Imperia La Divina

Imperia Cognati (also called Imperia La Divina, meaning Imperia The Divine, or The Queen of Courtesans, 3 August 1486 - 15 August 1512), was a Roman courtesan. She is counted as the first famous courtesan in Europe. The term courtesan is said to have been created for her. She was the first celebrity of the class of courtesans, which was created in Rome in the late 15th century.

In the 15th century, the courtiers of the Papal court begun with the habit of hiring female escorts to accompany them in court life. As the Papal courtiers were clerics who were banned from marrying, the women they consorted with could not be marriageable, but at the same time, they must be educated and know their etiquette to be able to converse and participate in formal court life. This was the development of a new class of prostitutes in Christian Europe: the courtesan, which then spread from Rome to other parts of Europe, and Imperia was to become the first famous representative of this new type of prostitute. Courtesans by custom kept a main client as a steady supporter, but openly entertained also others as temporary clients.

Imperia was born the daughter of Diana di Pietro Cognati (other sources: Cugnati, Corgnati), a Roman prostitute. Her father was called Paris, either by given name or „De Paris“ as a toponymic surname. It has thus been speculated that Paris de Grassis, the later master of ceremonies of pope Julius II, could have been her father when he was young. Imperia called herself in documents Imperia (di Pietro) Cognati, while in her will she referred to herself as Imperia de Paris. She has been later referred to by the name of Lucrezia, which was the name of her daughter and probably not her own given name.

There are further uncertainties about the year and place of her birth. Besides 1486, there are sources claiming her being born on 3 August 1481, five years earlier. The place of her birth is commonly claimed to be Rome, or more specific the Via Alessandrina in the district of Borgo. However, it is also said she hailed from Ferrara.

She either chose the name of Imperia early on as her business name or only started offering her body after the birth of her daughter. Either way, soon after her entrance into the business, she was considered the archetype of a courtesan. Contemporary sources praised her charm and intelligence. The banker Agostino Chigi was the regular and main client of Imperia, at this point called the richest banker in the world. He financed Imperia to maintain what was called a royal standard of living, and she kept both a palace in Rome and a country villa outside the city.

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Wikipedia