Chronology

A Timeline of Her Life & Works

The key dates in Arcangela Tarabotti's life span from her birth in Venice in 1604 to the posthumous condemnation of her masterpiece in 1661. The milestones below trace her passage through the rites of the convent and her remarkable publishing career.

  1. 1604

    Born in Venice

    Elena Cassandra Tarabotti is born in February in the San Giuseppe parish (Castello), first daughter of Stefano Tarabotti, a chemist, and Maria Cadena dei Tolentini.

  2. c. 1617

    Enters Sant'Anna

    She enters the Benedictine convent of Sant'Anna in Castello as a girl. (She later says she was eleven; convent records suggest about thirteen.) Her father pays a spiritual dowry of 1,200 ducats.

  3. 1620

    Takes the habit

    At about sixteen she is clothed and takes the religious name Arcangela.

  4. 1623

    Professes her vows

    She pronounces her solemn, permanent vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience — "a nun in name," she later wrote, "but not in dress or behavior."

  5. 1629

    Consecrated

    At twenty-five she undergoes the rite of consecration as a bride of Christ.

  6. c. 1630s

    Writes her fiery manuscripts

    In her first decades at Sant'Anna she composes Inferno monacale and the work that becomes Tirannia paterna — too dangerous to publish.

  7. c. 1633

    A change of heart?

    Guided by her confessor, Patriarch Federico Corner, and worn by ill health, she says she finally comes to accept monastic life.

  8. 1643

    Publishes Convent Paradise

    Her print debut, Paradiso monacale, appears — brought to press with Loredano's help and dedicated to Cardinal Federico Corner.

  9. 1644

    Antisatira

    Her reply to Buoninsegni's satire of women is published, dedicated to Vittoria della Rovere — and provokes a backlash from former supporters.

  10. 1650

    Lettere and Lagrime

    Her collected letters are published (dedicated to Loredano), bound together with her elegy for Regina Donati.

  11. 1651

    Women Are of the Human Species

    Her last work published in her lifetime, defending women's humanity, appears under the pseudonym Galerana Barcitotti.

  12. 1652

    Death

    Arcangela Tarabotti dies at Sant'Anna, aged forty-eight.

  13. 1654

    Paternal Tyranny printed abroad

    Two years after her death, her masterpiece is printed in Leiden as La semplicità ingannata under a pseudonym.

  14. 1661

    Condemned by the Church

    La semplicità ingannata is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books — its author castigated for circulating "Lutheran" ideas.

  15. 1960

    Rediscovery

    Emilio Zanette publishes the first biography of Tarabotti — part of the modern recovery of her voice.