sprightlymind

On 13 June 1767, her fifteenth birthday, Frances Burney lit a bonfire in the courtyard of her father’s house in Poland Street, London. The conflagration consisted of a great heap of manuscript ‘Elegies, Odes, Plays, Songs, Stories, Farces’, ‘Tragedies and Epic Poems’, and a novel, ‘The History of Caroline Evelyn’ — virtually all that she had written up to that time.

History meme: 01/06 women | GIULIA ‘LA BELLE’ FARNESE

After becoming mistress of Pope Alexander VI in 1493, Giulia lived with Adriana de Mila and the Pope’s daughter Lucrezia Borgia in a palace built next to the Vatican, where the Pope could easily make his clandestine visits. The affair was widely known, and Giulia was referred to as “the Pope’s whore” and, (sarcastically) “the bride of Christ.” Giulia and Lucrezia became close friends.

Through her good favour with the Pope, Giulia influenced his decision to make her brother Alessandro a cardinal.

Giulia had a daughter, Laura, who she claimed was the daughter of the Pope. In 1494 in the midst of a war between Italy and France, Giulia visited her brother, Angelo, as he lay dying outside Rome. While returning to Rome she was captured by a French general, who demanded a ransom for her safe return, which the Pope paid in full.

Giulia remained the Pope’s mistress until 1500. In 1506, she became the governor of Carbognano, where she took up residence in the castle of the region. The chronicle of the castle states that Giulia was an “able administrator, who governed in a firm and energetic manner.”

LITERATURE MEME - nine poems: “kubla khan” by samuel taylor coleridge [1/9]

Egid Quirin Asam & Cosmas Damian Asam - St. Johann Nepomuk (1733-1746).

mouth of hell Thomas de Saluces, Le Chevalier errant, Paris ca. 1403-1404.