Luisa Sigea de Velasco
Encyclopedia
Luisa Sigea de Velasco (Tarancón
, 1522 — Burgos
, October 13, 1560), also known as Luísa Sigeia, Luísa Sigea Toledana and in the Latinized form Aloysia Sygaea Toletana, was a poetess and intellectual of the 16th century, one of the major figures of Spanish humanism, who spent a good part of her life in the Portuguese court in the service of Maria of Portugal (1521–1577), as her Latin teacher. André de Resende
wrote the following epitaph for her: Hic sita SIGAEA est: satis hoc: qui cetera nescit Rusticus est: artes nec colit ille bonas, (Loosely translated: Here lies Sigea; no more need be said; anyone who does not know the rest is an uneducated fool.)
. (The title means "Luisa Sigea Toledana's Sotadic
satire, on the secrets of love and sex; Luisa wrote it in Spanish; it has here been translated into Latin by J. Meursius.)
This is widely considered the first-ever fully pornographic work written in Latin, and it contains among other things a defense of tribadism
(i.e. lesbianism). The attribution to Sigea (as well as the attribution to Meursius) was a hoax, as was first demonstrated by Bruno Lavignini in his edition of the poem (Italy, 1905). The work was later translated into many other languages, including English, under the title Dialogues of Luisa Sigea.
Tarancón
Tarancón is a municipality located in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 12,696 inhabitants....
, 1522 — Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
, October 13, 1560), also known as Luísa Sigeia, Luísa Sigea Toledana and in the Latinized form Aloysia Sygaea Toletana, was a poetess and intellectual of the 16th century, one of the major figures of Spanish humanism, who spent a good part of her life in the Portuguese court in the service of Maria of Portugal (1521–1577), as her Latin teacher. André de Resende
Andre de Resende
André de Resende , the father of archaeology in Portugal, a Dominican friar.He spent many years traveling in Spain, France and Belgium, where he corresponded with Erasmus and other learned men. He was also intimate with King John III and his sons, and acted as tutor to the Infante D...
wrote the following epitaph for her: Hic sita SIGAEA est: satis hoc: qui cetera nescit Rusticus est: artes nec colit ille bonas, (Loosely translated: Here lies Sigea; no more need be said; anyone who does not know the rest is an uneducated fool.)
Satyra Sotadica
In 1680 was published an erotic work entitled Aloysiæ Sigeæ Toletanæ satyra sotadica de arcanis amoris et veneris: Aloysia hispanice scripsit: latinitate donavit J. Meursius, now attributed to the Frenchman Nicolas ChorierNicolas Chorier
Nicolas Chorier was a French lawyer, writer, and historian. He is known especially for his historical works on Dauphiné, as well as his erotic dialogue called The School of Women, or The Seven Flirtatious Encounters of Aloisia .He was born at Vienne, Isère, practised as a lawyer in Grenoble and...
. (The title means "Luisa Sigea Toledana's Sotadic
Sotades
Sotades was an Ancient Greek poet.Sotades was born in Maroneia, either the one in Thrace, or in Crete. He was the chief representative of the writers of obscene and even pederastic satirical poems, called Kinaidoi, composed in the Ionic dialect and in the "sotadic" metre named after him...
satire, on the secrets of love and sex; Luisa wrote it in Spanish; it has here been translated into Latin by J. Meursius.)
This is widely considered the first-ever fully pornographic work written in Latin, and it contains among other things a defense of tribadism
Tribadism
Tribadism or tribbing, commonly known by its scissoring position, is a form of non-penetrative sex in which a woman rubs her vulva against her partner's body for sexual stimulation. This may involve female-to-female genital contact or a female rubbing her vulva against her partner's thigh, stomach,...
(i.e. lesbianism). The attribution to Sigea (as well as the attribution to Meursius) was a hoax, as was first demonstrated by Bruno Lavignini in his edition of the poem (Italy, 1905). The work was later translated into many other languages, including English, under the title Dialogues of Luisa Sigea.
Further reading
- Ana Maria Alves, Comunicazione e silenzio in un diálogo umanistico. A propósito di Luísa Sigea, in Davide Bigalli e Guido Canziani (eds.), Il diálogo filosófico nel '500 europeo, Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi (Milano, 28-30 maggio 1987), Milano, FrancoAngeli, 1990
- André de ResendeAndre de ResendeAndré de Resende , the father of archaeology in Portugal, a Dominican friar.He spent many years traveling in Spain, France and Belgium, where he corresponded with Erasmus and other learned men. He was also intimate with King John III and his sons, and acted as tutor to the Infante D...
, Ludovicae Sigaeae tumulus, Rio de Janeiro, 1981 (facsimile edition reproducing the edition Lisboa, 1561), ISBN 85-7017-016-5 - Carolina Michaëlis de VasconcellosCarolina Michaëlis de VasconcellosCarolina Michaëlis de Vasconcelos, born Karoline Michaelis was a German-Portuguese romanist.She was born in Berlin as the last of five children of Gustav Michaelis, a mathematics teacher...
, A Infanta D. Maria de Portugal (1521–1577) e as suas damas, Edição facsímile, Lisboa, CNCDP, 1994 - Edward V. George, "Luisa Sigea (1522-1560): Iberian Scholar - Poet", in: Laurie J. Churchill, ed. Women Writing in Latin: from Roman Antiquity to Early Modern Europe. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2002; Vol. 3, pp. 167–187
- Edward V. George, "Sly Wit and Careful Concession: Luisa Sigea’s Dialogue on Court versus Private Life", in: Studia Philologica Valentina, 4 n.s. 1 (2000), pp. 173–192
- Ismael García Ramila, "Nuevas e interesantes noticias, basadas en fe documental, sobre la vida y descendencia familiar burgalesa de la famosa humanista, Luisa de Sigea, la 'Minerva' de los renacentistas", in Boletín de la Institución Fernán González, XXXVIII, 144 (1958), pp. 309–321; XXXVIII, 145 (1959), pp. 465–492; XXXVIII, 147 (1959), pp. 565–593
- José Silvestre Ribeiro, Luiza Sigéa: breves apontamentos histórico-literários, Lisboa, Academia Real das Ciências de Lisboa, 1880
- Manuel Serrano y Sanz, "Apuntes para una biblioteca de escritoras españolas, desde el año 1401 al 1833", Tomo II, Madrid, Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 1905, pág. 394
- Nicolas Chorier, Aloisiæ Sigeæ Toletanæ Satyra Sotadica de Arcanis Amoris et Veneris. Aloisa Hispanice scripsit, Latinitate donavit Joannes Meursius (or rather by Nicolas Chorier), Parisiis, 1885. 8vo. xxxvi+342 pp.
- Paul-Auguste Allut, Aloysia Sygea et Nicolas Chorier. Lyon: N. Scheuring, 1862
- Sira Lucía Garrido Marcos, Luisa Sigea Toledana, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (unpublished dissertation), 1955 (658 pp., T-7298)
- Sol Miguel Prendes, "A Specific Case of the Docta Foemina: Luisa Sigea and her Duarum Virginum Colloquium de Vita Aulica et Privata", in: Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Abulensis: Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of NeoLatin Studies, (Ávila, 1997), Tempe, Ariz. : Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 2000
- Susanne Thiemann, Vom Glück der Gelehrsamkeit: Luisa Sigea, Humanistin im 16. Jahrhundert, (Ergebnisse der Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung an der Freien Universität Berlin; No 9.), Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-8353-0018-0