Picture from The Book of the City of Ladies

The Book of the City of Ladies (1405) was Christine de Pizan's response to Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris (On Famous Women), as well being part of a larger intellectual discussion in that era centered on works such as the Romance of the Rose by Jean de Meun. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1051, 173 KB) Description: Title: de: Miniatur aus der Â»Cité des Dames« der Christine de Pisan Technique: de: Pergament Dimensions: de: 12 × 18 cm Country of origin: de: Frankreich Current location (city): de: Paris Current location (gallery): de: Bibliothèque Nationale... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1051, 173 KB) Description: Title: de: Miniatur aus der Â»Cité des Dames« der Christine de Pisan Technique: de: Pergament Dimensions: de: 12 × 18 cm Country of origin: de: Frankreich Current location (city): de: Paris Current location (gallery): de: Bibliothèque Nationale... Events May 29 - Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, meets Archbishop Richard Scrope of York and Earl of Norfolk Thomas Mowbray in Shipton Moor, tricks them to send their rebellious army home and then imprisons them June 8 - Archbishop Richard Scrope of York and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Norfolk, executed in... Christine de Pizan, showing the interior of an apartment at the end of the 14th or commencement of the 15th century Christine de Pizan (also seen as de Pisan) (1364–1430) was a medieval writer, rhetorician, and critic, who strongly challenged misogyny in the male-dominated realm of the arts. ... Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (June 16, 1313 – December 21, 1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including On Famous Women, the Decameron and his poetry in the vernacular. ... De mulieribus claris (Latin for On Famous Women) is a collection of biographies of women by Giovanni Boccaccio. ... The Roman de la Rose is a late medieval French work of fiction in allegorical dream form. ... Jean de Meun or Jean de Meung (c. ...

Pizan presents an allegorical society in which the word "lady" is defined as a woman of noble spirit, instead of noble birth. The book deals with a number of women of past eras, mostly saints, whom Pizan wished to offer as examples of the potential that women had to lead noble lives and contribute to society. Noah and the baptismal flood of the Old Testament (top panel) is typographically linked (prefigured) by the baptism of Jesus in the New Testament (bottom panel). ... In traditional Christian iconography, Saints are often depicted as having halos. ...

Also included are didactic exchanges among three allegorical goddesses (Reason, Rectitude, & Justice) and de Pizan. Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude, and Lady Justice ask Christine to create a metaphorical city where all the noble women can live. First, says Lady Reason, Christine must excavate the earth and clear away all past assumptions that writers in the past have believed. Then, using reason, she must create her own beliefs. Thus the city will have a solid foundation rather than one built on sand, and a wall for its defense. Second, says Lady Rectitude, the buildings (symbolizing virtues) must be built. And third, says Lady Justice, the city must be populated, symbolizing women following their virtues and proving that women are not evil creatures born of vice. Pizan asks the goddesses if women should be taught as men are and why men think women should not be educated. Other questions that are explored are: the criminality of rape, the natural affinity in women to learn, and their talent for government. The Didactic is facts based as opposed to the Dialectic which is feelings based. ... An allegory (from Greek αλλος, allos, other, and αγορευειν, agoreuein, to speak in public) is a figurative representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal. ...

References

• Kenneth J. Atchity (1996), The Renaissance Reader, (HarperCollins Publishers: New York), pages: 25-29, ISBN 0-06-270129-0
• The Treasure of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan, (Penguin Classics) ISBN 0-14-044950-7