682 paul f. grendler
interest on a loan and to do double-entry bookkeeping. this curriculum
has not received much attention.21 the different kinds of schools and cur-
ricula demonstrate that government, church, and parents wanted boys
educated for specific career goals, a strong characteristic of Renaissance
schooling.
Girls did not attend state or church schools, and only a tiny handful
attended independent schools that taught elementary vernacular reading
and writing. Some learned at home from a family member, or a teacher
who came to the house. an unknown number of the daughters of nobles,
original citizens, and wealthy merchant families received educations as
long-term residents in female monasteries. parents placed these girls,
called educande, in convents when they were as young as seven years of
age. the girls lived in the convent, subject to its rules including cloister,
for years, until their parents removed them, typically in their teens when
they were old enough to marry, or until the family could no longer afford
the fees. obviously, the wealthier the family the better the chance for a
convent education for daughters.22
convent schooling of educande was probably modest in most cases,
consisting of reading and writing, mostly in the vernacular, plus singing
and sewing. Some girls, either through their own choice or bowing to
family pressure, took vows and remained in the convent and may have
received further education. nuns as a group were probably the best edu-
cated women in italy. however, while scholars have been able to study to
a limited extent the literary and musical activities of nuns elsewhere in
italy, little such information about Venetian nuns has come to light. the
best known Venetian literary nun was arcangela tarabotti (1604–52), who
was tricked by her father into becoming a nun at the age of 16. She strongly
denounced the practice of forced monachization in several books.23
although girls had fewer opportunities to learn, it is paradoxical that
several of the best-known female scholars and writers of the Renaissance
lived and wrote in Venice and the Veneto. they included isotta nogarola
(1418–66), cassandra fedele (1465–1558), and laura cereta (1469–99) from
21 the only survey of the vernacular literature and abbaco curriculum is Grendler,
Schooling, pp. 273–329. Warren Van Egmond, Practical Mathematics in the Italian
Renaissance: A Catalog of Italian Abbacus Manuscripts and Printed Books to 1600 (florence,
1980), presents a comprehensive list of abbaco manuscripts and printed books for all of
italy, and explains well the contents of abbaco instruction.
22 Grendler, Schooling, pp. 96–100.
23 Emilio Zanette, Suor Arcangela monaca del Seicento veneziano (Venice/Rome, 1960).