Christine de Pisan
born 1364, Venice [Italy]
died c. 1430
prolific and versatile French poet and
author whose diverse writings include
numerous poems of courtly love, a
biography of Charles V of France, and
several works championing women.
Christine’s Italian father was
astrologer to Charles V, and she spent a
pleasant, studious childhood at the
French court. At 15 she married Estienne
de Castel, who became court secretary.
Widowed after 10 years of marriage, she
took up writing in order to support
herself and her three young children.
Her first poems were ballades of lost
love written to the memory of her
husband. These verses met with success,
and she continued writing ballads,
rondeaux, lays, and complaints in which
she expressed her feelings with grace
and sincerity. Among her patrons were
Louis I, duke d’Orléans, the Duke de
Berry, Philip II the Bold of Burgundy,
Queen Isabella of Bavaria, and, in
England, the 4th Earl of Salisbury. In
all, she wrote 10 volumes in verse,
including L’Épistre au Dieu d’amours
(1399; “Letter to the God of Loves”), in
which she defended women against the
satire of Jean de Meun in the Roman de
la rose.
Christine’s prose works include Le
Livre de la cité des dames (1405; The
Book of the City of Ladies), in which
she wrote of women known for their
heroism and virtue, and Le Livre des
trois vertus (1405; “Book of Three
Virtues”), a sequel comprising a
classification of women’s roles in
medieval society and a collection of
moral instructions for women in the
various social spheres. The story of her
life, L’Avision de Christine (1405),
told in an allegorical manner, was a
reply to her detractors. At the request
of the regent, Philip the Bold of
Burgundy, Christine wrote the life of
the deceased king, Charles—Le Livre des
fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles
V (1404; “Book of the Deeds and Good
Morals of the Wise King Charles V”), a
firsthand picture of Charles V and his
court. Her eight additional prose works
reveal her remarkable breadth of
knowledge.
After the disastrous Battle of
Agincourt in 1415, she retired to a
convent. Her last work, Le Ditié de
Jehanne d’Arc (written in 1429), is a
lyrical, joyous outburst inspired by the
early victories of Joan of Arc; it is
the only such French-language work
written during Joan’s lifetime.
