Books by Lucrezia Marinella

Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) is, by all accounts, a phenomenon in early modernity: a woman who wrote and published in many genres, whose fame shone brightly within and outside her native Venice, and whose voice is original and reflective of her time and culture. This book tells the story of the conquest of Byzantium in the Fourth Crusade.

First published in 1600 in answer to Giusepe Passi's diatribe about women's alleged defects, this polemic displays Lucrezia Marinella's knowledge of the Italian poetic tradition and demonstrates her ability to argue against authors of the misogynist tradition from Boccaccio to Torquato Tasso.