Isabella d’Este: Renaissance Influencer

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Discover the captivating life of Isabella d'Este with Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and acclaimed novelist and historian Sarah Dunant. They discuss Isabella's incredible journey from a well-educated noblewoman to the First Lady of the Renaissance, how she mastered political strategy, diplomatic finesse, and art patronage while navigating the treacherous Italian wars.

Suzannah and Sarah uncover intimate details of Isabella's unconventional marriage and her groundbreaking influence in the art world as she pursued Michelangelo for the perfect portrait with a unique blend of charm and ruthlessness, which made her one of history's most compelling women.

More:

Katherine of Aragon: England's First Renaissance Queen

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6cDqkgk8aoDAUn6KxwlX7U

Michelangelo

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ocKCFinOdaCZYfBtHoMXn

Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb.
0:02.6	If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:10.5	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries,
0:16.0	including my own recent two-part series, A World Torn Apart, The Dissolution of the Monastries, and enjoy a new release every week.
0:25.2	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:32.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to not just the Tudors from History Hit, the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise.
0:46.8	Relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:02.0	Born into the powerful Desté family in 1474, the eldest child of Urquela
1:08.3	I, the first, Duke of Ferrara and Eleanor of Naples, Isabella
1:12.2	D'estay was related by blood or marriage to nearly every major Italian family of the Renaissance,
1:18.1	from the Borgers to the Sforcers. As Marquesse of Mantua, Isabella deftly navigated
1:24.3	political strategy, diplomacy and compromise as regent during her husband's
1:29.4	prolonged absences, successfully maintaining Mantua's stability and independence through the
1:35.0	turbulent Italian wars. Isabella was highly educated and her intelligence, wit and cunning
1:42.2	was wielded to lasting influence,
1:44.8	not least as a remarkable patron of the arts.
1:48.1	Fiercely independent, Isabella navigated and subverted the expected roles of an Italian noblewoman
1:53.6	without ever compromising her own identity.
1:57.3	Isabella D'Este is sometimes referred to as the First Lady of the Renaissance, and she can arguably be called one of the most formidable women of all time.
2:06.0	Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Sarah Dunant, an award-winning writer, historian, and broadcaster.
2:12.5	She presented the wonderful historical podcast when Greeks flew kites. For a long time, regularly contributed to BBC Radio 4's point of view,
2:20.8	and you can look out for her new series, Unerthing the Past, on BBC Sounds.
	...

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