ainst sinister opponents and emerged victorious. This marked the end of her glorious reign, though, and by 1588 she was poverty-stricken. She had given birth to six children of her own and also had the added responsibility of her brother’s children after his death. This, along with the plague and the thefts of precious items from her dowry left her impoverished and she died in 1591 at the early age of forty-five (Rosenthal “Honest”). Veronica’s memory lives on, as she was not only the most famous of all the Venetian courtesans, she was also the modern ideal of an independent woman. She managed her own estate, earned her own capital, and, as her letters and poems reveal, had an independence of spirit that bowed before no man.As every age has to come to an end, so too did the golden age of the courtesans. Many Popes had promised Italy reforms, but none had followed through on their word until 1566 with the accession of Pope Pius V. As stated above, he issued a decree ordering all prostitutes to leave Rome and all the Papal States. He would later agree to allow the prostitutes to remain, on the condition that they all lived in a quarter reserved for them (Masson 142-143). This marked the beginning of the end. Thanks to the Counter Reformation and the changed temper of the times, courtesans were no longer accepted by society; far less did they play any part in the intellectual life of the city. Only in the liberal city of Venice did the courtesans flourish. However, by 1591 the Renaissance world that had given birth to the courtesans was dying, and the new one had no place for them. After Veronica Franco’s death, courtesans continued to exist in Venice, but in reality, like those in Rome, they were mere prostitutes. Thus ended the age of the courtesan; muse, poet, and Venus of Renaissance Italy.Forerunners of the modern-day independent women, the courtesans of 16th century Venice were almost the e...
