Writing the Antithesis of María of Aragón: Alvaro de Luna's Rendering of Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris

2013

Abstract: In forming the canon of works that exemplify the debate on women in the fifteenth century, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula, there is often one text omitted. This work was composed by perhaps the most notorious figure in Spanish history: Alvaro de Luna. Although more commonly known as the king’s lifelong companion and privado, Luna was also the author of Libro de las claras e virtuosas mugeres . Among the auctoridades that Luna credits, he does mention one medieval writer as a source of inspiration: Giovanni Boccaccio. His work, De claris mulieribus was written a mere 73 years prior to Luna’s Castilian version and it can be argued that Luna’s 15th century work is an adaptatio…