Isabelle De Carazzi and Diambra De Pottinella
On May 25, 1552, Naples in Italy was the setting of a battle between two Italian noblewomen for the love of one not so nobleman. Isabella de Carazzi and Diambra de Pettinella were good friends. However, they inadvertently fell in love with the same man. Fabio de Zeresola was a handsome man and a great favorite of the ladies of Naples society. Unbeknownst to Diambra and Isabella, he was seeing them both – a fact that was not discovered until he inadvertently threw an amorous glance at Isabella at a Naples society wedding.
Diambra who was sitting next to her friend saw the glance- and was outraged. Demanding an explanation, it soon became clear that Fabio was courting them both. But rather than turn up on the cad who was two-timing them with each other, the former friends turned on each other- and began to argue about who should have Fabio. Isabella insisted it should be her as with one glance, Fabio had shown he loved her more. Diambra however, was having none of that. Fabio was hers; she declared because she would die for him. And with that, she challenged Isabella to a duel.
The former friends agreed to meet six days later in a local field, where like knights in a tournament they would fight each other to win the hand of Fabio. The prospect of the whole spectacle whipped all of Naples society up into a fever of excitement, and on the appointed day, the entire Naples Court, including the Spanish Viceroy turned out to watch Isabella and Diambra turn the whole notion of chivalry on its head. Isabella chose blue as her color and rode out in a diamond-crested helmet while Diambra wore green and a helmet topped with a serpent of gold.
The war trumpet blew; the ladies took up their lances and charged each other. This joust was just the first part of the duel. Once their lances splintered, Isabella and Diambra moved onto maces and set about each other with such ferocity that Diambra eventually dealt a blow, Isabella, such a blow to her shield that it felled her horse. Diambra then demanded that the fallen Isabella concede Fabio to her. However, Isabella was not finished. Seizing a sword, she darted at Diambra and knocked her over, unhelming her.
Isabella then did something else equally startling. She conceded defeat. What Fabio de Zeresola made of this arrangement is known. Nor do we know if he or Isabella abided by it. However, the “duel of women” as it became known was memorable enough to be immortalized by the seventeenth-century painter Jose de Ribera.
Nor were Isabella De Carazzi and Diambra De Pottinella, the only ladies, to duel for love.