Declamatione delle Gentildonne di Cesena intorno alle Pompe…: Sumptuary laws, printing, and women’s means of defense

[Renaissance Society America Annual Conference](http://https://rsa.confex.com/rsa/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Session/2775), April 2020. Postponed due to COVID and delivered virtually on April 2, 2021. In 1575, a group of ‘gentildonne’ of Cesena authored a short pamphlet refuting the strict sumptuary laws of their city. The vernacular text presents erudite arguments, citing the works of Plato, Dante, and many others, to argue in support of the necessity of ornamental clothing. The pamphlet was printed by Bartolomeo Raverio, then the ‘stampatore camerale’ of Cesena, and quickly reissued by Alessandro Benacci in Bologna. While this text is discussed in histories of sumptuary legislation, little has been made of the authors’ utilization of printing to gain attention to their cause. Unlike women’s contributions to volumes of letters or poetry that were primarily moderated by male editors, this pamphlet documents an early instance by women to communicate directly with their audience. As the target of sumptuary laws, the ‘gentildonne’ sought to use print to legitimize their dispute through means understood as canonical to validate their bodily and intellectual dignity.