| Until now, histories of sixteenth-century Italian duchies have featured the duke as the only significant actor at court, with a few diplomats, noblemen, and artists performing lesser roles. Dramas of dukes as heroes (or villains) have been complemented by institutional studies based on ambassadorial reports and correspondence. These approaches, although important to understanding court politics and diplomacy, tell an incomplete story---one in which consideration of duchesses, each of them treated as unique, is solely biographical and peripheral.; This dissertation seeks to present a novel, more complete picture of Italian duchesses' roles in early modern courts. Focusing on Leonora Gonzaga (Urbino), Renee de France (Ferrara), and Margherita Paleologa (Mantua), whose hitherto neglected correspondence constitutes my major source, it explores the political and diplomatic responsibilities of ducal spouses. It demonstrates that they fulfilled important political and diplomatic responsibilities in a gendered manner.; Studying the activities of three duchesses in the first two-thirds of the sixteenth century through their correspondence offers insight into what their roles were. The first two chapters consider the traditional histories of the courts of Mantua, Ferrara, and Urbino and show how noble girls were prepared to become duchesses. The third chapter describes the information system in which duchesses participated and the role of letter writing in this system. Chapters four and five reshape the standard understandings of Renaissance diplomacy and governing by including the participation of duchesses. The final chapter focuses on duchesses' roles as patrons and intercessors, vital to the functioning of the courts. Throughout, the dissertation demonstrates that contemporaries understood the important roles duchesses had to play in their courts. |
