Search Results: Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (also given as Christine de Pisan, l. 1364 - c. 1430) was the first female professional writer of the Middle Ages and the first woman of letters in France. Her best-known works advocated for greater equality and respect...

From a compendium of Christine de Pizan’s works commissioned in 1413 CE, produced by her scriptorium in Paris. The British Library. Harley 4431, f.259v. Christine de Pizan (also known as Christine de Pisan, l. 1364-1430 CE). was the first...

The Book of the City of the Ladies (1405) by Christine de Pizan (l. 1364 - c. 1430) is considered by many scholars to be the first work of feminist literature, predating A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft by...

Detail of a presentation miniature with Christine de Pizan presenting her book to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. Illuminated miniature from The Book of the Queen (various works by Christine de Pizan), BL Harley 4431., c. 1410-14 CE, British Library...

Women in the Middle Ages were frequently characterized as second-class citizens by the Church and the patriarchal aristocracy. Women's status was somewhat elevated in the High and Late Middle Ages by the cult of the Virgin Mary and courtly...

The lives of women in the Middle Ages were determined by the Church and the aristocracy. The medieval Church provided the 'big picture' of the meaning of life and one's place while the aristocracy ensured that everyone stayed in their respective...

A Very Useful Epistle (Epistre tres utile, 1539) is an open letter by the female reformer Marie Dentière (l. c. 1495-1561) to Marguerite of Navarre (l. 1492-1549) advocating for a greater role for women in the work of the Protestant Reformation...

Medieval literature is defined broadly as any work written in Latin or the vernacular between c. 476-1500, including philosophy, religious treatises, legal texts, as well as works of the imagination. More narrowly, however, the term applies...

Courtly Love (Amour Courtois) refers to an innovative literary genre of poetry of the High Middle Ages (1000-1300 CE) which elevated the position of women in society and established the motifs of the romance genre recognizable in the present...

Joan of Arc (Jeanne D'Arc, l. c. 1412-1431 CE) was a medieval peasant who, claiming to receive visions from God, turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War in favor of a French victory. She was famously martyrd for standing by her claim of...