The Books of Christine de Pizan (1365-ca. 1431)

FAIN: FA-232463-16

Lori J. Walters
Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL 32306-0001)

A book-length study of French author Christine de Pizan (1365-ca.1431), including her position as court writer and producer of works in her manuscript workshop.

My study presents Christine de Pizan (1365-ca.1431) as the first nonreligious female public intellectual. If we have acknowledged her importance as a writer, we have not understood the significance of her role as supervisor of her own, eminently prolific scriptorium, which produced an astonishing 54 manuscripts. I approach Christine through the optic of her workshop's tour de force, MS Harley 4431. She authored its 30 texts, transcribed some or all of them in her own hand, and oversaw the execution of its extensive iconographic cycle. I will show how she used her position of authority as a bulwark against the time's rabid antifeminism and as a platform to address matters crucial to the proper functioning of the French body politic. Her genius was to grasp the necessity of controlling the means of production to ensure that her voice be heard as she intended. My project contributes not only to studies of the material book, but speaks to a host of other humanistic issues.

Associated Products

"Remembering Christine de Pizan in Paris: A Manuscript Owned by Anne de France, Duchess of Bourbon (Article)
Title: "Remembering Christine de Pizan in Paris: A Manuscript Owned by Anne de France, Duchess of Bourbon
Author: Lori J. Walters
Abstract: Establishes that two royal ladies, Anne de France and Ysabel de Baviere, were considered to be "patrones" (models) for others.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/issue/36554
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Digital Philology: A Journal of Medieval Culture 6.1

"Why Dante? Christine de Pizan, Ysabel de Baviere, and the Queen's Ancestry" (Book Section)
Title: "Why Dante? Christine de Pizan, Ysabel de Baviere, and the Queen's Ancestry"
Author: Lori J. Walters
Editor: Danielle Buschinger
Editor: Roy Rosenstein
Abstract: Relates Christine's use of Dante to Queen Ysabel's illustrious heritage; she was descended from Can Grande della Scala, patron to Dante and to Petrarch.
Year: 2017
Publisher: Amiens: Presses du Centre d'Etudes Medievales de l'Universite de Picardie
Book Title: De Christine de Pizan a Hans Robert Jauss, pp. 154-59.

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