executed between 1515 and 1520. Many of his works
dwell on the morbid subjects of ghosts and death, as in the
case of his best work The Dance of Death, painted for the
Dominican monastery at Berne and, having been de-
stroyed in 1660, now only known by copies. Other works
include a Judgment of Paris, a Pyramus and Thisbe, and a
Beheading of John the Baptist. Deutsch was also an active
member of the Berne city councils, a proponent of the Re-
formation, and author of such satires on ecclesiastical af-
fairs as Der Ablasskrämer (1525) and Testament der Messe
(1528).
Devereux, Robert, Earl of Essex See ESSEX, ROBERT DE-
VEREUX, EARL OF
Devotio Moderna (Latin, “Modern Devotion”) A reli-
gious movement that emerged in the Netherlands in the
late 14th century under the influence of the Flemish mys-
tic Jan van Ruysbroeck (1293–1381). His ideas were put
into practice by his disciple Gerard (Geert) Groote
(1340–84), whose lay followers were known as the Broth-
ers and Sisters of the COMMON LIFE. Their aim was to keep
religion simple, devout, and charitable, and they played an
important part in restoring monastic virtues among the
laity and in the monasteries themselves. Devotio Moderna
laid strong emphasis on individual spirituality, structured
meditation, and moral regeneration; its leaders tended to
take a skeptical view of the intricacies of scholastic phi-
losophy and of ecclesiastical practices such as PILGRIMAGE.
Lay adherents lived together under one roof and worked
for a living, without taking monastic vows, but the same
ideals of simple, practical Christianity also permeated cer-
tain religious houses, among which the lead was taken by
the Augustinian house of Windesheim, founded in 1387 at
the instigation of Groote’s disciple Florentius Radewyns
(1350–1400) near Zwolle in Holland. Other Dutch
monasteries that associated themselves with Devotio
Moderna joined “the Congregation of Windesheim,” and
the movement spread in the 15th century to Germany and
Switzerland. It was immensely influential in the develop-
ment of a powerful spiritual literature in the 15th-century
Netherlands, usually written in Latin but immediately
translated into Middle Dutch. The 16th-century reformers
in their zeal against monasticism did not spare the Devotio
Moderna houses, destroying Windesheim itself in 1581.
Devotio Moderna has been criticized as anti-intellectual
and antitheological, but has also been praised as the
source of all religious reforms during the 16th century.
Diana In Roman antiquity, the virgin goddess of the hunt,
frequently identified with the Greek goddess Artemis, sis-
ter of Apollo. Diana was endowed by medieval and Re-
naissance iconographers with many of the attributes of
Artemis, in particular the latter’s association with the
moon. As patroness of chastity, Diana was often evoked by
artists and writers who wished to compliment a lady, and
in the case of ELIZABETH Iof England the eulogizing of the
queen as Diana, under a variety of names, became a cult,
strongly promoted by the cult object herself. She appears
for instance as Cynthia (one of Artemis’s names) in
RALEIGH’s poem The Ocean to Cynthia and as Belphoebe in
Spenser’s FAERIE QUEENE(Phoebe was another of Artemis’s
names).
The myth of Actaeon, who surprised Artemis/Diana
bathing with her nymphs and was turned into a stag and
torn to pieces by his own hounds, is the subject of a fine
painting by Titian (c. 1560; Harewood House). A marble
statue of Diana in the character of a huntress, with stag
and bow (c. 1549), which formerly stood in the grounds
of DIANE DE POITIERS’s Château d’Anet, is attributed to Jean
GOUJON, the subject a compliment to his patroness.Diana, La (1559) A Spanish pastoral romance by Jorge de
MONTEMAYOR. It was an immense success, especially
among the courtly audiences previously devoted to the ro-
mances of chivalry. The prose narrative, in seven chapters
with interspersed lyrics, essentially concerns the love of
Sereno for Diana, who is married to Delio. The meander-
ing story, with passages of rich descriptive detail, involves
an enchantress and magicians, a magic potion, nymphs,
and a number of other complications, marvels, and rela-
tionships. Love is portrayed as irrational and painful but
ennobling. Though a lesser work than SANNAZARO’s Arca-
dia, which it imitates, it was frequently reprinted and
widely translated; it influenced a number of later pastoral-
ists, in Spain notably Gaspar Gil Polo (Diana enamorada,
1564) and CERVANTES(La Galatea, 1585). In England it in-
fluenced Sir Philip Sidney’s ARCADIA.Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566) French noblewoman
Beautiful and talented, Diane married Louis de Brézé,
grand seneschal of Normandy, in 1515. As mistress of
HENRY IIfrom the mid-1530s, she exerted considerable in-
fluence at the French court, forcing Queen CATHERINE DE’
MEDICIto accept second place. Taking advantage of court
rivalries between MONTMORENCYand the GUISE FAMILYshe
played a decisive role in the allocation of positions of
power and profit. She also patronized the architect DE-
LORME, who built her Château d’Anet (1547–52), and the
sculptor Jean GOUJON. After Henry II’s death (1559) the
widowed queen took her revenge and drove Diane from
court.Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (c. 1492–c. 1581) Spanish
historian and soldier
Born at Medina del Campo, he sailed to Central America
with Pedro Arias de Avila in 1514. Subsequently he joined
several expeditions, serving CORTÉSduring the invasion
of Mexico (1519) and the expedition to Honduras
(1524–26). In 1568 he wrote, from the point of view of the114400 DDeevveerreeuuxx,, RRoobbeerrtt,, EEaarrll ooff EEsssseexx