The Inquisition finished the work of crushing out what remained of the new doctrines.
[Sidenote: Naples] That Naples became a focus of Protestantism was due mainly to John de Valdes, a deeply religious Spaniard.

From his circle went out a treatise on justification entitled _The Benefit of Christ's Death_, by Benedict of Mantua, of which no less than 40,000 copies were sold, for it was the one reforming work to enjoy popularity rivalling that of Luther and Erasmus.

Influenced by Valdes, also, Bartholomew Forzio translated Luther's _Address to the German Nobility_ into Italian.
[Sidenote: Ferrara] At the court of Ferrara the duchess, Renee de France, gathered a little circle of Protestants.

Calvin himself spent some time here, and his influence, together with the high protection of his patroness, made the place a fulcrum against Rome.

Isabella d'Este, originally of Ferrara and later Marchioness of Mantua, one of the brilliant women of the Renaissance, for a while toyed with the fashionable theology.