Afterword

Summary

If Giuliano Goselini's poetic evolution from unrequited lover to devout husband demonstrates the cultural importance of conjugal lyric in post- Tridentine Italy, the afterlife of his project sheds light on the ways such verse might have impacted the lives of real women. Shortly after Goselini's death in 1587 and the final printing of his verse in 1588, a commemorative anthology was compiled for him, published in 1589. The majority of the contributors—poets such as Isabella Andreini, Angelo Grillo, and Erasmo di Valvasone—chose to pay tribute to Goselini through reference to his lyric for his wife Chiara Albignana. The very title of the collection, Il Mausoleo (The Mausoleum), foregrounds their relationship, referencing as it does the tale of Mausolus and his widow Artemisia. The connection between the two wifely exempla is the specific subject of multiple poems in the collection, including the opening sonnet, where Albignana is described as seizing the glory of Artemisia.

Albignana's affinity to Artemisia was more than encomiastic lip service, as extraliterary documentation makes apparent: letters exchanged between the men who compiled Goselini's posthumous 1588 canzoniere reveal that she played a pivotal role in the creation of that edition. In one letter, Bartolomeo Assandri tells Francesco Melchiori that they need to obtain from her the poems as well as her “consent” (consenso). Their subsequent exchange reports a conversation with Albignana in which she expressed her enthusiasm and granted the sought-after authorization. Her part in her husband's commemorative anthology was a reification of the Artemisia role. The letters suggest something like conjugal parity, at least in the way that she was actively involved in the publication of their legacy: Albignana's position as ultimate custodian of Goselini's poetry gave her final control over her husband's tale and her own.

Though we can never truly access the affe ctive and domestic lives of Goselini and Albignana as spouses, we can appreciate this creative partnership. From the early years of their marriage in 1550, the pair had been celebrated in intellectual milieux. Goselini's verse for Albignana first appeared in print in 1552. He was not the only writer to sing of her: during these same years, she also was also being celebrated in writings by Luca Contile and Giuseppe Betussi.