Editing Vittoria Colonna (section)

==Early life and marriage==
Colonna was born at [[Marino (RM)|Marino]] in 1492, a fief of the [[Colonna family]] in the [[Alban Hills]], near [[Rome]]. She was the daughter of [[Fabrizio Colonna]], grand constable of the [[Kingdom of Naples]], and of [[Agnese da Montefeltro]], daughter of the [[Federico da Montefeltro|Duke of Urbino]]. She was engaged in 1495 at the age of 3 years old to "Ferrante" [[Fernando Francesco d'Ávalos]], son of the marquese di Pescara, at the insistence of [[Ferdinand I of Naples|Ferdinand]], King of Naples.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name=":1" />

In 1501, the [[Colonna family|Colonna family's]] possessions and land were confiscated by [[Pope Alexander VI]], and the family moved to Ischia, the home of Colonna's betrothed. In Ischia, Colonna received a typical humanist education in literature and the arts from Costanza d'Avalos, the aunt of her betrothed,<ref>Trollope, T. A. ''The Life of Vittoria Colonna. New York, 1859: p. 31.''</ref> and gave early proof of a love of letters. Her hand was sought by many suitors, including the dukes of Savoy and [[Jaime, Duke of Braganza|Braganza]], but she chose to marry d'Ávalos on the island of [[Ischia]], on 27 December 1509.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url = http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/vittoria-colonna_(Dizionario-Biografico)/|title = Colonna, Vittoria|last = Patrizi|first = Giorgio|work = Trecanni, l'enciclopedia Italiana|language = it|location = Rome|series = Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani|year = 1982}}</ref> In Ischia, Vittoria Colonna became part of the literary circle of [[Costanza d'Avalos, Duchess of Francavilla]], her husband's aunt.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter = "Colonna, Vittoria" by Abigail Brundin|title = Encyclopedia of Women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England|last = Robin|first = Diana Maury |author2=Anne R. Larsen |author3=Carole Levin|year = 2007|pages = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_m4x6/page/87 87–90]|publisher = ABC-CLIO|isbn = 9781851097722|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ8mdTjxungC&pg=PA87|url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_m4x6/page/87}}</ref>

The couple lived together in Ischia until 1511, when her husband offered his sword to the [[War of the League of Cambrai|League against the French]]. He was taken captive in 1512 at the [[Battle of Ravenna (1512)|Battle of Ravenna]] and was conveyed to France. During the months of detention and the long years of campaigning that followed, Colonna and d'Avalos corresponded in the most passionate terms both in prose and verse,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} but only one poetic 'Epistle' to her husband has survived.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/IWW/BIOS/A0011.html|title = Colonna, Vittoria (1490–1547)|last = Brundin|first = Abigail|work = Italian Women Writers|publisher = University of Chicago Library|year = 2005|access-date = 1 July 2013}}</ref> Joseph Gibaldi has noted that Vittoria's poem to Ferrante was a direct imitation of [[Ovid]]'s ''Heroides'' in which famous ancient women such as Dido and Medea address complaints to their absent lovers.<ref>Gibaldi, Joseph. "Vittoria Colonna: Child Woman, and Poet." In ''Women Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation.''  Ed. Katharina M. Wilson. Athens, Georgia, 1987: p 29.</ref>  Because it is the only extant poem by Vittoria Colonna before her husband's death, one may question whether her passionate verse reflected her true passion for her husband or were merely a stylish and scholarly reaction to a particular event. Also, it is known that Ferrante was not the most faithful husband since he had an affair with one of Isabella d'Este's ladies-in-waiting.<ref>Luzio, Alessandro. "Vittoria Colonna." In ''Rivista Storica Mantovana.'' Volume I. (1885), 4–8.</ref>

Between 1516 and 1522, Colonna lost three members of her family. Her younger brother, Federico, died in 1516, followed by her father, Fabrizio, in 1520 and her mother, Agnese, in 1522.<ref name=":0" />

Colonna and d'Avalos seldom saw each other during their marriage since he was one of the most active and brilliant captains of Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Carteggio|chapter-url = http://artflsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.15:2:19.iww|last = Charles V|publisher = Loescher|editor-last = Ferrero|editor-first = Ermanno |editor2=Giuseppe Müller |edition = 2nd|location = Turin|pages = 28–9|year = 1892|chapter = Letter, no. 20, Emperor Charles V to Vittoria Colonna, 26 March 1525}}</ref> However, Colonna's influence was sufficient to keep her husband from joining the projected league against the emperor after the [[Battle of Pavia]] (1525) and to make him refuse the crown of [[Naples]] that had been offered to him as the price of his treason towards the French.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Colonna spent the summer of 1525 at her father's castle in Marino, where she fell ill, and she suffered illness for the rest of her life. It was during that time that she received an early manuscript copy of [[Baldessare Castiglione]]'s ''[[The Book of the Courtier]]'', which she had circulated around Naples. On 21 September, Castiglione wrote her a letter to lament that she had thus enabled the unpublished work to be partially transcribed, and the pirated version pushed Castiglione into hastening the publication of his book.<ref name=":0" />