Christine de Pizan: biography of this writer and feminist

As often happens with most women artists or intellectuals, the work of Christine de Pizan quickly fell into oblivion.. It was the year 1430 and Joan of Arc was burned in the Rouen square; That same year, a retired woman in a monastery in Poissy dedicated a hymn to the Maid of Orleans that exalted her figure and reinforced her fame as a brave woman.

No, this writer was not a nun. She came from a wealthy Venetian family and had spent her entire existence in France, earning her living from the fruit of her pen. Christine de Pizan is, therefore, the first woman in Europe for whom there is evidence that she was able to dedicate herself fully to the profession of writing (and with which she obtained, by the way, a large income).

But Christine de Pizan was not only a writer; she has gone down in history as one of the clearest antecedents of modern feminismher, because she publicly defended the woman against the continuous humiliations that her sex received from clergymen and other "scholars". Your book

the city of ladies it is an authentic apotheosis of the intellectual and moral capacities of women, which in no way differ from those of men.

Brief biography of Christine de Pizan

Currently, fortunately, the story of this woman, who had remained in the shadows for a long time, is being recovered. Already in the 18th century, the first enlightened women claimed her as a true intellectual and an example to follow.

How did a woman in the fourteenth century come to be able to dedicate herself fully to literature? This is an unusual case, with very little precedent in history. Let's see what was the life of Christine de Pizan, the first woman in Europe who lived from her writing.

• Related article: "The 5 ages of History (and their characteristics)"

A humanist education

It can be said that Christine de Pizan was lucky, very lucky. And it is that her father, Tomasso da Pizzano, was a professor at the University of Bologna, one of the most advanced institutions of the moment. Tomasso was a true humanist who soon realized that his little Christine had unusual abilities that needed to be stimulated. So, da Pizzano gave the girl her best tutors, who taught her history, philosophy and languages; including Latin, lingua franca and scholar of the moment.

The Pizzano family was originally from Venice. Christine had been born there in 1365, but the canal city would have little role in her life. When the girl is 4 years old, Tomasso moves his family to France, since he had been hired by Carlos V the Wise (1338-1380) as a court astrologer, and changes his last name to Pizan. Not only the position, well paid and highly desirable, was the reason why Tomasso decided to settle in France. She knew that Carlos V was one of the most erudite kings of her time, whose library overflowed with volumes of a humanist nature that Tomasso knew would do her daughter much good.

And indeed, she did. When Christine arrives in Paris, she is absolutely awed by the splendor of the French court. She was even more fascinated by the Royal Library, the Louvre room that the monarch she destined in 1368 to house her magnificent collection of books and which will come to house more than a thousand manuscripts.

Christine receives from the king the privilege of going in and out of the library whenever she wanted. In this way, the girl spends long hours in the Louvre room, reading and memorizing all the wisdom that she later, once she became a writer, she will capture in her works.

• You may be interested in: "Examples of gender roles (and their effects on society)"

Adolescence, marriage and widowhood

In the autobiographical texts that she wrote, Christine repeatedly comments on how happy she was during her childhood in Paris and how close she was to her mother, who, according to herself, raised her "with her breasts”; that is to say, he refrained from the practice, so usual at that time, of giving the girl to a wet nurse.

The education that Christine had received was, indeed, unusual for a young woman of the time. However, when he reached adolescence he was awarded the fate of all women of good family: marriage. The lucky one was Étienne du Castel, a young court secretary who was then 24 years old and who belonged to a noble family from the Picardy region.

Against all odds, and despite the fact that Christine had not chosen her husband, the marriage was exceptionally well-matched and happy. to the point that, when Étienne died ten years later victim of an epidemic, Christine was plunged into a deep sadness.

Two years before Étienne, in 1387, Tomasso da Pizzano, Christine's father, had died. The result was that, at twenty-five, the young woman found herself alone, with three children, a niece, and a mother to feed. How could a woman in her situation get by without remarrying?

The writer Christine de Pizan is born

Indeed; it was very difficult for a widow with a small inheritance to survive without remarriage. But Christine wasn't willing to put up with it. She may have gone out of respect for the memory of Étienne, or perhaps to live fully without being tied to anyone; the truth is the widow never remarried and she started writing to bring home money.

At first, Christine composes love poems inspired by her husband and the pain that no longer has him by her side causes her. These poems enjoyed great success among the French nobles, and the name of Christine began to spread from mouth to mouth. But it was the year 1404 that marked a before and after in the professional career of Christine de Pizan: the Duke of Burgundy (1342-1404), the brother of King Charles V, entrusted the writer with a biography of the monarch.

Charles V the Wise had died in 1380, the same year that Christine married. Inspired by the memory of that king who had done so much for her and her family, Christine dedicates her work to him. "Book of the facts and good customs of Carlos V", her first great success and for which she received large fee.

From then on, the young woman's professional career was on the rise. Christine had her own scriptoriumof her, where she herself had her books copied and illuminated. It is estimated that, in the thirty-nine years that she was active as a writer, she produced no less than 3 books a year. Christine de Pizan had become the first European woman to earn a living from her literature, and also the first "publisher." Her books were coveted by all the French nobility; it is known that she used to send copies of her texts, carefully illustrated and bound, to her admirers, among among whom was the Duke of Berry (1340-1416), who had in his library numerous copies of the writer.

• Related article: "The 12 most important types of Literature (with examples)"

"Ladies' Complaint"

But if Christine de Pizan has gone down in history for something, it is because of an episode known as “La quarella de las damas”. To understand what happened, it is necessary to know a little about the conception that women had in the fourteenth century.

Although it is true that the Middle Ages she was no more misogynistic than other times (in fact, it is very likely that, during the Enlightenment and the 19th century, the role of women was even more reduced), it is no less true that from the 13th century there was a rise of misogyny. One of the causes was the spread of Roman law, whose central figure, the father families, reinforced masculine authority within the home and, therefore, also in society.

On the other hand, we have the arrival of Aristotelian philosophy at the hands of Arabic translations and, with her, a "curious" theory that advocated that the woman was the result of adverse conditions during the gestation. In other words, that all fetuses were destined to be male, and that these conditions were detrimental (It could be the semen in poor condition, or too much "moisture" in the uterus...) which "corrupted" the embryo and turned it into a women.

Now it may seem like a rather harebrained idea (to say the least), but the truth is that at that time the theory came to justify the supposed "inferiority" of women. Many were the "scholars" who questioned the intellectual and moral capacities of women, which they considered an irrational being that was capable of the vilest behaviors.

In 1404, the year in which the Duke of Burgundy entrusted him with the biography of her brother, the King, it came into the hands of Christine the Roman de la Rose, a long poem written a hundred years earlier whose second part, written by a certain Jean de Meung, was brimming with misogynistic comments. The sender of the shipment is Jean Montreuil, provost of Lille, and Christine sees in this a clear mockery of her person and her sex. Neither short nor lazy, she takes the pen and answers the provost.

Other characters also intervened in the discussion about women's intellectual and moral capacities; in fact, “la Querella de las Damas” lasted until the end of the 18th century. And oddly enough, it wasn't just women who were in favor of Christine; some men also joined her cause. Among them, Jean Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris who, like other male colleagues, considered that women should be educated on the same basis as men.

One year after Jean Montreuil sent him the Roman de la Rose, In 1405, Christine devoted herself to the writing of what would be her best-known work and for which she will go down in history: the city of ladies. Through an allegory, Christine dismantles one by one all the existing prejudices about the "zero" female capabilities. The book is presented as a dialogue, in the manner of classical philosophical texts, in which the author speaks with three ladies: Reason, Righteousness and Justice. With them she builds an imaginary city where only the most outstanding women in history will live, religion and mythology, to demonstrate with it that the world is full of examples of brave, intelligent and virtuous.

the city of ladies it is a true monument not only of literature, but also of proto-feminism. Christine de Pizan's passionate defense must be considered one of the first voices that rose up in favor of women's dignity and rights. That is why Christine de Pizan is not only one of the most important medieval writers, but also a crucial piece in the development of feminism.