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Updated 04-13-08
Christine de Pizan
/Pisan (c.1364-aft.1429)
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"NOW I WANT YOU TO BRING FORTH NEW BOOKS WHICH... WILL PRESENT
YOUR MEMORY"
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Born in Venice, Christine was taken as a small child to Paris, where her father, a scholar and physician, had received an appointment at the court of Charles V. In 1380 she was married to a royal secretary. Charles V died later that year and her father's position, until then prosperous, declined; her husband, however, continued to do reasonably well at court and three children were born, a daughter and two sons (the younger son to die before 1399).
In 1389, Christine's husband died; her father had died two years before. Her husband's estate was involved in several lawsuits, so Christine found herself in relative poverty, with her children and widowed mother to care for. Two brothers had returned to Italy after their father's death, so she was truly without support. She spent the early 1390s trying to get her property back, with all the going from courtroom to courtroom and waiting for magistrates which that entailed. She eventually got a settlement that was enough to at least keep her family together.
In the mid-1390s Christine began to write lyric poems and to search for patrons who would accept them as gifts and reward her --- with cash, a small jewel, cloth ---, a common procedure for male poets, but not for women. She became known in court circles as a poet and began to receive commissions to write. At the same time she was reading and studying, so that by the early 1400s, she was ready to seek commissions for other kinds of writing and to join in as a full participant in the intellectual life of Paris.
Christine's major works were completed between 1400 and 1418. In that year, during the civil war that had followed the French defeat by the British at Agincourt, she left Paris and apparently spent the rest of her life as a lay resident in a convent, probably at the royal priory where her daughter was a nun. In 1429 she celebrated Joan of Arc with a poem; she appears to have died sometime within the next five years.
Not all of Christine's works have yet been translated into English, but enough have so that you can hear the remarkable variety of her voices.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from (and information on) translations in print:
Epistre au dieu d'amours (1399) & Dit de la rose (1402)
Le Debat de deux amans (c.1400)
Epistre d'Othea a Hector (1400-01)
Epistres du debat sus "Le "Rommant de la Rose" (1401-03)
L'oroyson Nostre Dame (1402-03)
Livre du duc des vrais amans (1404-05)
Livre de la cite des dames (1404-05)
Livre des trois vertus (1405) /Le Tresor de la cite des dames
L'Avision-Christine (1405-06)
Livre du corps de policie (1406-07)
Livre des fais d'armes et de chevallerie (1410)
Epistre a la reine (1405)
Lamentacion sur les maux de la France (1410)
L'epistre de la prison de vie humaine (c.1416-18)
Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc (1429)
Information about:
Collections.
Secondary sources.
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First, a word on "Pizan" and "Pisan": Christine's father's family was from Pizzano, but some later French writers thought his place of origin to have been Pisa; hence the different spellings. If you are doing an internet or library catalog search, better try both.
1. Complete works:
(a) A link to the text of a 1908 translation of the 1404-05 Livre du duc des vrais amans, The Book of the Duke of True Lovers; the poetic narrative is in a prose translation by Alice Kemp-Welch, and the ballads in a verse translation by Laurence Binyon and Eric Maclagen (the lyrics given at the end of the original are not included). You can also download the work in a PDF file.
(b) A literal prose translation by Angus J. Kennedy and Kenneth Varty of the1429 Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc, with the original poem given in a parallel column. See also the valuable 1997 introduction and notes, and the tables of historical events and of Christine's chief works. (At a different site, another prose translation, this by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski.)
2. Excerpts from Livre de la cite des dames (all from Earl Jeffrey Richards' translation, The Book of the City of Ladies):
(a) After an essay, excerpts from the opening.
(b) All of Pt.1's Ch. 46, on Queen Dido.
(c) Excerpts from all three parts of Cite. (Near the end, some of the citations are not marked: e.g., the passage starting "I know another small book..." is from 1: 9.)
3. Excerpts from Livre des trois vertus (all from Charity Cannon Willard's translation, A Medieval Woman's Mirror of Honor: The Treasury of the City of Ladies):
(a) Passages from all three parts, speaking to princesses, to women courtiers, and to women in the cities.
(b) The first excerpt here is from Part I, on "the lifestyle of the wise princess according to the admonitions of Prudence."
(c) From Part II, speaking of "the lady baronesses and the sort of knowledge which may be useful to them."
4. Other passages from individual works:
(a) In 1401, a royal secretary, Jean de Montreuil, wrote a treatise praising Jean de Meun's part of Roman de la Rose (c.1280); he sent Christine a copy, and she responded. Here is part of the first half of that response, the start of the collection, Les Epistres du debat sus "Le Rommant de la Rose"; the translation is by Eric Hicks.
(b) Click on "Description of an Early 15th Century Tournament" for a brief passage from Livre du duc des vrais amans, translated by Thelma Fenster.
(c) Two excerpts from Livre des fais d'armes et de chevallerie: on the causes of wars and battles, and on the treatment of non-combatants in enemy territory; the translation is by Sumner Willard, the notes by Charity Cannon Willard.
(d) Six stanzas of Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc, in a verse translation by Thelma S. Fenster.
5. For lyric poems:
(a) Four poems: two from Cent balades ("If all my writings are about sadness," and "What are we going to with this jealous husband?") and two from Cent balades d'amant et de dame ("Your vanity is crazy, sweet and fair girl," and "Come to me, sweetest friend, at the usual hour"), translated by Blumenfeld-Kosinski; the poems are followed by a commentary by Ellen Moody on Christine's poetry and prose.
(b) Two rondeaux and eight balades, translated by A. S. Kline.
(c) Go to "Pisan" (note spelling) for links to three rondeaux, in the original and in Sheenagh Pugh's translation; they are preceded by links to six of the Kline translations given just above.
(d) Two rondeaux from Autres balades, translated by Charity Cannon Willard: "Like the mourning dove I'm now all alone," and "I am a widow lone, in black arrayed."
(e) A lyric from Cent balades, "Grievous despair, full of madness," ("Dueil angoisseux"), translated by Paul Brians; the original is also given.
(f) Another lyric from Cent balades, "Alone am I and alone I wish to be," translated by Michael Lastinger; the original ("Seulete sui") is also given.
6. For excerpts from various works (prose and poetry):
(a) This page, an excerpt from Livre des trois vertus, is a good place to start. The numbers at the upper right will lead you to other excerpts: #2 and #7 to more from Trois vertus; #4 to L'Avision-Christine; #5 to "Marriage is a sweet thing," from Autre Ballades; #6 to Le dit de la pastoure; #8 to Epistre au dieu d'amours; and #9 to a rondeau from Livre du duc des vrais amans. The last is translated by Binyon and Maclagen; all of the other excerpts are translated by Kathleen Garay and Madeleine Jeay.
(b) At the start of a collection of passages on court culture, excerpts from three works: Livre du corps de policie, translated by Diane Bornstein; Livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles V, translated by Hicks and by Charity Cannon Willard; and Livre des trois vertus, translated by Sarah Lawson.
(c) An essay on Christine's treatment of Eve, which includes a passage from Cite des dames, translated by Richards; and a prose translation of part of the poem, Epistre au dieu d'amours.
(d) A biography by Kate Lindemann with an excerpt from Le livre de la mutacion de Fortune, translated by Nadia Margolis; and two lyrics ("Like the mourning dove" and "This mask no grief reveals"), both translated by Charity Cannon Willard.
(e) The opening five stanzas of Enseignemens moraux, "I have no great fortune, my son."
7. In Middle English:
(a) The Letter of Cupid, a translation (and partial adaptation) of Epistre au dieu d'amours by Thomas Hoccleve; this version of the 1399 poem was made shortly after 1400.
(b) A link to the text of a 1904 edition of Stephen Scrope's mid-1400s version of Othea, The epistle of Othea to Hector; or, The boke of knyghthode; you can also download the work as a PDF file. And elsewhere, links to six illuminations from the same edition.
(c) The page images of the 1489 Boke of the Fayt of Armes and of Chyvalrye, translated and printed by William Caxton at the direction of Henry VII; the text begins at image 8. (Caxton was one of the few early translators who identified Christine as the author).
8. In the original French:
(a) In Volume I of Maurice Roy's edition of Christine's Oeuvres poetiques (3 vols., 1886-96), lyric poems (Cent balades, Virelais, Balades d'etrange facons, Lais, Rondeaux, Jeux a vendre, Autres balades, and Complaintes amoureuses); from a table of contents at the bottom you can link to any one of the 135 poems.
(b) In Volume II of Roy's edition, seven works: L'Epistre au dieu d'amours, Dit de la rose, Le debat de deux amans, Le livre des trois jugements, Le dit de Poissy, Le dit de la pastoure, and Epistre a Eustache Morel.
(c) From L'Oroyson a Nostre Dame, 14 of the 16 prayers to Mary that were included in the earliest manuscripts of Christine's poetry.
(d)A link to L'Avision-Christine, as well as to Cent balades, L'Epistre au dieu d'amours, and Dit de la rose.
(e) A link to excerpts from the 1410 Lamentacion sur les maux de la guerre, as well as to Cent balades (here given in groups of ten), L'Epistre au dieu d'amours; and Dit de la rose; you will also find a list of Christine's works, given in chronological order.
(f) Epitre a la Reine Isabeau, the 96-line dedication of the "Queen's manuscript," the 1413 edition of Christine's collected works.
9. Excerpts from Charity Cannon Willard's 1984 biography of Christine (for information on the book, see below, under "Secondary sources"). At another site, a timeline of Christine's life.
10. Illustrations (etc.) from those manuscripts whose production was supervised by Christine:
(a) First, not an illustration, but James Laidlaw's list of the "presentation copies" of Christine's works, those whose production she supervised (for information on a 2003 essay in which Laidlow discusses these at some length, see "Secondary sources").
(b) From two of the earliest of Christine's manuscripts, c.1400; in these, the miniatures were done in grisaille, less expensive than the later polychromatic illuminations. First, the single miniature of Debat de deux amans, showing Christine presenting lovers to Louis, Duke of Orleans, Charles VI's brother and Christine's first major patron. Next, one of the six miniatures of Epistre d'Othea a Hector; here, Christine offers her book to Louis.
(c) From Christine's first collection, Livre de Christine, first prepared in 1402 and added to until 1405: first, Christine offering her book to Mary and the infant Jesus; then, two armed groups meeting outside a castle; finally, not an illustration, but a manuscript page, showing the decorated initial letters done by someone like Anastaise, the woman artist described in Cite des dames (1.41.4). (Christine's words on Anastaise can be seen in Richard's translation at the start of an illustrated essay by Allan Farber on another manuscript decorator of the period.)
(d) From a 1403 manuscript, a grisaille miniature of Christine presenting to Philip, Duke of Burgundy, a copy of Le livre du chemin de longue estude.
(e) Six pages (with both illuminations and the entire page each appeared on) from Le livre de la mutacion de Fortune, from a manuscript presented in 1404 by the author to Jean, Duke of Berry.
(f) An illumination from another of the four manuscripts of Mutacion de fortune prepared in 1404, this one showing Christine in the Temple of Fortune, looking at rows of images separated by text. And from a third, Christine writing at her desk.
(g) Eight of the 128 illustrations from the "Duke's manuscript," the earlier of two major collections of Christine's works, perhaps prepared for Louis of Orleans before his assassination in 1407, but acquired by his uncle, the Duke of Berry, in 1408 or 1409: (1) The opening of Cite des dames shows, at left, Christine receiving Reason, Rectitude and Justice; and at right, Reason helping Christine build the walls of the city. (2) In a collection of images, two other scenes from Cite and one from Livre de chemin de long estude: the fifth shows Christine writing (and the sixth gives detail of the same illumination), while the last shows Justice welcoming women to the city, at the opening of Book 3; the seventh (and the following detail) portray Christine showing a book to a courtier. (3) From the Epistre d'Othea a Hector, a scene of the hero Ulysses playing chess in his tent.(4) Then, two other scenes from Othea: the goddess Isis grafting new growth on old trees (an art, Christine says, that Isis had taught the Egyptians); and the goddess Ceres sowing seed in recently ploughed ground. (5) Finally, Christine receiving the order to write Livre du duc des vrais amans.
(h) An illustration of the opening of Cite des Dames, from a manuscript probably prepared after 1410, one of five extant manuscripts which contain only the Cite (note the similarity to the same scene shown in the earlier "Duke's manuscript").
(i) Christine in the Temple of Fortune, in Livre de la mutacion de Fortune, from a manuscript that included Livre des fais d'armes et de chevallerie and so must have been completed after 1410.
(j) On seven pages, all of the "Queen's manuscript" (Harley 4431), prepared for Queen Isabeau by 1413 (each page can be enlarged); and from the same site, a description of the organization of the manuscript. Elsewhere, 42 images from the same manuscript (but here, enlarging an image will describe the scene and identify the work being illustrated).
11. Not from a manuscript supervised by Christine, but of interest: the 98 miniatures from Epistre d'Othea a Hector in a Burgundian manuscript of 1450-1475, probably from the court of Charles the Good. Note the more traditional treatment of women (for example, at #23 on the first page, the goddess Diana and her women are not shown with books, as they had been in the versions prepared by Christine).
12. Essays, etc.:
(a) "Philosophy and Metaphor: The Significance of Christine's 'Blunders'" (2005), by Karen Green, looks at three apparent errors in Christine's use of her sources (in L'Epistre Othea, Chemin de longue etude, and Livre du corps de policie) and sees not error but purposeful changes.
(b) "Christine de Pizan and Establishing Female Literary Authority" (2003), an illustrated essay by Allan Farber, discusses Christine's use of images to define her position as a woman writer.
(c) "Building the Ideal City: Female Memorial Praxis in Christine de Pizan's Cite des Dames" (2003), by Betsy McCormick, discusses Cite as a mnenomic system that created for Christine's contemporary woman reader a way to remember and practice a personal ethical system. Passages are given in the original and in McCormick's translation.
(d) "Christine de Pizan, Primat, and the 'noble nation francoise'" (2002), by Lori J. Walters, sees Christine's Livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles V as a continuation of the Grandes Chroniques de France begun by the monk Primat, and her use of Augustine's De civitate Dei in other works as carrying out Charles V's goal of empowering the vernacular.
(e) "The Compensations of Aging: Sexuality and Writing in Christine de Pizan and Colette" (2002), by Blumenfeld-Kosinski, compares Christine's view of her own aging process with that of the 1900s novelist Colette.
(f) After describing Christine's development as a poet, Ali Alizadeh's "Towards a Poetics for the Epic: the Case of Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc" (2001) provides a close reading of Ditie to illustrate Christine's presentation of Joan as an epic hero; most quoted passages from Ditie are in Alizadeh's own translation.
(g) "Gender Trouble in the Garden of Deduit: Christine de Pizan Translating the Rose" (1992), by Jane Chance, discusses Christine's views as shown in Epistre au dieu d'amours and in the three letters that made up her participation in the debate on the Roman de la rose; quoted passages are from the translation of Joseph L. Baird and John R. Kane.
(h) "Christine de Pizan as Teacher" (1991), by Charity Cannon Willard, treats Christine's educational writings; most thoroughly discussed are Livre des fais d'armes et de chevallerie and Livre de la paix.
(i) At Julia Bolton Holloway's "The City and the Book" site, two essays: (1) "Female City Builders: Hildegard von Bingen's Scivias and Christine de Pizan's Livre de la cite des dames," (2002) by Christine McWebb, compares Christine's city to Hildegard's use of Ecclesia. (2) An extract from an 1990 essay, "Dante Alighieri and Christine de Pizan: Le Livre du Chemin de Long Estude," by Ester Zago, looks at Christine's use of the Commedia. (The two grisaille miniatures shown in the Zago essay are from the manuscript prepared by Christine for the Duke of Burgundy in 1403.)
(j) Part of Christine McWebb's preface to the 2007 Debating the Roman de la rose: A Critical Anthology; a link to "Anthology Excerpts" will let you download a PDF file (1.8MB) of relevant excerpts from the Roman, in the original and in McWebb's translation (for excerpts from McWebb's book, see under "In print").
13. Reviews (for excerpts from the translations, see "In print"; for information on the other books' treatment of Christine, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Daisy Delogu on the 2006 translation by Barbara K. Altmann and R. Barton Palmer of Le Debat de deux amans in An Anthology of Medieval Love Debate Poetry.
(b) Nadia Margolis on Sumner Willard's 1999 translation of Livre des fais d'armes et de chevallerie, The Book of Deeds of Arms and of Chivalry.
(c) Gretchen V. Angelo on Kate Langdon Forhan's 1994 translation of Livre du corps de policie, The Book of the Body Politic.
(d) Alison Williams Lewin on the 2005 essay collection, Healing the Body Politic: The Political Thought of Christine de Pizan .
(e) Jessica Brantley on Marilynn Desmond's and Pamela Sheingorn's 2003 study, Myth, Montage, and Visuality in Late Medieval Manuscript Culture: Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea.
(f) Margolis on Forhan's 2002 study, The Political Theory of Christine de Pizan.
(g) Julia Holderness on the 1998 collection, Christine de Pizan and the Categories of Difference.
(h) Lynn Ramey on the 1998 collection, Christine de Pizan and Medieval French Lyric.
(i) Katrin E. Sjursen on Nancy Bradley Warren's 2005 study, Women of God and Arms: Female Spirituality and Political Conflict, 1380-1600.
(j) Susan J. Dudash on the 2003 collection, Fama: The Politics of Talk and Reputation in Medieval Europe.
(k) Anna Dronzek on Prudence Allen's 2002 second volume of The Concept of Woman series, The Early Humanist Reformation, 1250-1500.
(l) Nicole Rice on the 2002 collection, The Vernacular Spirit: Essays on Medieval Religious Literature.
14. Other aids:
(a) A partial database (2006) of Christine's works (9 works are not included). However, you can see a complete list of titles in alphabetical order, as well as a "List of names" which will tell you, for example, where Christine has used Aristotle's name ("Aristote") in the works that are included.
(b) At a French site, click on the name of an individual work for a 2007 bibliography of manuscripts, editions, translations, and studies; the individual entries are preceded by a list of bibliographical and general studies.
(c) The University of Auckland's Christine de Pizan Society; you can link to a timeline of Christine's life, to a bibliography of recent studies (2002-2007) and to "Pedagogic Resources" (currently a 2004 discography).
15. For historical background, in this alphabetical list,
click on "R" and go to The Royal Image: Illustrations
of the Grandes Chroniques de France, 1274-1422 (1991), by
Anne D. Hedeman: there see the first half of Chapter 8, "The
Legacy of Charles V," for a clear description of the
political situation and the method of artistic patronage during
Christine's working life.
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Epistre au dieu d'amours (1399) & Dit de la rose (1402)
[From the beginning of her writing career, Christine was interested in women's treatment by men, as is shown in Epistre au dieu d'amours (Letter of the god of love), perhaps written as part of a poetry-writing contest at one of the princely courts, and in Dit de la rose (Tale of the rose), written in the midst of the quarrel over the Roman de la Rose. In this collection, Thelma S. Fenster and Mary Carpenter Erler have translated the two poems, with the original French given on facing pages:]
Poems of Cupid, God of love: Christine de Pizan's Epistre
au dieu d'Amours and Dit de la Rose, Thomas Hoccleve's The Letter
of Cupid; editions and translations with George Sewell's The
Proclamation of Cupid / edited by Thelma S. Fenster and Mary
Carpenter Erler. Leiden; New York: Brill, 1990. (vi, 237 p.:
ill.)
LC#: PQ1575 .E67 P6 1990; ISBN: 9004092188
Includes bibliography and glossaries
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"...those disloyal men who blame and shame, defame and deceive
them."
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[From Epistre au dieu d'amours; Cupid addresses his "true and loyal servitors":]
To one and all about we make it known
That here, before our court, complaints have come
To us, and plaints so very piteous,
From women, both the old and younger ones,
From noble ladies, maidens, merchants' wives,
From all of womankind, wherever found,
Most humbly asking us to intervene.
Failing our help, they'll be completely shorn
Of every shred of dignity, and shamed.
The ladies mentioned here above complain
Of damage done, of blame and blemished name,
And of betrayals, very grievous wrongs,
Of falsehoods uttered, many other griefs,
Endured each day from those disloyal men
Who blame and shame, defame and deceive them.
[ll.8-22]
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"I say she never did play Adam false."
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[After condemning those who betray women, Cupid defends women against those who defame them; he eventually arrives at the subject of Eve's part in the Fall:]
Now as to the deceitful act
For which our mother Eve is brought to blame,
Upon which followed God's harsh punishment,
I say she never did play Adam false,
In innocence she took the enemy's
Assertion, which he gave her to believe.
Accepting it as true, sincerely said,
She went to tell her mate what she had heard.
No fraudulence was there, no planned deceit,
For guilelessness, which has no hidden spite,
Must not be labeled as deceptiveness. [ll.
591-599, 604-616]
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"...wondrous tidings, pleasing news."
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[Two years later, in Dit de la rose, Christine and Cupid change tactics: instead of complaining and condemning, the god of love sends a goddess to earth to establish for honest lovers a new chivalric order, the Order of the Rose; each member of the order must take a vow of loyalty to his/her lover; Christine sets the cheerful tone as she begins her announcement:]
To princes all inclined to love,
To all the gallant noblemen
Inspired to arms by bravery;
To those whose custom is to love
All goodness, thus to earn esteem;
To lovers bred in gentle ways,
Here in our realm, in other states,
Wherever valor radiates;
To ladies all of good renown,
To all the maidens who are loved,
To women who are honorable,
Gracious, well-bred, and courteous:
A modest counsel offered here,
Given in true sincerity.
I bring to all the valorous,
Who persevere for honor's sake,
These wondrous tidings, pleasing news,
No harmful, frightening report.
[ll.1-18]
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A complete prose translation by Kevin Brownlee of Epistre au dieu d'amours is in Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee (1997); for bibliographic information see below, under "Collections."
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Le Debat de deux amans (c.1400)
[This anthology of five debate poems, translated by Barbara K. Altmann and R. Barton Palmer, includes The Debate of Two Lovers. The general introduction provides useful background; the introduction to Christine's poem describes its position in the tradition and shows what makes it distinctive. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
An anthology of medieval love debate poetry / translated and
edited by Barbara K. Altmann and R. Barton Palmer. Gainesville:
University Press of Florida, [2006]. (xii, 397 p.)
LC#: PQ1308.E6 A83 2006; ISBN: 0813029074
Includes bibliographical references. (p. [395]-397)
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"Without saying a word, watching...."
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[At an Parisian party full of "festivity and joy," the widow Christine sits on the sidelines as an observer:]
And I, in whom all unhappiness has been lodged
Since the day that Death served me so very harsh
A portion, because of which I will never have,
In truth,
Any joyous pleasure in this world....
I was seated on a bench in that place
Without saying a word, watching the entertainments
Of the refined, noble lovers, full of charm,
So full of joy
That for them it was easy to find comfort. [ll.145-49,
157-61; p. 260]
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"...whether love brings more joy or less."
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[Christine is approached first by a knight who was pale "as a result of loving too greatly" and then while talking with him, by an enthusiastic young squire who suggests that the three "talk about love":]
"Let each of the three of us be quick to pronounce
His best opinion on the topic, whether love brings
More joy or less
To true lovers....
What it is to love, where it comes from, and what it avails,
This love, which seizes the heart and conquers it,
What it is good for, and whether honor or shame comes of it." [ll.357-61,
365-67; p.265]
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"...good and beautiful tales, which spread much pleasure."
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[The knight and the squire debate (the knight speaking for the suffering of lovers, the squire for their joy). Christine does not participate, although a woman who has joined them suggests that the description of lovers' sufferings is merely "a common tale, told to women to persuade them" (ll.937-38). When the debaters finish and wish someone to judge their arguments, Christine recommends that they submit them to one "renowned for wisdom," Louis of Orleans (the king's younger brother and Christine's first major patron). The lovers then ask her help; this poem, dedicated to Louis, will be her answer:]
"We ask... that you, who are in the habit
Of composing good and beautiful tales, which spread
Much pleasure
In many places, undertake by your goodwill
To fashion a tale out of the content and the scope
Of our debate; you would thus do us a great service
And bring us great joy. [ll.1985--92;
p.301]
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Epistre d'Othea a Hector (1400-01)
[Epistre d'Othea a Hector is an allegory, but in bite-size pieces, suitable for the education of the young. It is made up of 100 stories written by the goddess Othea (Christine's creation, who represents "the wisdom of women") for a teen-aged Hector, the Trojan hero whose family was believed to be the ancestors of the French. Jane Chance's translation has a detailed introduction, brief but useful notes, and an interpretive essay that analyses Christine's view of women's roles:]
Christine de Pizan's Letter of Othea to Hector / translated
with introduction, notes, and interpretive essay [by] Jane Chance
(The Focus library of medieval women). Newburyport, MA: Focus
Information Group, c1990. (xii, 164 p.)
LC#: PQ1575.E5 E525 1990; ISBN: 0941051048
Includes index. Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-148).
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"Now put it well into your memory."
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[The goddess Othea writes to the 15-year-old Hector of Troy:]
By my letter I wish to counsel
You, and to say and exhort
Those things which are necessary
To great valor....
Now put it well into your memory
The deeds that I wish to describe to you. [#1:
ll.19-22, 48-49; pp.35-36]
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"For Augustus learned from a woman."
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[Each of Othea's 100 stories are divided into three parts:"text," four lines of verse; "gloss," a prose explanation; and "allegory," a prose moral interpretation. Both classical and Christian references are used to make the point. This is from the last:]
Text:
One hundred authorities I have written to you;
If they are not despised by you,
For Augustus learned from a woman,
Who taught him about being worshiped.
Gloss: Caesar Augustus was emperor of the Romans and all the world; and because, in the time of his reign, peace existed through all the world..., the foolish people believed that they held that peace which existed because of the good from him.... So they wished to worship Caesar as God.
But then the Cumaean Sibyl said to him... that there was no god but one, who had created everything. And then she led him to a high mountain outside the city, and in the sun... appeared a Virgin holding an Infant. The Sibyl showed it to him and said to him that this was the true God, who ought to be worshiped; and therefore Caesar worshiped him.
And because Caesar Augustus, who was prince of all the world, learned to know God and belief from a woman, to this purpose may be said the authority which Hermes stated: "Do not be ashamed to hear truth and good teaching, whoever may say it; for truth ennobles whoever pronounces it."
Allegory: ...Hugh of St. Victor says... that the wise man listens willingly to everything and learns willingly from each, and reads willingly all kinds of teaching; he does not despise Scripture; he does not despise the individual; he does not despise the doctrine...; he does not consider who it is who speaks, but what it is that he says.... [pp.119-120]
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Epistres du debat sus "Le Rommant de la Rose" (1401-03)
[In early 1401, one of the royal secretaries, Jean de Montreuil, wrote a treatise (now lost) praising Jean de Meun's part of Roman de la Rose (c.1280); he sent Christine a copy, and she responded with a letter, telling him what she objected to in the work. Later, others got involved, praising and attacking Jean de Meun (and praising and attacking his defenders and attackers). Christine McWebb has collected not only the 1401-1402 letters that constitute the heart of the "debate" but also excerpts from relevant documents from 1340 to 1410 (including excerpts from Christine's other works). All of the documents are given in the original and in translation (for the French, usually by McWebb; for the Latin, by Earl Jeffrey Richards). Richards' introduction provides valuable background on the political and ecclesiastical situation which produced such passion over a hundred-year-old romance. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Debating the Roman de la rose: a critical anthology / edited
by Christine McWebb; introduction and Latin translations by Earl
Jeffrey Richards (Routledge medieval texts). New York: Routledge,
c2007. (xxxvi, 446 p.)
LC#: PQ1529 .D5 2007; ISBN: 9780415967655
Includes bibliographical references (p. 433-439) and index
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...the diligence, desire, and will with which I defend
myself."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Christine sent the first debate documents to Queen Isabeau in February 1402, starting with a letter to Isabeau, in which she explains her purpose:]
I... wish to send you these epistles, in which, my venerated Lady, if you will honor me by hearing them, you will see the diligence, desire, and will with which I defend myself as much as I can against dishonorable opinions, and where I defend the honor and praise of women (which many clerics and others make a point of diminishing in their works; this ought not to be tolerated, nor is it sustainable). And as weak as my position may be in pronouncing such accusations against such skilled masters, I am motivated by truth. [pp.109-111]
------------------------------------------------------------
"I am much better able to speak of these things."
------------------------------------------------------------
[Although Montreuil's treatise is lost, Christine's summer 1401 response shows that Montreuil praised the Roman in wholly admiring terms. Christine disagrees, especially with Jean de Meun's treatment of women. After showing where the Roman has erred, she makes two points: first, she is speaking not just because she is a woman but to defend the truth; and second, because she is a woman she is in a position to speak with authority:]
And you must believe me, dear sir, that I do not sustain these opinions in favor of women simply because I am myself a woman. For, to be sure, my purpose is simply to uphold the absolute truth because I know from experience that the truth is contrary to those things which I am denying. And as much as I am a woman, I am much better able to speak of these things than one who has no experience in this matter, and who thus can go only by mere assumption and guessing. [p. 129]
---------------------------
"Is it not cowardly?"
---------------------------
[Christine's next published letter was sent in September 1401
to "the illustrious and skilled Master Gontier Col, Secretary
to the Lord our King." Col had read her letter to Montreuil,
and wrote to her demanding that she retract her accusations against
Jean de Meun "whom you so horribly dare to reprimand and
criticize." What seems to have irritated Christine most
about Col's letter was his ad feminam arguments:]
You insult me still further because I am a woman, which according to you makes me fickle, mad, and pretentious, for daring to to correct and reprimand such a reputable scholar as you claim this author to be....
...[Y]ou should remember that a small knife can rupture a large bag filled with goods. And do you not know that a small weasel is able to attack and destroy a great lion?... Is it not cowardly to threaten a simpler person when you yourself are so skilled? [pp.137-39]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A simple little woman... is able to criticize your erring
ways!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The debate continued, and in a letter a year later (and so not included in the set sent to Isabeau), in reply to yet another royal secretary, Pierre Col, Christine wrote her most detailed contribution to the debate, Christine begins:]
[A]lthough I am occupied with other matters and my intent was not to continue writing on this subject, I will nevertheless reply to you in my customary simplistic manner of telling the truth without disguise. [p.141]
[She also continued to resist personal attacks:]
And for no reason, you insult me with the following words: "O extreme pretentiousness! O very foolish arrogance! O words uttered too quickly and thoughtlessly by a woman's mouth, who condemns a man of such high intelligence and learning, who after great labor and ripe deliberations created so noble a book as that of the Rose....
My response: O man, deceived by capricious opinion! Of course I could, but will not, reply harshly despite your ugly reproaches accusing me of being of little renown and devoid of reason. O offended intelligence! O perverted knowledge.... A simple little woman, with the help of Holy doctrine, is able to criticize your erring ways! [pp.163-65]
========================================================================
[An earlier collection of the "debate" documents, translated by Joseph L. Baird and John R. Kane, is based on less accurate editions than is the 2007 collection (above), and lacks the French originals:]
La Querelle de la Rose: letters and documents / [compiled
and edited] by Joseph L. Baird and John R. Kane (North Carolina
studies in the Romance languages and literatures; no. 199). Chapel
Hill: U.N.C. Dept. of Romance Languages: [distributed by University
of North Carolina Press], 1978. (170 p.)
LC#: PQ1529 .Q43; ISBN: 0807891991
Bibliography: p. [169]-170.
=======================================================================
A complete translation of Christine's first "quarrel"
letter, to Jean de Montreuil, is in Willard (1994); for bibliographical
information see below, under "Collections." The translation
is by Eric Hicks; the title used is "Lesser Treatise on
the Romance of the Rose, June-July, 1401."
========================================================================
L'oroyson Nostre Dame (1402-03)
[Christine's verse prayer to Mary has been translated by Jean Misrahi and Margaret Marks; the original French is also given:]
L'oroyson Nostre Dame; prayer to our Lady, by Christine de
Pisan. Foreword by Jean Misrahi. Translated by Jean Misrahi and
Margaret Marks. New York, Kurt H. Volk, 1953. (24 p. illus. 26
x 35 cm)
LC#: PQ1575.O7 M5
--------------------------------------
"...a garment made of peace."
--------------------------------------
[Each of the 12-lined eighteen stanzas of the prayer begins with praise of Mary, then goes on to make a specific request, and ends with the Latin for "Hail Mary." In the first stanza (given completely here), Christine asks for peace: a truce in the hundred-year war with England was in effect, but few thought it would last:]
Ah, Lady pure beyond compare,
Full of immeasurable grace,
God's mother, glorious and fair,
Who turneth a compassionate face
To those in need, look so on me
And find acceptable this plea!
Grant, Lady. what I most desire,
That thou, sweet Virgin, from thy Son,
A gift for Christendom require:
That all the world shall now put on
A garment made of peace, so spun
That it will clothe us, every one.
Ave Maria. [p.
7]
---------------------------------------------
"And send a shepherd to our band."
---------------------------------------------
[The second stanza asks for a "shepherd": since 1398 the French court and bishops had refused to recognize either the pope in Avignon or the one in Rome:]
Pray further, Lady, that there be
For Holy Church in every land
True peace and true tranquility,
And send a shepherd to our band,
So good a shepherd that we run
In joy and faith unto thy Son. [p.8]
-----------------------------------------------
"Ladies and maids, all womankind...."
-----------------------------------------------
[Subsequent stanzas pray for the king and queen, the member of the royal family, and the knights who must defend France. Christine then moves on to other men --- merchants, common men, and "tillers of the soil" --- and finally to women:]
So for good ladies all I pray
That, flesh and soul, they be assigned
To thy safe guard, nor therefrom stray;
Ladies and maids, all womankind,
Preserve them ever from all shame
And from the demon's fiery flame. [p.23]
-----------------------------------
"Hark now unto my voice."
-----------------------------------
[The final stanza concludes:]
Hark now unto my voice and go,
If it but please thee, to this Son
And pray to Him who paid His life
For love of me and everyone,
That we, rejecting sin and strife,
Shall win unto that promised place
Of glory and triumphant grace!
Ave Maria. [p.24]
========================================================================
Livre du duc des vrais amans (1404-05)
[Thelma Fenster has made a prose translation of Christine's long narrative poem; the book's lyrics are translated in verse by Nadia Margolis. Fenster's introduction is thorough, and a helpful glossary takes the place of notes:]
The book of the duke of true lovers / Christine de Pizan;
translated, with an introduction by Thelma S. Fenster; with lyric
poetry translated by Nadia Margolis. New York: Persea Books,
c1991. (162 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ1575 .L7513 1991; ISBN: 0892551631, 0892551666
Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-162).
----------------------------------------------------------------
"I had heard lovers praised more than other people."
----------------------------------------------------------------
[In the poem, the narrator is male; the poem's opening describes his reason for wanting to become a "true lover":]
I was young and much the child when I first set my efforts toward becoming a lover. Because I had heard lovers praised more than other people and considered more gracious and better-taught, I wanted to be one. Toward that end I was often drawn to places where I might find a lady to serve. [pp.47-48]
-------------------------------------------------------
"I heeded what they said for my own good."
-------------------------------------------------------
[After the narrator has told how he found his lady, wooed her, and won her, he tells why he left her: continued praise could be found only by fighting abroad:]
I was blamed by my friends and called a coward for remaining too much inside the country.... That was not very seemly for a gentleman, to tell the truth. They said I would be the worst of my lineage if I remained there longer and did not take up arms in many a land to acquire praise and valor.
This was the sermon my kinsfolk intoned to me. They importuned me so much that I heeded what they said for my own good....
Thus for ten years I led that life, during which I often came and went. Upon my return it sometimes happened, when it was seemly, that I would see my dear Lady. [pp.129-130]
========================================================================
[This is a reprint of a 1908 edition in which Alice Kemp-Welch translated the poetic narrative into prose, while Laurence Binyon and Eric Maclagen translated the ballads into verse. The collection of lyrics at the end of the original narrative (given in Fenster's translation, above) are omitted:]
The book of the duke of true lovers. Now first translated
from the Middle French of Christine de Pisan, with an introd.,
by Alice Kemp-Welch. The ballads rendered into the original metres
by Laurence Binyon & Eric R. D. Maclagan (The Medieval library).
New York, Cooper Square Publishers, 1966. (xv, 137 p. illus.
17 cm.)
LC#: PQ1575 .B6 1966
========================================================================
Livre de la cite des dames (1404-05)
[The introduction to Rosalind Brown-Grant's translation of Livre de la cite des dames gives a useful summary of the medieval attitudes toward women and discusses Christine's use of her sources. Notes to the text are brief but are supported by a glossary. (See the book's table of contents online; it gives all of the work's sub-headings.):]
Christine de Pisan. The book of the city of ladies; translated
and with an introduction and notes by Rosalind Brown-Grant (Penguin
classics). London: Penguin, 1999. (xxxix, 283 p.)
LC#: PQ1575 .L56 E5 1999; ISBN: 0140446893
Includes bibliographical references (p. 280-[283])
[A 2006 reprint is titled The city of ladies; ISBN: 0143037544]
-----------------------------------------------------
"I had to accept their unfavorable opinion."
-----------------------------------------------------
[From the opening. Christine is trying to understand the discrepancy between what she had read about women and her own experience. It is the depressing conclusion that she comes to here that her visitors, Reason, Rectitude and Justice, will have to refute:]
No matter which way I looked at it and no matter how much I turned the matter over in my mind, I could find no evidence from my own experience to bear out such a negative view of female nature and habits. Even so, given that I could scarcely find a moral work by any author which didn't devote some chapter or paragraph to attacking the female sex, I had to accept their unfavorable opinion of women since it was unlikely that so many learned men, who seemed to be endowed with such great intelligence and insight into all things, could possible have lied on so many different occasions.... Thus I preferred to give more weight to what others said than to trust my own judgement and experience. [p.6]
========================================================================
[This is a revised edition of a 1982 translation by Earl Jeffrey Richards. The changes from the first edition are very minor; the notes are helpful but have not been updated. There is a brief new introduction with a few new bibliographical references. In general, if you already have the 1982 edition, you needn't bother with this new one. See online for excerpts from Richards' translation:]
The book of the city of ladies / Christine de Pizan; translated
by Earl Jeffrey Richards; foreword by Natalie Zemon Davis. New
York: Persea Books, 1998. (lxv, 281 p. ill)
LC#: PQ1575.L56 E5 1998; ISBN: 0892552301
[1st edition: foreword by Marina Warner. 1982. ISBN: 0892550619,
089255066X]
========================================================================
Livre des trois vertus (1405) [sometimes called Le Tresor de la cite des dames]
[Charity Cannon Willard's translation of Livre des trois vertus has a useful introduction; a rather distracting use of bold-face leads to notes in a glossary at the end:]
A medieval woman's mirror of honor: the treasury of the city
of ladies / Christine de Pizan; translated, with an introduction
by Charity Cannon Willard; edited, with an introduction by Madeleine
Pelner Cosman. Tenafly, N.J.: Bard Hall Press; New York, N.Y.:
Persea Books, c1989. (266 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ1575 .L6913 1989; ISBN: 0892551445, 0892551356
Bibliography: p. 261-266.
----------------------------------------------------------
"This present treatise is not addressed to men."
----------------------------------------------------------
[Once the "city of women" had been built by Christine under the supervision of the virtues Reason, Rectitude, and Justice, those same virtues dictated to her instructions to be passed on to all classes of women, so that all would be made eligible to live in their city. So, throughout the book, "we" refers to the three virtues who are speaking. Here they finish describing what a princess' attitude to her husband should be:]
She will see him as often as possible, always expressing joy at their meeting. In his presence she will show a joyful face and say things which she knows will please him.
Of course, some of you may reply that we are telling only part of the story, insisting that women must always love their husbands and show it, not saying whether men always deserve to be so well treated. Certainly some husbands conduct themselves abominably, showing little love for their wives or none at all.
We reply to this objection that our doctrine in this present treatise is not addressed to men, however much they might need to be instructed. Since we are speaking to women alone, we intend to provide them with the remedies useful in avoiding dishonor. Thus we advise them to follow the path of virtue no matter who may choose the contrary and whether it profits them good or ill.
Presuppose for the moment that the husband is marvelously perverse in his morals, is rude, whatever his background, is ungracious to his wife, and is involved with another woman, or even several. Nevertheless, the wise woman's good judgment and prudence are manifest when she knows how to bear all this, dissembling, without appearing to be aware of his perfidies or showing that she observes anything unusual. Even if every suspicion is true, there is nothing she can do about it. [p.99]
========================================================================
[A revised edition of Sarah Lawson's 1985 translation changes "a few passages" (p. xxix) of the text. More importantly, it now provides notes, a glossary of names, and a selected bibliography. (See the table of contents of the 1985 edition online; it gives all of the work's sub-headings.) :]
Christine, de Pizan. The treasure of the city of ladies; translated
with an introduction and notes by Sarah Lawson (Penguin classics).
Rev. ed.London: Penguin, 2003. (xxx, 198 p.)
LC#: PQ1575 .L6913 2003; ISBN: 0140449507
Includes bibliographical references
[Previous ed.: 1985. ISBN: 014044453X]
========================================================================
[L'Avision-Christine is an allegorical dream vision in which Christine learns about the history of France, its present problems, and the meaning of her own life. This translation by Glenda McLeod and Charity Cannon Willard is based on a new edition of the work and so supersedes a 1993 version by McLeod. Willard's introduction summarizes Christine's life; McLeod's notes and interpretive essay incorporate newer research. The bibliography includes an annotated list of relevant critical studies (the annotations especially valuable for the French-language studies included):]
The vision of Christine de Pizan / translated from the French
by Glenda McLeod, Charity Cannon Willard; with notes and interpretive
essay by Glenda McLeod (Library of medieval women, 1369-9652).
Cambridge: Brewer, 2005. (viii, 188 p.)
LC#: PQ1575.A954 E5 2005x; ISBN: 1843840588
Includes bibliographical references (p. [159]-174) and index
--------------------------------------------
"An amazing vision overcame me."
--------------------------------------------
[The opening:]
I had already passed halfway through the journey of my pilgrimage when one day at eventide I found myself fatigued by the long road and desirous of shelter. As I had arrived here eager for slumber, after I had said grace and taken and received the nourishment necessary for human life, recommending myself to the author of all things I betook myself to a bed of troubled rest.
Soon thereafter, my senses bound by the weight of sleep, an amazing vision overcame me in the sign of a strange prophecy; even though I am hardly Nebuchadnezzar, Scipio, or Joseph, the secrets of the Almighty are not denied the truly simple. [Book1, section 1; p.18]
------------------------------------
"I wish to reveal all to you."
------------------------------------
[A crowned lady, whom Christine's preface has identified as at once the earth, the human soul and France, appears and gives Christine a task:]
"Friend, to whom God and Nature have conceded the gift of a love of study far beyond the common lot of women, prepare parchment, quill, and ink, and write the words issuing from my breast; for I wish to reveal all to you...." [1.6; p.22]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"They could not have come from the intelligence of a woman."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[After listening to the crowned lady recount the sad history of the world and of France, in Book II Christine meets Dame Opinion, who describes how men have erred by having too much confidence in their own opinions. When asked to correct any errors in Christine's own writings, Dame Opinion replies:]
..."[T]here is no fault there, even though because of me many people argue about them in various ways; for some say that clerks and monks forged them for you and that they could not have come from the intelligence of a woman. But those who say this are ignorant.... Others say that your style is too obscure and that they cannot understand it, so it is not very enjoyable. Thus variously I cause some to praise and others to repress praise as anything that pleases everyone is impossible....
"I advise you then to continue your work, as it is valid, and do not suspect yourself of failing because of me. For inasmuch as I will be founded in you on law, reason, and true judgment, you will not err in the foundations of your work..., in spite of the many and various judgments some from me alone, others from Envy." [2.22; pp.85-86]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"No woman born for a very long time would surpass me."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[In Book III, Christine tells Philosophy how she now mourned the fact that she had neglected to learn enough from her father and her husband while they were alive:]
...[W]hen I was at the two beautiful fonts of Philosophy themselves... I, like a young over-indulged fool, took not my fill of them, notwithstanding that the beautiful water was pleasing to me, would not take my fill of them. But just like the fool who sees the bright sun shining and not considering the rain thinks it will last for her forever, I neglected those things and in time thought to recover what I had lost....
For if I had such clarity at my side now, with my present desires, wearied of all other occupations and pastimes, as of useless things, being devoted entirely to study, so great and thoroughly would I fill myself so that no woman born for a very long time would surpass me. [3.9; p.103]
------------------------------------------
"I delighted in their clever ruses."
------------------------------------------
[Christine tells how, later, Nature gave her the desire to study, first the works of historians and then of poets:]
...I was pleased when I had found the style natural to me, delighting in the veiled language and the beautiful material hidden beneath moral and pleasing tales, and the beautiful style of their meter and prose, agreeable because of the lovely and polished rhetoric adorned by clever language and unusual proverbs; because of this science of poesy, Nature rejoiced in me.
------------------------------------------------------
"These in joy and pleasure you will deliver."
------------------------------------------------------
[Then Nature ordered Christine to write:]
Then she told me, "Take the tools and hammer out on the anvil the material that I will give you, so durable that neither iron or fire nor anything else will be able to destroy it. So forge pleasant things.
"When you were carrying the children in your womb, you experienced great pain in order to give birth. Now I want you to bring forth new books which in the time to come and perpetually to the world will present your memory before the worldly princes and throughout the world in all places; these in joy and pleasure you will deliver from your memory." [3.10; p.105]
========================================================================
Livre du corps de policie (1406-07)
[Kate Langdon Forhan has translated Christine's study of the body politic, written for the heir to France, in which Christine discusses the proper role of princes, the nobility, and the common people. Forhan's book has a thorough introduction, a useful chronology, a glossary used for notes, and an annotated bibliography on medieval political thought. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The book of the body politic / Christine de Pizan; edited
and translated by Kate Langdon Forhan (Cambridge texts in the
history of political thought). Cambridge, UK; New York, NY, USA:
Cambridge University Press, 1994. (xli, 113 p.)
LC#: JC393.A3 P513 1994; ISBN: 0521410509, 0521422590
Includes bibliographical references and index.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In the active life, to desire glory in a just cause is
not a vice."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[On the desire for fame:]
In those [ancient Roman] days, the honor was given to them [knights] according to their worth and it was very much desired.... And they treated clerks likewise: if there was a philosopher or a notable man, or woman, like the wise Sibyl, who surpassed others in wisdom or in learning; or an artisan made images with such skill that they seemed alive, or an artisan of any craft did excellent work, they were honored likewise. And so, as you see, they desired glory and honor, those noble ancients....
And so that no one can contradict this opinion, arguing that honor and glory should not be desired in this world, but despised, Valerius shows how those who in their books claim to despise glory, desire and want it just as much as others do. And, he says, glory is certainly not despised by those who teach this idea, for they carefully put their names on the volumes and books which they write....
[T]he good and noble ought to and can desire glory, despite the fact that Boethius argues in his third book, not to quest too ardently for glory in this world, and not at all in the spiritual life. But for those who live morally in the active life, to desire glory in a just cause is not a vice. [pp.82-83]
--------------------------------------------------------------
"God be my witness at the end, I say what I think!"
--------------------------------------------------------------
[Why the people of France should not complain of their government:]
And, in spite of those who contradict me, I hold that of all the countries in Christendom, in this one the people commonly live better both because of the benevolence of princes without cruelty, and because of the courtesy and amiability of the people of this nation. And I do not say this out of favoritism, because I was not born here. But, God be my witness at the end, I say what I think! And since I have inquired about the government of other countries and I know there is no paradise on earth, I know that everywhere has its own troubles. [pp.101-102]
========================================================================
Livre des fais d'armes et de chevallerie (1410)
[Sumner Willard has translated Christine's book on warfare, in some ways a sequel to Livre du corps de policie. While the earlier work had as its goal the education of a prince, this speaks to the warriors who would defend that prince. That it was read by them is shown by the existence of paper copies that had "been annotated and given hard use" (p.8). The introduction and notes by Charity Cannon Willard are useful, especially in showing where Christine departs from her sources:]
Christine, de Pizan. The book of deeds of arms and of chivalry
/ translated by Sumner Willard; edited by Charity Cannon Willard.
University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999.
(219p.)
LC#: U101 .C47413; ISBN: 0271018801, 027101881X
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Military and lay experts... are not usually... expert in
language."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Christine adapts her style to her readers and listeners. From the opening:]
I am encouraged, in the light of my other writing, to undertake to speak in this book of the most honorable office of arms and chivalry, not only detailing those things that belong with it, but also treating the rights pertaining to it, as set forth in divers laws and by several authors, just as the builder who has already put up several strongholds is bold enough to construct a castle or fortress when he feels he has the materials to accomplish the work....
But inasmuch as it is fitting for this matter to be discussed factually, diligently, and sensibly, rather than with subtlety or polished words, and also in consideration of the fact that military and lay experts in the aforesaid art of chivalry are not usually clerks or writers who are expert in language, I intend to treat the matter in the plainest possible language.... [p.12]
--------------------------------------------------
"...they have often happened in the past."
--------------------------------------------------
[In the first half of her book, Christine often paraphrases a Roman writer of the 300s, Vegetius; she can draw modern lessons from a 1000-year-old book because:]
...[T]he wise commander should have thought of all the things that might happen, because they have often happened in the past. [p.77]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...the advice of wise knights, experts in these military
techniques."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[However, Christine will abandon Vegetius when newer information is needed:]
Vegetius... spoke in general terms of usages in the times of the heroic conquerors of the past, yet sufficiently for those who understand warfare well....
Nevertheless, to give more particular instruction, not to those who are already informed, but to those who in the future may read this or hear it read through desire to learn (as what is written in books is one of the most enduring things in the world), it seems to me a good idea to show in the work in greater detail things that may be good and useful for attacking strongholds, castles, and towns according to present-day usages, in order to provide more comprehensible examples.
Thus, as we have been helped in what has been said by the book of Vegetius, we will be assisted in this by the advice of wise knights, experts in these military techniques. [p.117]
-------------------------------------------------
"It is not good to put them in books...."
-------------------------------------------------
[Christine has few reservations about choice of weapons, but she draws the line at some kinds of chemical warfare:]
Those who fight at sea must be equipped with vessels full of pitch, resin, sulfur, brimstone, all of which must be melded together and bottled. These vessels must them be set afire and sent in the direction of enemy ships and galleys, which should be attacked immediately, before there is time to extinguish the fire....
In addition, certain poisons can be made that are so powerful and lethal that if they contaminate iron, a mortal wound will be the result. But such things should not be taught, because of the evil that results from them; they should rather be forbidden and cursed. It is not good to put them in books or record them otherwise in writing, because no Christian soldier should make use of such inhumane weapons.... [p.141]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Therein is the indication of having seen and read many
books."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[In the second half of her book, Christine moves from the practical ways of prosecuting a war to the proper behavior for knights engaged either in war or in duels. For help, she turns to a newer book, one written a little over 20 years earlier by Honore Bonet /Bouvet, who appears to her in a dream. When she worries aloud about her use of other writers, Bonet responds:]
"Dear friend, in this matter I reply that the more a work is seen and approved by people, the more authentic it becomes. Therefore, if anyone should murmur, according to the way of detractors, saying that you took material from others, I answer them by saying that it is common usage among my disciples to exchange and share the flowers they take from my garden individually.
"And even though they help themselves, they are not the first to do so. Did not master Jean de Meun make use of the of the works of Lorris, and likewise of other writings in his Romance of the Rose? It is therefore not a rebuke, but a lawful and praiseworthy matter when material is suitable applied, wherein is the mastery of the material, for therein is the indication of having seen and read many books.
"But it is wrong to take material without acknowledgment; therein is the fault. So do boldly what you have to do and do not doubt that your work is good. I assure you that it will be commended and praised by many a wise man." [p.144]
========================================================================
Epistre a la reine (1405), Lamentacion sur les maux de la France (1410), & L'epistre de la prison de vie humaine (c.1416-18)
[Josette A. Wisman has translated three of Christine's letters on conditions in France. The French originals are given, the introduction is detailed and the notes are useful:]
The epistle of the prison of human life; with, An epistle
to the Queen of France; and, Lament on the evils of the civil
war / Christine de Pizan; edited and translated by Josette A.
Wisman (Garland library of medieval literature; v. 21). New York:
Garland, 1984. (xlv, 99 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ1575 .A28 1984
Includes index. Bibliography: p. xxxiii-xlv.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You cannot know, except by someone's report, the common
problems."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From Epistre a la reine. In 1405, two of the royal family were feuding over control of the heir to the throne, and their retainers had fought in the streets of Paris. Christine appeals to Queen Isabeau to intervene to stop the feud before the situation could lead to civil war. Here, Christine assumes the role of a representative of the French people:]
Most high and Revered Lady, although your mind is well aware and told of what it should know, it may nevertheless be true that you, seated on your royal throne surrounded with honors, cannot know, except by someone's report, the common problems, in words as well in facts, which prevail upon your subjects.
For this reason, High Lady, do willingly hear the complaints and pitiful regrets of the suffering and suppliant French people now full of affliction and sadness, and who cry with tearful voices to you, their supreme and revered Lady, praying by the mercy of God, that a humble pity may show to your tender heart their desolation and misery, so that you can procure and obtain peace soon between these two princes of the same blood and who are loved ones by nature, but who are at present brought to a quarrel by strange Fortune. [p.73]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A poor voice crying in this kingdom, wanting peace and
welfare for all."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[From Lamentacion sur les maux de la France. After 1405, the situation got worse: one of the two princes referred to above was assassinated, so any reconciliation between the factions became unlikely. In 1410, Christine wrote to the elderly Duke of Berry, begging him to intercede in order to prevent an increasingly likely civil war. Although addressed to Berry, the letter also speaks to all involved. Here, Christine's role is that of prophet:]
Alone, and suppressing with great difficulty the tears which blur my sight and pour down my face like a fountain, so much so that I am surprised to have the time to write this weary lament, whose writing the pity for the coming disaster makes me erase with with bitter tears, and I say in pain: "Oh, how can it be that the human heart, as strange as Fortune is, can make men revert to the nature of a voracious and cruel beast?"... [p.85]
[She warns the princes and the knights of the dishonor that will earn by killing their own; then:]
And what will follow, in God's name? Famine, because of the wasting and ruining of things that will ensue, and the lack of cultivation, from which will spring revolts by the people who have been too often robbed, deprived, and oppressed, their food taken away and stolen here and there by soldiers, subversion in the towns because of outrageous taxes which will have to be levied on the citizens and dwellers to raise the needed money, and, above all, the English will obtain checkmate on the side, if Fortune agrees to it; and there will also be dissensions and mortal hatreds which will be rooted in many hearts for this reason and which will engender treason.... [p.87]
[And she concludes:]
So let virtue overcome vice now! Let one way be found to bring to peace men who are loved ones by nature, and enemies by accident....
May the Blessed Holy Spirit, Author of all peace, give you [Duke of Berry] the heart and the courage to achieve such a thing! Amen. And may he grant me, a poor voice crying in this kingdom, wanting peace and welfare for all, your servant Christine, moved by a very fair mind, the gift to see that day! Amen. [p.95]
-----------------------------------------------------
"Somehow to find a remedy and a cure...."
-----------------------------------------------------
[From L'epistre de la prison de vie humaine. Everything Christine had predicted came to pass: there was small-scale civil war around Paris until 1414, when it spread throughout much of the country, leaving France vulnerable to the new English king, Henry V. At Agincourt in 1415, between 7000 and 10,000 French were killed, and 1500 to 1600 captured and taken to England. Christine wrote to Mary of Berry (daughter of the recipient of the 1410 letter). Mary's son-in-law and three cousins had been killed; her husband and son had been captured (the former to die in captivity, the latter to be released after 23 years). Here, Christine's role is that of consoler and physician, for Mary and all the French women who had lost men:]
In order somehow to find a remedy and a cure for the severe
malady and infirmity caused by a bitter heart and sad thoughts,
a remedy which might restrain and dry up a flood of tears that
can benefit neither the soul nor be of value to the body, and
that has run and runs still---which is a pity---even among the
queens, princesses, baronesses, ladies and young girls of the
noble royal blood of France, and in general among most of the
ladies-in-waiting, who have been stricken by this pestilence
in this French kingdom...; in order also to see if recalling
anything to mind can be of help and be of use in consolation,...
to you first of all among the princesses of this kingdom, this
epistle of mine will be addressed.... [p.3]
========================================================================
A complete translation of Epistre a la reine is in Willard (1994); the translation is by Willard. Complete translations of Lamentacion sur les maux de la France are in Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee (1997), translated by Blumenfeld-Kosinski; and in Willard (1994), translated by Willard. For bibliographical information see below, under "Collections." Note, though, that these translations are not accompanied by the originals, as are the Wisman translations.
========================================================================
[This is the print version of the original and the translation by Angus J. Kennedy and Kenneth Varty that is available online:]
Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc / [by] Christine de Pisan; edited by
Angus J. Kennedy and Kenneth Varty (Medium Aevum monographs;
new ser., 9). Oxford: Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages
and Literature, 1977. ([4], 103 p., [14] p. of plates: facsims.)
LC#: PQ1575 .D57 1977; ISBN: 0950595500
English and Middle French text, English introd. and notes. Bibliography:
p. 75-80.
========================================================================
A complete prose translation of Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc (but
without the original) is in Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee
(1997), translated by Blumenfeld-Kosinski. For bibliographical
information see below, under "Collections." This translation
is also available online.
========================================================================
[Besides the complete translations noted at various points above, this collection by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Kevin Brownlee gives substantial selections of the works listed below (and one complete letter), with useful individual introductions. In addition, there are seven critical essays (the latest from 1990). (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The selected writings of Christine de Pizan: new translations,
criticism / translated by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Kevin
Brownlee; edited by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (A Norton critical
edition). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., c1997. (xvi, 392 p.:
ill.)
LC#: PQ1575 .A23 1997; ISBN: 0393970108
Includes bibliographical references (p. 391-392).
[In addition to the complete translations noted at various
points above, this collection by Charity Cannon Willard gives
substantial selections of the works listed below. The selections
are arranged and introduced thematically:]
The writings of Christine de Pizan / selected and edited by
Charity Cannon Willard. New York: Persea Books, c1994. (xv, 384
p.)
LC#: PQ1575 .A27 1994; ISBN: 0892551801, 0892551887
Includes bibliographical references (p. 368-373) and index
Dit de Poissy (1400)
In Willard, selections (about one-third of the whole) from "The
Tale of Poissy" (tr.: Kittye Delle Robbins-Herring, Barbara
K. Altmann)
Livre de chemin de long estude (1402-03)
In Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee, prose selections from
"The Path of Long Study" (tr. Brownlee).
In Willard, 145 lines of verse from "The Book of the Long
Road to Learning" that are not given in Blumenfeld-Kosinski
(tr. Thelma S. Fenster).
Dit de la pastoure (1403)
In Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee, prose and verse passages
from "The Tale of the Shepherdess" (tr. Blumenfeld-Kosinski)
Epistre a Eustache Morel (1403/04)
In Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee, a prose version of the
verse epistle to Eustache Deschamps (and, in verse, Deschamps'
answer; both tr. Blumenfeld-Kosinski).
Livre de la mutacion de Fortune (1404)
In Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee, prose translation of all
of Part 1 and a brief section of the ending of "The Book
of Fortune's Transformation" (tr. Brownlee).
In Willard, verse translation of selections, including many not
in Blumenfeld-Kosinski, of "The Book of the Mutation of
Fortune" (tr. Nadia Margolis).
Livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles V (1404)
In Willard, selections from "The Book of the Deeds and Good
Character of King Charles V the Wise" (tr.: Eric Hicks,
Glenda McLeod, Willard).
In Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee, the opening of "The Book of the Deeds and Good Conduct of the Wise King Charles V" (tr. Blumenfeld-Kosinski); a brief excerpt, but which includes the "Prologue," not given in Willard.
Livre de prudence (Livre de la prod'hommie
de l'homme) (1405-06)
In Willard, the section on justice from "The Book of Man's
Integrity" (tr. Willard).
Sept psaumes allegorises (1409-10)
In Willard, commentary on Psalm 102, one of the seven "penitential
psalms" (tr. Willard).
Livre de la paix (1412-13)
In Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee, selections from "The
Book of Peace" (tr. Blumenfeld- Kosinski).
In Willard, selections from "The Book of Peace" (tr.:
Eric Hicks, Willard).
Lyrics (1399-1410)
In Willard,10 poems from Cent balades (tr. Dwight Durling,
Regina de Cormier, Willard); 12 from Autre balades (tr. June
Hall McCash, James J. Wilhelm, Willard); 8 from Cent balades
d'amant et de dame (tr. Sandra Sider, Nadia Margolis, Willard).
Also, brief selections from Oraison Nostre Dame (tr. Regina
de Cormier), and from Jeux a vendre and Enseignemens moraux (tr.
Willard).
In Blumenfeld-Kosinski & Brownlee, 10 poems from Cent
balades d'amant et de dame, 9 from Cent balades and
5 from Autre balades (tr. Blumenfeld-Kosinski).
========================================================================
[The 2004 supplement to Angus J. Kennedy's ongoing bibliographical guide can be valuable to the general reader as well as to the scholar. In the section on individual works, Kennedy provides descriptive and sometimes detailed annotations of all criticism from the end of 1991 through 2001 and much of 2002; the annotations, of studies in other languages as well as English, provide a brief but thorough review of earlier views on each work. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Kennedy, Angus J. Christine de Pizan: a bibliographical guide.
Supplement 2 (Research bibliographies and checklists. New series,
1476-9700; 5). Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY: Tamesis,
2004. (xv, 285 p.)
LC#: Z8693.7 .K46 2004; ISBN: 1855661020
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
----------------------
[Douglas Kelly's study looks at the whole range of Christine's work, illustrating her developing views on misogyny, love, politics, and the very meaning of "opinion" itself. All quoted passages are given in the original and in Kelly's translation. The bibliography of studies seems complete through 2005, and the index includes uses of imagery and myth. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Kelly, Douglas. Christine de Pizan's changing opinion: a quest
for certainty in the midst of chaos (Gallica, 1749-091X; v. 4).
Cambridge : D.S. Brewer, 2007. (xiii, 226 p.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 K45 2007; ISBN: 9781843841111
Includes bibliographical references (p. [181]-211) and index
----------------------
[As Karen Green points out in her introduction, most of Christine's writing was "political," and the 12 essays here cover much of her work. Two that may be of chief interest to the general reader are these: (1) Susan Dudash's "Christinian Politics, the Tavern, and Urban Revolt in Late Medieval France," which looks at Christine's view of the "common people" and the proper role of the nobility in dealing with them; (2) Louise D'Arcens' "Petit estat vesval: Christine's de Pizan's Grieving Body Politic," which describes the ways in which Christine establishes her authority to comment on political affairs through her self-representation as one in a "humbled widowed estate." (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Healing the body politic: the political thought of Christine
de Pizan / edited by Karen Green and Constant J. Mews (Disputatio;
v. 7). Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, c2005. (xxi, 264 p.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 H43 2005; ISBN: 250351636X
Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-254) and index
-----------------------
[The 15 essays in this collection deal with Christine's role
in her society, her views on women, the themes of her work, and
the production and reception of her manuscripts. One of special
interest is James Laidlow's analysis of the 50 manuscripts believed
to have been prepared under Christine's supervision; another
is Andrea Tarnowski's discussion of the as yet untranslated Livre
de chemin de long estude. All quoted passages are given in
both the original and in translation. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Christine de Pizan: a casebook; edited by Barbara K. Altmann
and Deborah L. McGrady (Routledge medieval casebooks, v. 34).
New York: Routledge, 2003. (xiii, 296 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 C464 2003; ISBN: 0415939097
Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-286) and index
------------------------
[This study by Marilynn Desmond and Pamela Sheingorn looks at the text and illuminations of Epistre Othea in the two manuscripts of her collected works prepared by Christine; it compares these manuscripts' treatment of mythological figures both with those of contemporary works, like the Roman de la rose and Ovide moralise, and with Epistre Othea manuscripts produced after Christine's death. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Myth, montage, & visuality in late medieval manuscript
culture: Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea / Marilynn Desmond
& Pamela Sheingorn. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
c2003. (vii, 344 p.: ill. (some col.); 27 cm)
LC#:PQ1575.E53 D47 2003; ISBN: 0472113232
Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-327) and indexes
------------------------
[Thirty-seven of the 63 essays in this 3-volume set of conference
proceedings are in English. Many of the papers are on specialized
areas of Christine studies: sources and language use of individual
prose and poetic works, comparisons between Christine and contemporary
writers. For the general reader, two papers stand out: in Vol.
2, Mary Weitzel Gibbons' essay on Christine's vision of herself
as presented both in her texts and in the illustrations supervised
by her; in Vol. 3, Alison Ramsey's discussion of the treatment
of rape in Cite des dames. In most papers, quoted passages
are not translated, but their meaning is usually made clear in
the discussion. Unfortunately, there is no index. (See
the table of contents of the three volumes online.):]
Contexts and continuities: proceedings of the IVth International
Colloquium on Christine de Pizan (Glasgow 21-27 July 2000), published
in honour of Liliane Dulac / edited by Angus J. Kennedy, with
Rosalind Brown-Grant...[et al.] (Glasgow University medieval
French texts and studies; 1). Glasgow: University of Glasgow
Press, 2002. (3 v.: ill.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 I58 2000; ISBN: 0852617437(v.1), 0852617445 (v.2),
0852617453 (v.3)
English and French. Includes bibliographical references
-----------------------
[Kate Langdon Forhan's study focuses on Christine as a pragmatic
political theorist and advisor to princes, analyzing her views
on kingship, justice and war. In the process, Forhan gives the
reader a clear understanding of the world in which Christine
lived. She also gives her translation of passages from yet untranslated
works, notably Livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy
Charles V; Livre de la paix; and Livre de prudence. The
book's notes are detailed. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Forhan, Kate Langdon. The political theory of Christine de
Pizan (Women and gender in the early modern world). Aldershot,
Hampshire, England; Burlington, VT, USA: Ashgate, c2002. (xiv,
187 p.: 1 geneal. table)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 F674 2002; ISBN: 0754601730; 0754607149
Includes bibliographical references (p. [168]-183) and index
-----------------------
[Most of the essays in this collection are in English, and
most of those are of interest. Perhaps two are most valuable
for the general reader: Charity Cannon Willard's "The Dominican
Abbey of Poissy in 1400," and Eric Hicks' "Excerpts
and Originality: Authorial Purpose in the Fais et bonnes
meurs"; both discuss works not yet available in English.
Quoted passages are not translated, but context usually makes
their meaning clear. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Christine de Pizan 2000: Studies on Christine de Pizan in
honour of Angus J. Kennedy / edited by John Campbell and Nadia
Margolis (Faux titre, 0167-9392; no. 196). Amsterdam; Atlanta,
GA: Rodopi, 2000. (429 p.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 C48 2000; ISBN: 9042012447
Text in English and French. Includes bibliographical references
and indexes
-----------------------
[Rosalind Brown-Grant's study discusses Christine's letters
in the debate on the Roman de la Rose, and her Epitre
d'Othea a Hector, Avision-Christine, Livre de la cite des dames,
and Livre des trois vertus. Brown-Grant shows Christine
tailoring her anti-misogynist message to her specific reader:
male or female, clerical or lay. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Brown-Grant, Rosalind. Christine de Pizan and the moral defence
of women: Reading beyond gender (Cambridge studies in medieval
literature; 40). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
(xiv, 224 p.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 B76 1999; ISBN: 0521641942
Includes bibliographical references and index
-----------------------
[This collection has several useful essays. Note especially Deborah McGrady's "What Is a Patron? Benefactors and Authorship in Harley 4431, Christine de Pizan's Collected Works," which discusses Christine's own production of her works. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Christine de Pizan and the categories of difference / Marilynn
Desmond, editor (State University of New York at Binghamton.
Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies. / Medieval
cultures; v. 14). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1998. (xix, 287p. ill)
LC#: PQ1575 .Z5 C47 1998; ISBN: 0816630801, 081663081X
Essays originally delivered at Binghamton University in October
1995 at a conference entitled Christine de Pizan: texts/intertexts/contexts.
Includes bibliographical references and index
-----------------------
[This collection appears to be the first work in English devoted to Christine's lyrics. Its ten essays analyze the lyrical works such as Cent balades, Livre du duc des vrais amants, and Cent balades d'amant et de dame, and discuss those works in which verse and prose are combined. Translations are given of all cited passages. (See the book's table of contents online):]
Christine de Pizan and medieval French lyric / edited by Earl
Jeffrey Richards. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, c1998.
(241 p.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 C468 1998; ISBN: 0813016185
Earlier versions of the papers were delivered at two sessions
of the Sept. 1993 conference of the Southeast Medieval Association
held in New Orleans and at a Special Session held at the 29th
Annual Congress of Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, April, 1994.
Includes bibliographical references and index
-----------------------
[The essay by Francoise Le Saux in this collection, "War and Knighthood in Christine de Pizan's Livre des faits d'armes et de chevalerie," shows both the way Christine presents herself as a woman able to write about war, and her humanist attitude toward war-making. Le Saux gives her own translation of quoted passages. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Writing war: medieval literary responses to warfare / edited
by Corrinne Saunders, Françoise Le Saux and Neil Thomas.
Cambridge [England]; Rochester, N.Y.: D.S. Brewer, 2004. (ix,
235 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN682.W35 W75 2004; ISBN: 0859918432
Includes bibliographical references and index
------------------------
[Lori J. Walters' essay in this collection, "Constructing
Reputations: Fama and Memory in Christine de Pizan's Charles
V and L'Advision Cristine," shows Christine's
creating for herself the roles of theologian and political advisor.
Walters analyzes the treatment of "fama" (reputation)
in L'Avision-Christine, and then gives a close reading
of the as-yet-untranslated Livre des fais et bonnes meurs
du sage roy Charles V. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Fama: the politics of talk and reputation in medieval Europe
/ Edited by Thelma Fenster and Daniel Lord Smail. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 2003. (vii, 227 p.: ill.)
LC#: KJ810 .F36 2003; ISBN: 0801439396, 0801488575
Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-218) and index
------------------------
[A later article by Walters also deals with Christine's biography of Charles V, which Walters sees as a conscious continuation of the Grandes Chroniques de France begun in the 1200s, and as a guide to the rulers and nobles who were trying to save an endangered nation. Quoted passages are in the author's translation, with the original given in the notes. (See the issue's table of contents online.):]
Walters, Lori J. Christine de Pizan, France's memorialist
: Persona, performance, memory. Journal of European Studies,
35: 1, (2005) 29-45.
LC#: D1 .J828; ISSN: 0047-2441
------------------------
[This collection includes another essay by Walters, "The
Royal Vernacular: Poet and Patron in Christine de Pizan's Charles
V and the Sept Psaumes Allegorises," which discusses
Christine's set of prayers on the seven "penitential psalms"
(a 1409 work as yet untranslated). Walters sees Christine trying
both to affect the political future and to carry out the desire
of French kings to make the vernacular the dominant language.
Walters give her own translation of cited passages. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
The vernacular spirit: essays on medieval religious literature
/ edited by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Duncan Robertson, and
Nancy Bradley Warren (The new Middle Ages). New York: Palgrave,
2002. (324 p.)
LC#: PN682.R4 V47 2002; ISBN: 0312293852
Includes bibliographical references and index
------------------------
[Tracy Adams' essay in this collection, "Christine de Pizan's Frightened Lovers," uses Livre du duc des vrais amants and Cent balades d'amant et de dame to illustrate Christine's treatment of both the emotion of love and the convention of "courtly love." Adams argues that Christine wrote not to oppose "courtly love" but to show the effects of an uncontrollable passion on both men and women. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Fear and its representations in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
/ edited by Anne Scott & Cynthia Kosso (Arizona studies in
the middle ages and the renaissance; v. 6). Turnhout: Brepols;
[Cheltenham: European Schoolbooks] (distributor), c2002. (xxxvii,
350 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN56.F39 F4 2002; ISBN: 2503512070
Includes bibliographical references and index
------------------------
[This second volume of Prudence Allen's major study on the philosophy of gender includes a substantial chapter (pp.537-658) on Christine which analyzes her use of the various kinds of traditional philosophical argumentation. Allen discusses many of Christine's works but focuses chiefly on her contribution to the quarrel over Roman de la Rose and on Cite des dames. Also valuable for reading Christine are Allen's analyses of Roman de la Rose and of Le Livre de Matheolus (pp. 188-204). (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Allen, Prudence. The concept of woman. Volume 2, The early
humanist reformation, 1250-1500. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans
Pub., c2002. (xxiv, 1161 p.: ill.)
LC#: BD450 .A4725 2002; ISBN: 0802847358
Includes bibliographical references (p. 1091-1129) and index
------------------------
[One chapter of Nancy Bradley Warren's study is "The Sword and the Cloister: Joan of Arc, Margaret of Anjou, and Christine de Pizan in England, 1445-1540," which sees the treatment of Christine's writings on their first appearance in England as affected by the memory of Joan and the activities of Henry VI's French wife. Warren describes the way English translators turned Christine either into a patron who had men write for her or into a safely cloistered nun. The detailed bibliographic notes will lead you to earlier studies of the subject. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Warren, Nancy Bradley. Women of God and arms: female spirituality
and political conflict, 1380-1600. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, c2005. (264 p.: ill.)
LC#: BV4527 .W36 2005; ISBN: 0812238923
Includes bibliographical references (p. [181]-249) and index
------------------------
[Charity Cannon Willard's 1984 biographical study has provided
the introduction to Christine for many English-language readers.
Some of the facts (e.g., dates) have been called into question
(frequently by Willard's own later research), but the book remains
useful:]
Willard, Charity Cannon. Christine de Pizan: her life and
works. New York, N.Y.: Persea Books, c1984. (266 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ1575.Z5 W55 1984; ISBN: 0892550848
Includes index. Bibliography: p. 243-254
========================================================================
Updated 04-13-08