Ebook: Boccaccio's heroines: power and virtue in Renaissance society

Text and its critics -- Lauds and libraries -- The art of virtue -- Authorial intent -- Dedication : the nature of virtue -- Preface : a book for men about women -- A bad example -- Overstepping the boundaries -- Action/reaction -- Dangerous minds and bodies -- Calculated anomalies -- Famous women in Renaissance Tuscany -- Boccaccio's heroines -- A woman's place -- Daring but decorous : donne illustri in the art of the Tuscan republics -- Famous women and famous women : Boccaccio and the court consorts -- Eleonora d'Aragona d'Este -- Isabella d'Este and Mantegna.