author
Luisa Sigea
A brilliant Renaissance humanist, poet, and polyglot, she moved between the Spanish and Portuguese courts and became known for her learning at a time when very few women could do so publicly. Her life was short, but her reputation as a scholar and writer has lasted for centuries.
1 Audiobook
Aloisiæ Sigeæ Toletanæ Satyra Sotadica de arcanis Amoris et Veneris
by Nicolas Chorier, Johannes van Meurs, Luisa Sigea
About the author
Born around 1522 in Tarancón, Luisa Sigea de Velasco was a Spanish writer and intellectual associated with Renaissance humanism. She is remembered as a poet and scholar of unusual learning, and sources describe her as one of the notable women of Iberian humanist culture.
She spent much of her life at the Portuguese court in the service of Maria of Portugal, where her education and command of languages helped build her reputation. She is also known by several forms of her name, including Luísa Sigeia and the Latinized Aloysia Sygaea Toletana.
Sigea died in Burgos in 1560, still relatively young. Even so, she remains an important figure for readers interested in women’s writing, court culture, and the intellectual world of the sixteenth century.