Arcangela Tarabotti - Life and Writings

Life and Writings

Elena Cassandra Tarabotti was born the eldest of nine children of Stefano Tarabotti and his wife Maria Cadena. At age 11, Tarabotti (like many other young women of good family at the time) was sent by her parents to the Benedictine convent of Sant'Anna in Castello, Venice, for her education. At sixteen she took her initial vows and three years later her final vows. She did so under protest, having no religious vocation, at the insistence—or emotional blackmail -- of her family.

Paternal Tyranny is a passionate indictment not only of her family who dumped her in a convent but also of the convent system in which young women were shunted aside to wither uneducated and unappreciated.

You give them as a governess another woman, also unlettered, who can barely instruct them in the rudiments of reading to say nothing of anything to do with philosophy, law, and theology. In short, they learn nothing but the ABC, and even then this is poorly taught. (I know from experience, so I can bear witness at length.) -- book 2, 99

For the upper classes of 17th century Europe, a daughter—particularly a younger daughter—was often seen as a liability, a potential threat to family wealth. Marrying her off required a dowry, and her children might legally claim part of the family fortune; if she did not marry she had to be provided for, again a drain on the family fortune. Sending her to a convent required a far smaller outlay of money (though the better convents could demand a steep price) and provided a guarantee there would be no offspring.

Another factor was the then-current practice among the Italian nobility of only permitting one, or sometimes two, of a family's sons to marry (again, in order to preserve the family wealth intact). As a result, there was a dearth of potential husbands of equal or superior rank, and since family pride would not allow a daughter to marry beneath her, for many young noblewomen the convent was the only option.

Some convents became de facto high-society salons due to the number of aristocratic daughters consigned there; at best this was making a virtue of necessity, however, since the young women were usually not given a choice in the matter.

See for yourself the absolute truth of my words! Go and ask one of these children, who as yet cannot put two syllables together, let alone a whole word: "What will become of your sisters?" Immediately, without a moment's hesitation, prompted by that cunning disposition shaped by his father's upbringing, he will say, "They'll become nuns, because I want to be rich." -- book 1, 74

Tarabotti was unusual in the depth of her passion for learning; she was allowed visitors, news, and books and from 1630 or so her visitors included members of the Accademia degli Incogniti, a group of prominent free-thinkers influential in Venetian cultural life. The founder of the Accademia, Giovan Francesco Loredano, arranged for the publication of at least two of Tarabotti's works.

Tarabotti died in 1652.