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Christine de Pizan

c. 1364–1430

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Women are as capable of virtue and learning as men, and the contempt of learned authorities for them rests on prejudice, not reason.

Placement

Renaissance & Humanism · Southern Europe · Politics & Law, Society & History, Ethics, Gender & Feminism

Often called the first professional woman writer in Europe: in the “Book of the City of Ladies” she refutes the misogyny of learned authorities.

Key ideas

  • Defense of women
  • The City of Ladies
  • Mirror for princes

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Influence

Influenced by 3

  • Aristotle

    influenced by

    Christine drew on Aristotle’s Politics in Nicole Oresme’s French translation for Le Livre du corps de policie (1406–07), alongside John of Salisbury. Christine de Pizan, Le Livre du corps de policie, ed. A. J. Kennedy (1998); N. Oresme, Le Livre de Politiques d’Aristote (1370s); S. Lefèvre, ‘Christine de Pizan et l’Aristote oresmien’, in proceedings of the 3rd International Christine de Pizan Colloquium (2000); K. L. Forhan, The Political Theory of Christine de Pizan (2002)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Aristotle › 384–322 BCE

  • Augustine

    influenced by

    Christine’s Book of the City of Ladies (1405) takes up the image of Augustine’s City of God, building an allegorical city of women from exemplary lives. Christine de Pizan, Le Livre de la Cité des Dames (1405); M. Quilligan, The Allegory of Female Authority (1991)

    Evidence: AI draft

    Augustine › 354–430

  • Boethius

    influenced by

    Christine modelled the third part of L’Avision Christine (1405) on Boethius’ Consolation, consoling herself in dialogue with Lady Philosophy. Christine de Pizan, L’Avision Christine (1405), part III; Boethius, Consolatio philosophiae

    Evidence: AI draft

    Boethius › c. 477–524

Works

  • 1405The Book of the City of Ladies

    Reason, Rectitude and Justice help the author build a city of illustrious women against the misogyny of learned men.

Position

Christine defended women against the scorn of learned tradition. In the debate over the Romance of the Rose she attacked the poem’s misogyny, and in The Book of the City of Ladies three allegorical figures – Reason, Rectitude and Justice – help her build a city from the lives of outstanding women. If women seem inferior, she argued, it is because they are denied education, not because of their nature. In mirrors for princes and political writings she called for just rule, the common good and peace in a war-torn France. Her last work celebrated Joan of Arc. She is seen as a forerunner of modern feminism.

Life & context

Christine de Pizan was born in Venice in 1364 and grew up in Paris, where her father, a physician and astrologer, served King Charles V. Married at fifteen and widowed in 1390, she had to provide for her children and her mother, and did so by writing for royal and noble patrons. Around 1418, amid civil war, she withdrew, probably to the convent of Poissy, and died around 1430.

Further main works

  • The Treasure of the City of Ladies (1405)
  • The Book of the Body Politic (c. 1407)
  • The Tale of Joan of Arc (Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc, 1429)

Appears in

Sources: Wikipedia · Wikidata

As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made

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