“Letters to Agnese”
Letters and the Art of Research Based Wordsmithing
By THL Agnes Marie de Calais
What was the scope of this project?
This is a research project about pregnancy in the late 16th century and more specifically the attitudes and conventions around it in Florence, Italy. Realizing this is a broad topic it focused more on the letters a woman might receive from a family member during her first pregnancy. Fortunately, many primary examples of correspondence about this by the women of the Medici family still exist.
This has been a pleasure to craft and will be the basis of a large body of letters surrounding this topic.
What was the purpose?
The purpose was to utilize my research to create an educational display or piece that was not a paper and could be easily accessed by all in a short viewing span. Often research papers and work have not displayed well for me in the past due to the time needed to read the work. Similarly past projects were long and detailed. A well researched letter is a vehicle that could achieve this goal .
Isn’t wordsmithing just for scrolls?
I have researched and created wordsmith works for scrolls before and hope to do so again. It occurred to me that there was no reason this methodology could not also be used to create letters that are historically sound and fact based as a way to convey researched information.
Letters and the Art of Research Based Wordsmithing
By THL Agnes Marie de Calais
What was the scope of this project?
This is a research project about pregnancy in the late 16th century and more specifically the attitudes and conventions around it in Florence, Italy. Realizing this is a broad topic it focused more on the letters a woman might receive from a family member during her first pregnancy. Fortunately, many primary examples of correspondence about this by the women of the Medici family still exist.
This has been a pleasure to craft and will be the basis of a large body of letters surrounding this topic.
What was the purpose?
The purpose was to utilize my research to create an educational display or piece that was not a paper and could be easily accessed by all in a short viewing span. Often research papers and work have not displayed well for me in the past due to the time needed to read the work. Similarly past projects were long and detailed. A well researched letter is a vehicle that could achieve this goal .
Isn’t wordsmithing just for scrolls?
I have researched and created wordsmith works for scrolls before and hope to do so again. It occurred to me that there was no reason this methodology could not also be used to create letters that are historically sound and fact based as a way to convey researched information.
Sources
Brody, M. J. (2018). Religious subjects on sixteenth-century Deruta Piatti da Pompa. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 187–219. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_010
Brévart, F. B. (2008). Between medicine, magic, and religion: Wonder drugs in German medico-pharmaceutical treatises of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Speculum, 83(1), 1–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0038713400012410
“Calais Port and Citadel – Historical Facts.” Travel France Online, 1 July 2024, www.travelfranceonline.com/calais-port-and-citadel-history/.
Christopoulos, J. (2012). Abortion and the confessional in Counter-Reformation italy. Renaissance Quarterly, 65(2), 443–484. https://doi.org/10.1086/667257
Cooper, I. G. (2018). Investigating the ‘case’ of the agnus dei in sixteenth-century Italian homes. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 220–243. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_011
Corry, M. (2018). Delight in painted companions: Shaping the soul from birth in early modern italy. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 310–341. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_015
DePrano, M. (2010b). At home with the dead: The posthumous remembrance of women in the domestic interior in Renaissance Florence. Source: Notes in the History of Art, 29(4), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1086/sou.29.4.23208975
Fissell, M. E. (2008). Introduction: Women, health, and healing in early modern europe. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 82(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2008.0024
Kuehn, T. (1992). Law, death, and heirs in the renaissance: Repudiation of inheritance in Florence. Renaissance Quarterly, 45(3), 484–516. https://doi.org/10.2307/2862670
Luini, B. (n.d.). Virgin and child with the infant Saint John the Baptist. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/luini-bernardino/virgin-and-child-infant-saint-john-baptist
Matchette, A. (2008). Women, objects, and exchange in early modern Florence. Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 3, 245–251. https://doi.org/10.1086/emw23541538
Moran, M. (2011). Female letter writing and the preservation of family memory in early modern italy. Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 6, 195–201. https://doi.org/10.1086/emw23617336
Names from Sixteenth Century Venice, www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/16thcvenice.html. Accessed 8 Sept. 2024.
Plate. – Works – The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. (n.d.). https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/22869/plate
Religious subjects on sixteenth-century Deruta Piatti da Pompa. (n.d.). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334833061_Religious_Subjects_on_Sixteenth-Century_Deruta_Piatti_da_Pompa
Salviati de’ Medici, Maria, and Natalie Tomas. Selected Letters, 1514-1543. Iter Press, 2022.
Sandberg, B. (2010). “All the many and varied remedies and secrets”: Sexual practices and reproductive knowledge in the Renaissance. Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5, 235–242. https://doi.org/10.1086/emw23541517
Tycz, K. M. (2018). Material prayers and maternity in early modern italy: Signed, sealed, delivered. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 244–271. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_012
Brody, M. J. (2018). Religious subjects on sixteenth-century Deruta Piatti da Pompa. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 187–219. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_010
Brévart, F. B. (2008). Between medicine, magic, and religion: Wonder drugs in German medico-pharmaceutical treatises of the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Speculum, 83(1), 1–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0038713400012410
“Calais Port and Citadel – Historical Facts.” Travel France Online, 1 July 2024, www.travelfranceonline.com/calais-port-and-citadel-history/.
Christopoulos, J. (2012). Abortion and the confessional in Counter-Reformation italy. Renaissance Quarterly, 65(2), 443–484. https://doi.org/10.1086/667257
Cooper, I. G. (2018). Investigating the ‘case’ of the agnus dei in sixteenth-century Italian homes. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 220–243. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_011
Corry, M. (2018). Delight in painted companions: Shaping the soul from birth in early modern italy. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 310–341. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_015
DePrano, M. (2010b). At home with the dead: The posthumous remembrance of women in the domestic interior in Renaissance Florence. Source: Notes in the History of Art, 29(4), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1086/sou.29.4.23208975
Fissell, M. E. (2008). Introduction: Women, health, and healing in early modern europe. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 82(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2008.0024
Kuehn, T. (1992). Law, death, and heirs in the renaissance: Repudiation of inheritance in Florence. Renaissance Quarterly, 45(3), 484–516. https://doi.org/10.2307/2862670
Luini, B. (n.d.). Virgin and child with the infant Saint John the Baptist. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/luini-bernardino/virgin-and-child-infant-saint-john-baptist
Matchette, A. (2008). Women, objects, and exchange in early modern Florence. Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 3, 245–251. https://doi.org/10.1086/emw23541538
Moran, M. (2011). Female letter writing and the preservation of family memory in early modern italy. Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 6, 195–201. https://doi.org/10.1086/emw23617336
Names from Sixteenth Century Venice, www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/16thcvenice.html. Accessed 8 Sept. 2024.
Plate. – Works – The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. (n.d.). https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/22869/plate
Religious subjects on sixteenth-century Deruta Piatti da Pompa. (n.d.). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334833061_Religious_Subjects_on_Sixteenth-Century_Deruta_Piatti_da_Pompa
Salviati de’ Medici, Maria, and Natalie Tomas. Selected Letters, 1514-1543. Iter Press, 2022.
Sandberg, B. (2010). “All the many and varied remedies and secrets”: Sexual practices and reproductive knowledge in the Renaissance. Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 5, 235–242. https://doi.org/10.1086/emw23541517
Tycz, K. M. (2018). Material prayers and maternity in early modern italy: Signed, sealed, delivered. Domestic Devotions in Early Modern Italy, 244–271. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004375871_012