Laura Cereta

Laura Cereta (1469 – 1499) was a Renaissance humanist and feminist. Most of her writing was in the form of letters to other intellectuals.

Biography

Cereta was born in 1469 in Brescia. She was sent to a convent at the age of seven to be educated. She learned religious principles and to read and write. She was then brought home by her father to take care of her younger siblings. She might have suffered from insomnia keeping her awake and finishing chores while the other members of the family were sleeping. She learned Latin and Greek from her father.

She was married at the age of fifteen to Pietro Serina, who died of fever after only eighteen months of marriage. She was left childless and never remarried. After the death of her husband she concentrated on scholarly pursuits, publishing a volume of her letters in 1488, called "Epistolae familiares". Her father died six months after she published her letters, and she no longer felt inspired to write.

Feminism

In her letters, Cereta defended women's right to education and fought the oppression of married women. Her letter to Bibolo Semproni has one of the few medieval references to the 1st century BC woman poet Cornificia. [ [http://duchessmcetiquette.net/lauracereta.html Laura Cereta] at duchessmcetiquette.net (accessed 5 December 2007, now off-line)]

References