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Christine de Pizan was also known as:
Christine de Pizan was noted for:
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Quotation from Christine de Pizan:
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Rest assured, dear friend, that many noteworthy and great sciences and arts have been discovered through the understanding and subtlety of women...
About Christine de Pizan:
Though born in Venice, Christine moved to Paris at the age of five with her father, the astrologer to Charles V, and spent the rest of her life in France. After enjoying the privileges of court life and education during her childhood, she was married at the age of 15 to Etienne de Castel, who later became court secretary. A mere ten years later she was widowed, and turned to writing to support herself, her three children and her mother. Christine de Pizan is the first woman in western literature known to make a living from her writing.
Christine wrote both prose and poetry, beginning with some love ballads dedicated to her late husband. Her prose works include The Book of the City of Ladies (believed to be inspired by Boccaccio's Famous Women) and The Book of Three Virtues, which helped to establish her as a serious figure in the evolution of women's rights in western society. In her L'Épistre au Dieu d'amours she took a stand against Jean de Meun's Roman de la rose, charging that his work was immoral and mysoginistic. Christine also wrote her autobiography (L'Avision de Christine) and a biography of the late Charles V.
In 1415 Christine retired to a convent. Then, in 1429, she was inspired to write the only known French-language work about Joan of Arc written during Joan's life, Le Ditié de Jehanne d'Arc. She died not long afterward; the actual date remains uncertain.
More Christine de Pizan Resources
Encyclopedia Article About Christine de PizanChristine de Pizan Picture Gallery
Christine de Pizan in Print
Christine de Pizan on the Web
Literature & Poetry
Medieval France
Women and Gender Issues
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