Ippolita Maria Sforza: Duchess and Hostage in Renaissance Naples: Letters and Orations

Lynn Westwater, associate professor of Italian, edited this volume that presents in translation 100 previously unknown letters of Ippolita Maria Sforza (1445–1488), daughter of the Duke of Milan, who was sent at age 20 to marry the son of the infamously brutal King Ferrante of Naples. Her letters display the adroit diplomacy she used to strengthen the alliance between Milan and Naples, then the two most powerful states in Italy.