portray her as an intellectual,
a collaborator, even a moral guide. The content of these
letters has informed much of our knowledge about Veronica's life
and her values. Quite tragically, however, Letters would be her
last published work. In fifteen eighty two, Domenico died, and
(45:35):
upon his death, Veronica lost her greatest patron. That same year,
having never recovered her stolen possessions, a tax report reveals
Veronica was impoverished. From this report, we also know that
she was no longer living in that home where she
had once hosted Henry the Third, but in an area
(45:58):
of the city inhabited by many poor meritreachi. Her last
years are undocumented, but it is known that she died
just short of a decade later in fifteen ninety one,
at age forty five. While her rise and fall in
Venetian society was relatively short lived, Veronica's decade in the
(46:22):
spotlight not only produced a body of work that cemented
her legacy, but one that sought to open doors for
other women to do the same, As she declared she
would be an example for them to follow. That's the
story of Veronica Franco's life. But stick around after a
(46:44):
brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about
her life depicted on the screen. The film based on
Veronica's life, Danger Beauty, originally shared a title with the
biography by Margaret Rosenthal, The Honest Courtisan. However, After screening
(47:09):
the film for American test audiences, the studio realized the
title had to be changed. According to Marshall Herskovitz, they
discovered that quote literally ninety five percent of movie going
audiences did not know what the word courtisan meant, but
more importantly, they thought it was courtizone. The movie had
(47:31):
a modest but successful run at the box office and
received a respectable three and a half stars from Roger Ebert.
I'm not surprised that the screenwriter is a woman, he mused.
Few movies have been so deliberately told from a woman's
point of view. Most movies are made by males and
(47:52):
show women enthralled by men. This movie knows better. Noble
Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grim and
Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me
(48:15):
Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick,
Courtney Sender, Amy Hit, and Julia Melaney. The show is
edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima
il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and
Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(48:40):
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky Listener discretion advised. Around the
halfway point of the nineteen ninety eight drama film Dangerous Beauty,
the movie's protagonist points a sword at the throat of
the man who has just publicly mocked her, and she
(00:24):
challenges him to a duel. What follows is a battle
of both body and wit, as the swordsman and swordswoman
trade poetic verses while.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Engaging in a flamboyant fencing match that ends on a
boat in a Venetian canal. It's very cinematic and an
incredibly fun scene to watch. I'm especially fond of the
classic moment when our heroine finds the fabric of her
dress punctured, so she removes the skirt to reveal a
pair of pants underneath in a bit of delightful nineties
(00:58):
feminist revisionistm The fight in the movie is a turning
point for these two characters, who have previously been cordial.
Earlier in the film, both of them poets had worked
in harmony to exalt Venice's beauty. Now our heroine's lines
are criticizing her partner's disregard for the minds of women
(01:21):
while he's calling her a whore. He is Mafio Venier
and she is Veronica Franco, and as it happens, both
of their accusations about the other are true. The movie
Dangerous Beauty takes a lot of artistic liberty as a
(01:42):
biopic of the Venetian courtesan and writer Veronica Franco, though
it does pull from the true history found at its
source material, the biography The Honest Courtesan by Margaret Rosenthal.
The basic story of the movie is factual. Veronica Franco,
(02:03):
the daughter of a cortesan, rose from obscurity to the
heights of Venetian society, entertaining and serving many high ranking men,
including a young Henry the Third of France. The film
depicts imagined details of their let's say, exploratory encounter in
(02:25):
a scene you will have to watch for yourself. More extraordinarily, though,
in real life, Veronica used her accumulated influence to publish
her own writing and advocate for the rights of her
fellow Venetian women. Where truth and fiction diverge is in
(02:45):
the details. For example, the film's central love story between
Veronica and Mafio's cousin, Marco, was based on a real relationship,
just not one that would have been quite as swoonworthy
without embellishment. The movie also takes a few liberties with
(03:06):
regards to that battle between Veronica and Mafio. In real life,
it was only scathing poems going back and forth, not swords,
while blood may have been drawn on screen. The film
keeps things lighter with regards to the intellectual violence of
(03:26):
the real Mafio's virulent and darkly misogynistic verses about Franco
in real life, where did his extreme hatred of Veronica
stem from? There's some crossover between art and history. The
movie portrays him as jealous that Dominico, his wealthy uncle,
(03:47):
was more supportive of Veronica's literary ambitions rather than his own,
and it portrays him as bitter that Veronica rejected his
advances years earlier. Seems to be quite true, but there's
no evidence to support the latter. The sword fighting scene
in the movie ends with Veronica triumphant, but Mafio, now
(04:11):
on the other side of the court's laughter, delivers a
sucker punch to her jaw. It's an apt metaphor for
life as a courtesan. For all of her success and
status in Venetian high society, Veronica was never safe from
the violent whims of men. It was those violent whims
(04:34):
that would eventually place Veronica Franco in front of the
Catholic Inquisition, accused of witchcraft. I'm Danas Schwartz and this
is noble blood. Veronica Franco was born in fifteen forty
six to Paula Fracassa and Francesco Franco, and she was
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the only daughter of of their four children. While not noble,
the Franco family were part of a cast known as
the citizens by birth, which is a group that made
up much of Venice's salaried bureaucracy at the time. Though
this citizen try were denied noble privileges, including high governmental
(05:19):
positions or a vote in the Great Council. They could
also be members of the co fraternities or Great Schools
of Venice, which were powerful lay religious societies. It's unknown
whether or not Veronica received an education as a girl,
but it's likely that she was able to sit in
(05:41):
on lessons with her three brothers' private tutor. Even that
small liberty, though was more than most women received. In fact,
any access to education was outside of the norm. For reference,
the Italian Renaissance scholar Paul F. Grendler sites that fewer
than four percent of Venetian women had any public schooling
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in the fifteen eighties, and only ten to twelve percent
were literate. Men, by contrast, had a thirty percent literacy
rate during the same period. The women who did receive
education were from the nobility and upper classes, but even
then their schooling was typically limited to rudimentary reading and writing,
(06:30):
just enough to learn religious principles and prepare to run
a major household. Veronica's rise to prominence as a writer
and courtesan was as a result, fueled by her determination
to educate herself later in life. It makes a little
sense to pause here and define what and who exactly
(06:54):
a courtesan is in the context of today's episode. Just
as the English word courtizan derives from the masculine courtier,
meaning a man who serves at court, the Italian cortegiana
derives from the masculine cortegiano. The distinction between the cortegiana
(07:15):
and the meretrice or traditional prostitute can be a bit
blurry at times, but there were some key distinctions. For example,
the courtesant clientele would be of the elite classes, noblemen, merchants,
even men of the cloth. She would attract this clientele
(07:35):
through her beauty and luxurious dress, as well as her
cultural knowledge. She could play music, recite poetry, or recall
the Greek and Roman classics. The best could do all
of the above. Sex was, of course at the core
of the relationship between a courtizan and her patron, but
(07:57):
it was her unique skill as a conversation partner that
would lead a man of means to seek her services
as opposed to the services of a maritrice. The courtisan
is in many ways similar to the Japanese geisha, who's
a good reference point thanks to her enduring cultural legacy.
(08:19):
Their intellectual talents are also what earned these women the
title of quote honest courtisan. Honest in this instance can
be defined as respected or recognized. After all, courtisans were
expected to sell a fantasy, not deliver harsh truths, as
(08:41):
the name courtisan implies. She also attended social functions of
the court and was often allowed in spaces that even
noble women were prohibited from. While a Venetian noblewoman would
have greater power and status than a courtesan, her life
would be confined to the private, domestic sphere. Despite their differences,
(09:06):
the courtesan and the noble women were sometimes visually indistinguishable
thanks to their comparable means and taste. In his famed
fifteen ninety book of Costumes, the publisher Cesare Verrelio notes
that quote, Indeed, at times, some of these courtesans dressed
(09:27):
like widows and look very much like Venetian noblewomen to
those who are not familiar with their condition end quote.
This was very concerning to Venetian authorities, who made frequent
attempts to distinguish sex workers from other women by mandating
that they wear a yellow scarf in public or forbidding
(09:51):
them from wearing certain fabrics and materials, laws which were
repeatedly soundly ignored, especially by the courtesan. The Republic repeatedly
attempted to construct legal qualifications as to what separated a
courtesan from a noble woman, as well as a courtesan
(10:12):
from a meritrice, but throughout the first half of the
sixteenth century, their efforts were in vain. While many rejected
the courtesan place in society, and many more would in
the latter half of the century. Courtesans at this time
were integral to the city's identity. Venice, known for its
(10:35):
beauty and luxury goods, prized the courtesan as a jewel
of society. Visitors sought to gaze upon Venice's courtesans as
one would any tourist attraction, as the eccentric English travel
writer Thomas Corriet described in sixteen o eight quote as
(10:56):
for the number of these Venetian courtesans, it is very
good rate, at the least twenty thousand, whereof many are
esteemed so loose they are said to open their quivers
to every arrow end quote. The number is certainly an exaggeration,
but such a figure fits with Venice's historical reputation as
(11:20):
a city of pleasure. So now let's return to Veronica's life.
The Francos were not of the lowest economic class, as
has been theorized by some historians in the past. But
it does not appear Francesco had any government position, and
so the family certainly would need to work to support themselves.
(11:42):
For women who needed to do that, options were quite limited.
In Veronica's mother Paula's case, she supported herself as a courtesan.
It was Paula who introduced her daughter to the profession,
and we know Veronica established herself as a courtesan by
around age eighteen. The Catalog of All the Principal and
(12:05):
most Honored Courtesans of Venice, printed likely around fifteen sixty five,
is a famed published list of two hundred and twelve
actively working courtesans, including Veronica Franco. Each woman is identified
by name, location, fee, and who there pizza or go
(12:27):
between is. For Veronica, the listed go between is her
mother Paula. Talk about Mamager, you can imagine the you're
doing amazing sweetie of the sixteenth century. While Veronica enjoyed
great success in her career, evidence from her published collection
(12:48):
Familiar Letters reveals that she may have wanted to choose
a different path for herself. In one letter, she implores
a friend and fellow courtesan not to introduce her daughter
to their profession, offering instead to pay the daughter's way
to a home dedicated to young impoverished women. Veronica wrote, quote,
(13:13):
to make one's self prey to so many men, at
the risk of being stripped, robbed, even killed, along with
so many other dangers of injury and dreadful, contagious diseases.
To eat with another's mouth, sleep with another's eyes, move
according to another's will, obviously rushing toward the shipwreck of
(13:36):
your mind and your body. What greater misery, what wealth,
what luxuries, what delights? Can outweigh all this? Published in
fifteen eighty. In that letter, Veronica reflects on her life
not simply with cynicism, but with wisdom and a greater
(13:57):
awareness of Venice's exist social conditions. Glamorous as it might
be to imagine the luxurious life of a courtesan, it
simply wasn't the case, even for someone like Veronica, who
was successful. In Veronica's earliest years, before her career began,
(14:18):
she briefly did live a more traditional lifestyle. Sometime in
the early fifteen sixties, a teenage Veronica entered an arranged
marriage with a doctor, Paolo Paniza, who possessed what is
possibly the most stereotypically Italian name I've come across in
the history of this podcast. It was evidently not a
(14:42):
great match, as the couple separated not long after they
were married. Such knowledge comes from Veronica's unusual request for
the return of her dowry in her fifteen sixty four will,
an important document for our understanding of Veronica's life. Reading
a will may seem like an odd place to begin
(15:06):
telling someone's life story, but Veronica's two written wills from
fifteen sixty four and from fifteen seventy ironically provide us
with some of the earliest details of her life. More saliently,
they tell us a lot about who she was and
who she would become, despite the fact that they were
(15:28):
written at the incredibly young ages of eighteen and twenty four, respectively.
For one thing, we know that she was writing her
first will in fifteen sixty four when she was eighteen
years old, because she was pregnant. This was common practice
at the time as necessary insurance in case a mother
(15:51):
died in childbirth. Notably, Veronica declares that Paulo is not
the father of her unborn child. She believed, with the
qualification that only God knows for certain. The baby's father
was Yakimo Dibabali, a noble merchant from modern day Croatia.
(16:12):
It's unknown whether or not he was a lover, a client,
or both, but it is highly probable that Veronica had
already begun her career as a courtesan by the time
of the will, writing as her support from several patrician
and noble families of Venice is noted. Veronica writes that
(16:35):
in honor of the love shared between them, Dibabali should
take responsibility for the child in the case of her death.
She also bequeathed him a diamond quote as a symbol
of her love. Veronica orders her executors to leave her
accumulated capital in the care of Dibabali, but only under
(16:57):
the condition that he matches the amount with five percent
interest for the benefit of their son or daughter until
he or she reaches legal age. If they have a daughter.
Franco insists that at such a point, the remaining capital
plus interest be given directly to her in the form
of a dowry. Making sure that women have money and
(17:22):
importantly access to that money is a recurring point of
order in Veronica's will. For example, she leaves ten ducats
to Agnesina, the daughter of her brother's wetners, to be
repeated any time Agnesina marries. Additionally, when Veronica requests the
(17:42):
return of her dowry from Paolo, she asks that it
be given to her mother to do with as she pleases,
quote like her who gave it to me. This implies
that the money for Veronica's dowry was provided not by
her father, but by her her mother, and her mother's
work as a courtesan. By the time Veronica wrote her
(18:05):
second will six years later, in fifteen seventy, her life
had changed considerably. For one, her mother was dead. It's
unlikely Veronica found a new pieza and instead began managing
her own transactions. It's clear that she had become a
sought after courtesan by this point, evidenced by a considerable
(18:30):
rise in means and the appearance of higher ranking associates
in her will. Veronica's literary career would not begin for
a few more years, but we see she had already
endeared herself to Venice's elite. In this new will, she
dictates that the majority of her capital is to be
(18:51):
left to the care and education of her two epically
named sons, Akille, the child with whom she was pregnant
at the time of writing her first will, and Ennio.
According to Veronica, Ennio is the son of Andrea Tron,
a Venetian nobleman. Andre himself a son of a prominent senator,
(19:15):
was already married to a noblewoman at the time of
their son's birth, and it's unknown whether or not he
ever claimed their son as his own. This will is
more detailed than the first. We see how Veronica has
carefully divided her capital between her two children, the children
(19:35):
of those she's close to, and her brother's family. She
once again designates money for the dowries of young women
in need, but this time she circumvents the balloting system. Instead,
she directs the quote surplus of her capital to provide
for the marriages of quote two worthy maidens. She adds
(19:58):
an additional clause that if her executors confined to prostitutes
who want to quote leave their wicked life by marrying
or entering a convent end quote, then they should be
embraced rather than the two maidens wicked here is not
necessarily a moral judgment in this instance, rather a reflection
(20:21):
of the hardships endured by the sex workers during this
time in Venice. Veronica was evidently successful enough that she
had her own home and the luxury of employing a
small staff. Because her will also designates money to be
left to her cook, her maid, and a former maid.
(20:42):
It was in her own home that the courtesan welcomed
the young king Henry the third of Vlois, son of
Catherine de Medici, who visited Venice in July of fifteen
seventy four during his journey from Poland to France to
claim the throne there following the death of his older brother.
(21:04):
Henry's stay in Venice marked the most extravagant reception of
a foreign dignitary that the city had ever witnessed. The
then twenty three year old Henri and his cousin spent
the evenings attending balls and theatrical performances, before spending the
nights seeking out Venice's other most famous attractions. It's unknown
(21:30):
how Henry came to meet Veronica specifically, but it's likely
he was introduced through one of the nobles assigned to
attend to him, Andrea tron, the father of her second child.
Henry is mainly known for two things, his assassination, which
ultimately marks the end of the House of Blois, and
(21:53):
his sexuality. It is believed that he enjoyed cross dressing
at masquerades, and that he had sexual relationships with his
male favorites. However, because rumors surrounding his bisexuality and quote
effeminacy were used by Catholic detractors to prove that he
(22:14):
was unfit for the throne, historians have never entirely been
able to distinguish fact from fiction with certainty what's real
and what's propaganda. By the time of his and Veronica's encounter,
even before taking the French throne, Henry had already gained
(22:34):
something of a reputation, though their encounter was almost certainly
sexual in nature. Veronica later published a sonnet platonically singing
the young King's praises quote, So to my modest dwelling,
without the shine and dazzle of royal pomp, came Henri
(22:56):
called to so vast a kingdom that one world alone
cannot contain it. Although he came disguised, he nonetheless so
imprinted upon my heart his heavenly merit, that my natural
strength abandoned me. It was a combination of luck, her status,
(23:16):
and skill that led Veronica to live the life of
a courtesan who would host foreign kings, rather than a
life as a simple meritrece She seems to understand that,
and it may have informed why she would choose to
pursue another kind of work at this time that seemed
(23:39):
untouchable for most women of her time and place. Sometime
in the early fifteen seventies, Veronica became a member of
the intellectual circle cultivated by one of the most powerful
noble clans of Venice, the Vinyer family. At the top
of the familial higherarchy sat Domenico, the patron and protector.
(24:04):
After relinquishing his duty as Senator in fifteen forty six
because of his painful chronic gout, Domenico devoted his time
to establishing an informal literary academy that met regularly at
his residence. What set Domenico apart from other patrons and
(24:25):
hosts was his sponsorship of numerous female artists and intellectuals.
It does not appear that his support of these women,
including Veronica, was dependent on sexual relationships. As noted earlier,
only around ten percent of Venetian women were literate during
(24:46):
this time period, and an even smaller percentage were publishing
written work. In the absence of a powerful and extremely
progressive father, women who sought to not only cultivate into
coellectual lives, but also publish would need to rely on
the generosity of patrons like Domenico. Originally, Veronica's literary career
(25:10):
was dedicated to compiling the poems of other members of
the circle for volumes, a unique role for a woman.
Letters reveal she acted as the organizer of numerous collections
throughout the fifteen seventies. The Patriarch's influence on Veronica and
(25:30):
this circle at large is evident in her first published
collection of poetry, fifteen seventy five's Poems in Terzarma. Domenico
was interested in pre Petrarchan poetic forms, which encouraged a
revival of Dante's third rhyme structure first seen in The
(25:54):
Divine Comedy. This collection consisted of eighteen poems, with some
in the format of proposta and riposta between Veronica and
anonymous male poets, a back and forth. By publishing a
collection including poetic exchanges instead of merely her own compositions,
(26:18):
Veronica was seeking to elevate her status by putting her
work on the same level as her male contemporaries. Typically
preferred for academic, satirical and comic compositions. Veronica utilizes that
back and forth format to wittily and critically engage with
(26:40):
both her lovers and her detractor's perceptions of her. Take
the first two poems in the collection, Capitulo one, credited
to an unknown author, is written in the tradition of
the petrarchian lover desperate for his feelings to be requited.
Unlike the other works in poems credited to unknown authors,
(27:04):
we actually do have the identity of this forlorn man.
He was Marco Venier, Dominico's nephew and Veronica's lover. The
first copies of Poems identified him as the author of
this poem, but then subsequent printings anonymize him alongside the
(27:24):
other writers for reasons unexplained. His poem rhapsodizes Veronica's cruel
or perhaps even dangerous beauty, but also flatters her writing talent,
which Marco calls a gift from Apollo himself. Quote, and
so among beauties, you are famous for your learning, and
(27:47):
among learned women you are known for your beauty, and
in both you excel one group and the other. He however,
follows this praise with a question, but if knowledge in
you is so nobly fruitful, why is it that beauty.
Also a treasure comes to ruin through your hard heart.
(28:09):
Marco's seduction hinges on the argument that Veronica has been
blessed by both Venus and Apollo, but by denying him
her love, she squanders Venus's gift. He declares, you must
put to good use all the gifts that she made you,
as you do with the gifts granted you by Apollo.
(28:33):
You'll make your name immortal through Venus's gifts no less
than you will do with your ink. Veronica's reply uses
her apollo given a wit to turn Marco's arguments against him. Quote,
if you think I'm so dear to Phoebus for composing
poems in the works of love, you'll find me dear
(28:55):
still to Venus. With this assurance that she is a
perfectly skilled and confident lover, Veronica makes it clear that
she does not hold back her affection out of cruelty
or flippancy, but rather because she is too wise to
be persuaded by words alone. She asks her lover to
(29:16):
show the extent of his feelings through deeds instead, quote
prove your love to me by other means than compliments,
For I take care not to be fooled by them.
Please me more with deeds and praise me less. She
specifies exactly what that means. Quote, I do not ask
(29:39):
you now to express your love with gold or silver.
For to have an understanding with a noble man in
order to extract from him a treasure is most unsuited
to the decorum of any but an utterly venal soul.
Such behavior does not befit my profession. But leaving words aside,
(30:00):
I clearly state that deeds must prove your love. You
know quite well what I like best. Persevere in this
as I already told you before, and you shall be
my unique and only lover. Here she subverts popular expectations
of the courtesan by affirming that it's not gold or
(30:23):
silver that draws her to a lover, but what she
likes quote best, which, despite what you may be thinking,
that it's something salacious, she defines later in the poem
as creative literary collaboration, and who can blame her. Still,
she assures Marco that their collaboration as lovers will be
(30:46):
just as rewarding as their collaboration as writers. Quote Whenever
I am in bed with one who, as I sense,
loves and enjoys me. I become so delectable and tender
that my pleasure surpasses all other delights, and what appeared
to be a very tight knot of love grows even tighter.
(31:09):
I perform so well in bed that this form of
art proves vastly superior to the art of Apollo. There
is obviously some sexual meaning there, which was not uncommon
in the works of courtiers, but stands out to historians
as a rare instance of a sixteenth century woman describing
(31:33):
her own sexuality in such unabashed terms. Veronica additionally subverts
the dominant erotic language of Marco's poem. I would like
to take the burnished gold of those tresses in my
hand and pull that fine treasure ever so gently, to
(31:54):
avenge my hurt by portraying sex as more pleasurable when
it is an equal experience. Quote, let me see the
works I've asked for from you, for then you'll enjoy
my sweetness to the full, and I will also take
pleasure in yours, in the way that mutual love allows,
(32:16):
which provides delight free from all pain. This exchange of
poems is not only a debate between lovers, but a
debate as to what it means to be a lover.
In publishing this work, Veronica defines herself and by extension,
the courtesan, as a collaborator first and foremost. This is
(32:41):
also a direct counter of Marco's declaration that she is
the operah or artifact of his affection and inspiration. Veronica
is not a passive subject in the art of love
and poetry, but rather an active participant in its creation.
The same tactics used in a debate about love would
(33:03):
be needed in a debate about her honor. When the
first poem mocking Veronica began to circulate, she believed that
the author might have actually been Marco again. But then
the poems continued, and the language got darker, and the
attacks became on her very character, and she realized she
(33:24):
was wrong. She soon learned that the true author of
these poems was in fact Mafio Vanier, Marco's cousin and
Dominica's nephew, the Mafio from the cinematic fencing match. Mafio
was a courtier and prominent poet, and though he had
(33:45):
all the privilege afforded to a son of the Venieri clan,
he was something of a black Sheep for his lack
of involvement in politics and his tendency to avoid the
responsibilities bestowed upon him. He did, however, perform one year
of service in the Medici Court. When he returned to
(34:06):
Venice in fifteen seventy five, the city that greeted him
was not the one he had left, struck by the
plague earlier that year. Venice was in social and financial disorder.
Returning to the Caviennair circle and finding a socially mobile
(34:27):
courtesan gaining respect in the literary scene, it seems Mafio
found an easy target, representing all of the city's ills
in his mind. His three poems first, believe Me Franca
that by San Mafio, Second, wouldn't you like that? What
sort of game is this? And Veronica Veritably Unique? Or
(34:52):
begin as more straightforward satire and devolve into a true
display of resentful, misogynistic vitriol. That last poem is the
most deplorable, opening with an imagined depiction of Veronica's quote
monstrous body covered in syphilitic sores. I quote Veronica veritably Unique,
(35:20):
core franca id est, foxy, flighty, flimsy, flabby, smelly, scrawny,
scrimpy and the biggest scoundrel besides who lives between Costello
Ghetto and the customs. A woman reduced to a monster
made of human flesh, plaster, chalk, cardboard, leather and wooden board,
(35:43):
A grizzly spook, a scabby ogre, a crocodile, a hippogriff,
an ostrich, a knock kneed mare. To sing of all
that is wrong with you, your flaws, your faults, would
take one hundred concepts, thousands of pens and ink well
and countless poets. Veronica's response opens with a denouncement of
(36:06):
Marco's character, pointing out his lack of chivalry his blows
against an quote unarmed woman. However, she claims that her
vulnerability has diminished and his attacks have only made her
stronger quote and bitter. Medicines likewise bring health, and we
make use of steel and fire to clean and cauterize
(36:30):
infected wounds. By bringing attention to her health, she also
counters Mafio's accusation of disease without needing to directly address it.
Veronica then challenges him to any kind of duel, whether
it be on paper or with swords. She notes that
while he may find it unfair to joust with a woman,
(36:53):
she assures him that he is under an illusion enforced
by societal standards.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Quote.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
When we women, too have weapons and training, we will
be able to prove to all men that we have
hands and feet and hearts like yours. And though we
may be tender and delicate, some men who are delicate
are also strong, and some, though coarse and rough, are cowards.
(37:19):
And to prove to you that I speak the truth
among so many women, I will act first, setting an
example for them all to follow. Veronica then makes the
argument that perhaps most aligned with our modern times, calling him,
in not so many words, an inceel quote, I undertake
(37:40):
to defend all women against you who despise them, so
that rightly I'm not alone to protest it. It is
certain that you miss great pleasure by being unable to
savor our sweetness, and I blame your bad habits for
being the cause. Employing another tried and true tactic, she
(38:02):
digs into Mafio's grasp on language. Quote, you called me
tierre unica, veritably unique, and all the rest alluding to
my name, Veronica. But while you meant it as abuse,
According to my dictionary. I fail to see how one
can properly call a thing unique. In other words, she
(38:25):
asserts that unique is in fact a positive word, and
she continues, quote and though you call me prostitute, either
you imply that I'm not one of them, or that
among them some merit praise whatever goodness prostitutes may have,
whatever grace and nobility of soul, the sound of your
word assigned to me, Veronica does not take the root
(38:50):
of distinguishing herself from poor prostitutes. Rather, she's defending them
all as a class. She closes her defense with another
challenge to duel and a threat for good measure, quote,
you will have nowhere to run from me. In fifteen eighty,
Mafio Vanieri contracted syphilis and ultimately succumbed to the illness
(39:14):
six years later, a fact that I will present with
no comment. Unfortunately, there only in person. Sword fight happened
in the movies. Five years after Veronica's debate with Mafio,
Veronica was forced to once again publicly defend her good name,
(39:34):
only this time the stakes were far higher. On October eighth,
fifteen eighty, Veronica was summoned by the Inquisition courts on
charges of performing heretical incantations to curb the unrest caused
by the plague, the Fourth Ottoman Venetian War, and a
series of natural disasters. Venetians of all classes were encouraged
(39:59):
by authorities to support the republic in their fight against heresy,
even if that meant turning in your neighbor or employer.
Courtesans were among a number of marginalized groups, including Jewish
and queer people, denounced for luxuria and frequently targeted. The
(40:20):
language in the accusation against Veronica reflects this influence. Quote
If this whitch, this public masked and cheating prostitute, is
not punished, many others will begin to do the same
things against the Holy Catholic Faith. While the charge was
filed anonymously, we know now that her accuser was Ridolfo Vanitelli,
(40:44):
her children's tutor. The historian Richard Kikaffer has concluded that
many witchcraft trials were born of worldly, petty arguments. He notes,
quote in many cases, the accuser feels guilty and reverses
his guilt by projecting it on the accused. Veronica had
(41:05):
been the victim of more than one robbery by fifteen eighty,
so when another theft occurred that year, she threatened to
withhold her household staff's salaries until the culprit was found,
assuming that the robbery had come from somewhere within in
her version of events, the staff then begged to perform
(41:26):
a magic ritual specifically designed to target thieves. The attempt
was evidently unsuccessful, and Veronica began to point fingers. This
was around the same time Vanitelli filed his accusation, which
doesn't quite feel coincidental. Specifically, he wrote that in order
(41:50):
to recover her lost items, she had invoked the names
of demons in a ritual involving a wedding ring, a
blessed olive branch, blessed kins, handles, and holy water. To
support his accusations, things take a turn for the mafio
esque when he calls her quote a witch and a
(42:10):
public whore, among other unflattering descriptors. He concludes his filing
by calling for the harshest punishment possible to be enacted
as quickly as possible so she can't quote no longer
contaminate the city. This specific line invokes Mafio's accusation that
(42:32):
Veronica was spreading syphilis, calling her a quote the woman
who makes our present century blind and contaminates it. Thus,
when Veronica was summoned to the inquisition courts on October eighth,
fifteen eighty, it was not only to defend herself against
(42:53):
accusations of heresy, but to defend her morality. In court,
Veronica sought to use her command of language to persuade
the inquisitor. For example, when asked why she allowed such
a ritual to take place in her home, she responded
that any sin she may be guilty of was only
(43:15):
with quote effect and not effect, because ultimately she did
not believe in it. The inquisitor was not easily swayed
by such language nitpicking, which led Veronica to employ the
tactics we find in her debate about love back with
Marco and her poetic battle with Mafio, turning her opponent's
(43:38):
argument against him. It was Vanitelli, she claimed, who begged
her to perform the ritual in her home. She reported
threatening him telling him that only quote the cord of
the night patrol without so many candles will find the truth.
In redirecting the accusation of heresy towards her accuser, Veronica
(44:00):
was evidently able to convince the tribunal that while she
was guilty of allowing the ritual to be held in
her home, she was not guilty of performing it. There
was no official sentence in the trial, though it was
not uncommon for trials of this nature to be suspended
after a few days in court. We will never know
(44:22):
if it was the strength of her evidence, the power
of her persuasive performance, or some intervention from Domenico that
ultimately swayed the court in her favor. Fifteen eighty was
also the same year Veronica published Familiar Letters, a collection
of letters written throughout the decade prior, exploring her daily life,
(44:47):
expanding on her poems, and giving advice to friends. These
letters were likely a mix of true correspondence and literary exercise,
but in blending her public and private voice, Veronica challenged
misconceptions of the interior life of a courtesan. As she
(45:08):
did in her poems, her letters portray her as an intellectual,
a collaborator, even a moral guide. The content of these
letters has informed much of our knowledge about Veronica's life
and her values. Quite tragically, however, Letters would be her
last published work. In fifteen eighty two, Domenico died, and
(45:35):
upon his death, Veronica lost her greatest patron. That same year,
having never recovered her stolen possessions, a tax report reveals
Veronica was impoverished. From this report, we also know that
she was no longer living in that home where she
had once hosted Henry the Third, but in an area
(45:58):
of the city inhabited by many poor meritreachi. Her last
years are undocumented, but it is known that she died
just short of a decade later in fifteen ninety one,
at age forty five. While her rise and fall in
Venetian society was relatively short lived, Veronica's decade in the
(46:22):
spotlight not only produced a body of work that cemented
her legacy, but one that sought to open doors for
other women to do the same, As she declared she
would be an example for them to follow. That's the
story of Veronica Franco's life. But stick around after a
(46:44):
brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about
her life depicted on the screen. The film based on
Veronica's life, Danger Beauty, originally shared a title with the
biography by Margaret Rosenthal, The Honest Courtisan. However, After screening
(47:09):
the film for American test audiences, the studio realized the
title had to be changed. According to Marshall Herskovitz, they
discovered that quote literally ninety five percent of movie going
audiences did not know what the word courtisan meant, but
more importantly, they thought it was courtizone. The movie had
(47:31):
a modest but successful run at the box office and
received a respectable three and a half stars from Roger Ebert.
I'm not surprised that the screenwriter is a woman, he mused.
Few movies have been so deliberately told from a woman's
point of view. Most movies are made by males and
(47:52):
show women enthralled by men. This movie knows better. Noble
Blood is a production of iHeart Radio and Grim and
Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me
(48:15):
Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick,
Courtney Sender, Amy Hit, and Julia Melaney. The show is
edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer rima
il Kaali and executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and
Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(48:40):
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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