Isabel de Villena
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Isabel de Villena (c.1430-Valencia, Crown of Aragon, 1490) was the illegitimate child of Enrique de Villena an unknown noblewoman who rose to become the abbess of the Real Monasterio de la Trinidad of Valencia. As the first major female writer of a work done in the Valencian language, she composed a number of religious treaties. Her most famous work was her Vita Christi (Christ's Life). She was also a proto-feminist who tried to change the negative image of women at the time through her writing.
Life
Born Elionor de Villena in 1430[1] Isabel was the illegitimate child of Enrique de Villena, an aristocrat and writer who was related to the royal line of Castile and Aragon,[2] and an unknown noblewoman.[3] She was raised by Queen Maria of Castile of Valencia from the time she was four. She lived in the court of Alfonso V of Aragon (the Magnanimous) and was educated there until 1445 when she became a nun in the Monastery of la Trinidad. She was fifteen years old.[4] This monastery, La Trinitat, was founded by Queen Maria de Luna, who was also the chief benefactor.[5] Isabel was elected abbess of the convent in 1462 and took charge in 1463.[6] According to Rosanna Cantavella, a scholar who has extensively studied Sor Isabel, there was a rumor that there had to be divine intervention from the Archangel Michael that allowed Isabel to be elected as abbess, simply because it would have been very difficult for her to be elected on her own because she was an illegitimate child.[7] Illegitimate children were not usually eligible for such positions, but Isabel was elected anyway.
Sor Isabel was a capable abbess who carried out economic policies in order to improve the convent she presided over.[8] Sor Isabel dedicated her entire life to the convent and to her writing before dying in 1490 at the age of 60. It is believed that she died during an outbreak of plague.[9]
Writing
Sor Isabel had a career not only as an abbess but also as a writer. Her most popular work is her Vita Christi. Widely considered to be a response to the misogynistic book Spill o Llibre de les dones (“The Mirror or Book of Women”) by Jaume Roig (link!) in 1459, Vita Christi embodied the feminist beliefs held by Sor Isabel.[10] Jaume Roig was the physician to both Queen Maria and La Trinitat. He and Isabel likely knew each other.[11] Sor Isabel's book was likely her expression of her dissatisfaction toward the image of women that her male contemporaries created and encouraged in their work.[12]
Vita Christi, translated as “Christ’s Life,” was a work of devotional literature focusing primarily on drawing readers to identify with Christ's experiences and suffering. This kind of literature was popular from the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries in Western Europe.
The part of Isabel de Villena's Vita Christi that differs the most from other Vitae Christi written around the same time was that it focused equally—if not more—on the women in Christ's life, including his mother Mary and Mary Magdalene. Vita Christi opens with the
Lesley K. Twomey, another scholar who has extensively studied Isabel de Villena, notes how, unlike other female authors of the time, Sor Isabel did not humble herself or reference her unworthiness. Rather, her tone was more authoritative and confident.[20] This is another sign of the feminist ideals Sor Isabel held and expressed in her writing. Unlike the male writers in her time, she regarded women very highly. As Montserrat Piera, yet another scholar on Sor Isabel notes, this belief was expressed in Sor Isabel's writing through the vindication of the generally vilified female characters Eve and Mary Magdalene, as well as through the character of Jesus himself. This is seen by scholars as a direct response to Jaume Roig's writing through the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ.[21]
Modern Interest
Isabel de Villena's writing was relatively obscure until recently, primarily because of the language in which it was written and her gender.
More research is currently being done on Sor Isabel's other writings, which have not all lasted through the past six centuries.
Notes
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 107.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ISBN 9781855662483.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 107.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 109.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 109.
- S2CID 161081355.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ISBN 9781855662483.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ^ Vita Christi (1497). Cap. II Birth of the Virgin Mary. Piacere dei traversi. YouTube.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- S2CID 161081355.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 110.
- ^ Twomey, Lesley K (2003). "Sor Isabel de Villena, her Vita Christi and an Example of Gendered Immaculist Writing in the Fifteenth Century". La Corónica. 31 (1): 91.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 110.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 108.
- ^ Piera, Montserrat (2003). "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi". La Coronica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. 32 (1): 108.
- ISBN 9781855662247.
- ^ Twomey, Lesley K (2003). "Sor Isabel de Villena, her Vita Christi and an Example of Gendered Immaculist Writing in the Fifteenth Century". La Corónica. 31 (1): 90.
- ^ Twomey, Lesley K (2003). "Sor Isabel de Villena, her Vita Christi and an Example of Gendered Immaculist Writing in the Fifteenth Century". La Corónica. 31 (1): 90–91.
References
- Barnett, David. "The Voice of the Virgin: Accessible Authority in the Visitation Episode of Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi." La corónica 35.1 (2006): 23-45.
- Cantavella, Rosanna. "Intellectual, Contemplative, Administrator: Isabel De Villena and the Vindication of Women." A Companion to Spanish Women's Studies. By Xon De. Ros and Geraldine Hazbun. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Tamesis, 2011. 97-107.
- Hauf, Albert G. D'Eiximenis a sor Isabel de Villena. Barcelona / València. IIFV / PAM. 1990. S. 323-397. (in Catalan)
- Piera, Montserrat. "Writing, Auctoritas and Canon Formation in Sor Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi." La corónica 32.1 (2003): 105-18.
- Twomey, Lesley K. "Sor Isabel De Villena, Her Vita Christi and an Example of Gendered Immaculist Writing in the Fifteenth Century." La corónica 32.1 (2003): 89-103.
- Twomey, Lesley K. The Fabric of Marian Devotion in Isabel De Villena's Vita Christi. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Tamesis, 2013.