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Lot Essay
Renate di Francia (or Renée de France), the Duchess of Ferrara, the daughter of King Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne, was born at Blois on the 25th of October 1510. She married Ercole II d'Este, the son of Alfonso I and Lucrezia Borgia. Even though Ercole II was a zealous Catholic, the marriage had the advantage of giving the House of Ferrara a powerful French ally against the Papal armies. However, long before her marriage, Renata had shown an interest in the rising movement of Protestantism. She met Calvin in 1536 and continued a correspondence with him and was friendly with other such prominent Protestants such as Vittoria Colonna and Lavinia Delle Rovere. Her relations with the Huguenots and Calvinists who took refuge at her court in Ferrara led to the burning of all her books in 1554, because the inquisition considered them heretic.
After the Duke's death in 1560, and probably on the insistence of Pope Pius IV, she left France and retired to the château de Montargis in the Loire valley where she died on the 15th of June 1575. She must have been forced to leave what remained of her personal library with the Este Library, as several other of her most important surviving books also remained in Italy. Another book from her library is discussed in detail by T. de Marinis, 'Legatura artistica fatta per Renata di Francia Duchessa di Ferrara', Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 1964, pp. 373 - 374.
After the Duke's death in 1560, and probably on the insistence of Pope Pius IV, she left France and retired to the château de Montargis in the Loire valley where she died on the 15th of June 1575. She must have been forced to leave what remained of her personal library with the Este Library, as several other of her most important surviving books also remained in Italy. Another book from her library is discussed in detail by T. de Marinis, 'Legatura artistica fatta per Renata di Francia Duchessa di Ferrara', Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 1964, pp. 373 - 374.