"Here begins the book on Famous Women
Written by Giovanni
Boccaccio of Certaldo
and Dedicated
to Andrea Acciaciuoli of
Florence
Countess of Altavilla
Long ago there were a few ancient authors who
composed biographies of famous men in the form of compendia, and in our day that renowned man and
great poet, my teacher Petrarch, is writing a similar work that
will be even fuller and more carefully done. This is fitting. For those who gave all their
zeal, their fortunes, and (when the occasion required
it), their blood and their lives in order to surpass other men in
illustrious deeds have certainly earned the right
to have their names remembered forever by posterity. What surprises me is how little
attention women have attracted from
writers of this genre, and the absence
of any work devoted to their memory, even though lengthier histories show clearly
that some women have performed acts requiring vigor and
courage."
Jane – on your 16th birthday, blessed day – I would like to begin recording your story and try to recount your acts which required vigor, courage and
nobility.
Your summer feats this year have filled your mother and me with more admiration than we can easily say in words, gestures or
pictures.
So much of history can probably be
summarized in the words “if
they only knew.” (So many things get lost.)
Well, we
know.
Upper: Penthesilia, Queen of
the Amazons.
Lower: Isis, goddess, arrives
in Egypt.
Miniatures
illustrating Boccaccio's Famous Women (1374), painted in Cognac, France, 15th-16th centuries, Bibliothêque Nationale, Paris.
Text: Giovanni Boccaccio, Famous Women (“Preface”), edited and
translated by Virginia Brown, Cambridge, Harvard University Press (Il Tatti
Renaissance Library), 2001.
