The Book of the City of Ladies
A fascinating insight into the debates and controversies about the position of women in medieval culture, written by France's first professional woman of letters
The pioneering Book of the City of Ladies begins when, feeling frustrated and miserable after reading a male writer's tirade against women, Christine de Pizan has a dreamlike vision where three virtues—Reason, Rectitude and Justice—appear to correct this view. They instruct her to build an allegorical city in which womankind can be defended against slander, its walls and towers constructed from examples of female achievement both from her own day and the past: ranging from warriors, inventors and scholars to prophetesses, artists and saints. Christine de Pizan's spirited defence of her sex was unique for its direct…
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January 1, 2000Christine de Pizan (c. 1365–1429) was born in Venice but grew up at the court of Charles V of France. After the deaths of the king, her father, and her husband, she was left to provide for her three children, her mother, and her niece, and thus turned to writing.
The Treasure of the City of Ladies
Christine de Pizan; Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Sarah Lawson