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374 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Bettisia Gozzadini. To The Editor Or The...
century . He lias been followed by rnany other authors , but the patient and trustworthy Tirabosehi sayswith a little mannish spite ,
, ' There are those it seems who think that the reputation of so many learned men is not sufficient for the honor of the university , which
they would fain render more illustrious through many talented women ; ' and he goes on to prove , that , so far as he can discover , the
said Aecorsa was a fabulous personage . "At the same period , Bettisia Gozzadini assumed the cap and gown ,
together with , the title of Doctor . The only memorial of her is to be found in the following extract from an old calendar of the university
of Bologna . . _" Oct . 23 . Hac die . A autem S . 1236 , celeberrima D . Bethisia
filia D . Am & toris de Gozzadinis , jam Doctor in Juris hujus ipsius anniit publice legere quam plur . Scholar , cum magna
_adiniratione , cep et doctrina ut videretur portentuni ad incomparabilem honorincentiam Archigymnasii . ' The wretched Latin of which may
be thus rendered : — "' This day , October 2 3 rd , in the year of salvation 1236 , the celebrated had
Lady Bethisia , daughter of Signior . Amatori dei Gozzadini , who alreadthis year been made Doctor of Laws , began publicly to read ,
to the y great admiration and instruction of many pupils , so that she would seem a prodigy to the _incomparable honor of the chief school
of 66 learning The historian . ' of Italian literature does not hesitate to that say
some men call this whole calendar a * solemn imposture . ' The author of tlie ' Record of Women' a work which merits attention
, as the first of its kind , however unworthily executed , adds to this the following particulars : —
_"'Bettisa Gozzadini , born at Bologna in 1209 , having prevailed her parents to gratify her love of learningfollowed every
upon , course of study at the university , clad in man's apparel ; _' a somewhat unnecessary trouble , one would think , at a university which openly
conferred degrees upon women . ' She took the highest standing in her college , and received the laurel crown with her degree . She
afterwards studied law , obtained the title of Doctor , and the privilege of wearing the robe . She lost her life in 1261 , in consequence
of the overflow of the Idice . ' The very minuteness of this record , when the most careful investigation has found nothing but
uncertainty , renders it the more suspicious . " The orthography of the proper names , and the truly Parisian idea
about costume , points to early French sources , and the careful student knows very well that these are for the most part untrustworthy . "
I am sorry that so many years have passed since the above was written that I cannot give you more exact references to sustain it ,
but they could be easily found if needed . I send you , however , while on this subject , another short memoir on the Women of the House
of Montefeltro , Very -truly yours ,
Caroline H . Dall .
374 Biographical Notices.
374 BIOGRAPHICAL _NOTICES .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1859, page 374, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081859/page/14/
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