La agudeza de ingenio en las damas según Galeazzo Flavio Capra

Abstract

This paper proposes the analysis and commentary of the arguments referring to the cleverness and intelligence of women in the essay Della eccellenza e dignità della do nna (1525), one of the European Renaissance treatises in defence of the Querelle des femmes less studied until present. Its author – educated at the court of the Duchy of Milan – stood out among the most notable humanists of his time from the position of Secretary of Francesco II Sforza. Galeazzo Flavio Capra wrote the work in vulgar prose, reworking classical models and reinterpreting Petrarch, Boccaccio, as well as other contemporary writers, both Italian and French. This study aims to show the originality of the work into the tradition and the literary and cultural values that Capra knew how to anticipate in the debate in favour of women in the s.