Dangerous Beauty (1998)
Director: Marshall Herskovitz
Starring: Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, Jacqueline Bisset, Oliver Platt, Moira Kelly, Fred Ward, Jeroen Krabbe, Joanna Cassidy
A courtesan (Catherine McCormack) becomes the most desired woman in 16th century Venice. Jacqueline Bisset plays her mother.
The movie is based upon the life of Veronica Franco, except the end was changed for a nearer happy ending.
Historical Background:
During the Middle Ages, Venice battled Genoa for supremacy in the region.
Venice became an imperial power following the Fourth Crusade.
1204 -- with Venetian aid, the crusaders seized Constantinople. Venice created for herself the Duchy of Archipelago, a maritime state in the Aegean Sea.
In the 16th century Venice proved to be a great place for courtesans.
early sixteenth century -- Venice found itself at war with Spain, the Pope and many other European powers. Venice may have been victorious, but it went into bankruptcy. As Venice declined, its trade routes were superseded by the new powers of England, Holland and Portugal.
1503 -- Pope Julius II started his tenure. One of the political goals he had was to force the Venetians out of the towns and fortresses they occupied in Italy.
1504 -- Pope Julius II forged an alliance with France and Germany to force Venice out of some of its strongholds. The plan did not have much success.
1508 -- Pope Julius II got Louis XII of France, the Emperor Maximilian and Ferdinand II of Aragon to form the League of Cambrai against the Venetian Republic.
1509 -- Venice placed under an interdict. In the Battle of Agnadello the sway of Venice over Italy was almost lost. The battle was so decisive, that the Pope soon had to form an alliance with Venice against the European powers.
1510 -- the interdict against Venice lifted.
1512 -- French pushed over the Alps, but their place was taken by other European powers.
1513 -- death of Pope Julius II. The son of Lorenzo 'de Medici becomes Pope Leo X.
1526 -- the League of Cognac pitted France, England, Pope Clement VII, Venice, Florence, and elements of Milan against Emperor Charles V.
by 1563 -- at age 18, Veronica Franco had been briefly married and given birth to her first child.
1565 -- Veronica Franco, at about 20 years of age, was listed as a Venice prostitute, with the fees to be paid to her mother (who had been a courtesan herself)..
by the 1570s -- Veronica was part of one of the more prestigious literary circles of Venice. She even contributed to and edited anthologies of poetry.
1571-1573 -- the Holy League of 1571 - 73 was an alliance between the Papacy, Spain and Venice. Pope Pius V organized the League to counter the growing Islamic activity in the Mediterranean.
1573 -- the Holy League collapsed when a financially exhausted Venice left to make its own peace with the Turks.
1574 -- Veronica Franco visited by King Henry III (fourth son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici) who ruled France from 1574 to 1589.
1575 -- Veronica published her own volume of poetry, Terze rime.
1575-1576 -- a plague wracked Venice. Veronica left the city for a while. .
1577 -- she was raising her own children as well as nephews who had been made orphans by the plague. She even proposed to the city council that it establish a home for poor women, of which she would be the administrator.
1577 -- she faced the Inquisition with charges of witchcraft. She successfully defended herself in court, winning her freedom. But in the process she lost all her material goods.
1580 -- she published 50 of her letters as well as two sonnets to King Henry III of France.
1589 -- King Henry III assassinated by a young fanatical Dominican friar. He was the last of the Valois kings. His replacement, Henry IV, was the first of the Bourbon kings.
1591 -- death of Veronica Franco. She probably died in poverty.
See: http://home.infionline.net/~ddisse/franco.html
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