NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 11PROFILESof Ladies). In it, Christine imagines a
city occupied by remarkable women
from history: the poet Sappho; Dido and
Semiramis, founders of Carthage and
Babylon; Zenoba, queen of Palmyra; Eve
and Esther from the Hebrew scriptures;
the Virgin Mary; St. Cecilia; and Queen
Isabella of Bavaria.
City of Ladies highlights the impor-
tance of education to shaping virtuous
and strong women. One passage reads:
“If it were customary to send little girls
to school like boys... they would learn
as thoroughly the subtleties of all the
arts and sciences.” Christine points out
that foolish men considered it bad for
females to be educated “because it dis-
pleased them that women knew morethan they did.”Life During Wartime
Christine’s life unfolded amid the polit-
ical turmoil of the Hundred Years’ War,
fought between France and England, a
series of disputes over land and succes-
sion. With this conflict never far from
her mind, Christine’s writings extended
to the virtues of good governance. In 1413
she penned one of her last major works,
Le Livre de la paix (The Book of Peace), a
series of governing advice for the heir
to King Charles VI. Following England’s
invasion of France in 1415, Christine took
refuge in a convent in Poissy, where years
earlier her daughter had taken her vows.
She stopped writing for many years.FIT FOR A QUEEN
Christine de Pisan kneels before Queen
Isabella of Bavaria (left) to present her
with One Hundred Ballads of a Lover and a
Lady in a 15th-century illustration.
British Library, London
BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD/BRIDGEMAN IMAGESAfter Charles died in 1422, his heirs
battled for the French crown. Henry V
of England backed one faction, the Bur-
gundians, and the other was led by the
future Charles VII. Christine found the
war troubling but found hope after the
siege of Orléans, a French victory in 1429
led by Joan of Arc. Inspired by the news,
she took up her pen and wrote “Le Ditié
de Jehanne d’Arc” (“The Tale of Joan of
Arc”), hailing her as a new shining light
for the French. Christine died around
65 in circa 1430, and her poem stands as
the only work penned during the Maid
of Orleans’ lifetime.
Christine de Pisan’s choice to become
a professional writer allowed her to build
a body of work and express new thinking
about women. Centuries later Simone
de Beauvoir, in her 1949 treatise The
Second Sex, described her stance as “the
first time a woman takes up her pen to
defend her sex.”Following England’s invasion of France in
1415, Christine took refuge in a convent
and stopped writing for many years.