The year 1405 marked a turning point in France’s affairs, an open break between the
political ambitions of the dukes of Orléans and Burgundy, inspiring Christine to write a
letter to the French queen, Isabeau of Bavaria (October 5), begging her to act as savior of
the country. The letter had little effect on the queen, but it focused Christine’s attention
on matters of public interest, inspiring the Livre du corps de policie (1407), on the ideal
of the perfect prince, the first of several works directed to the dauphin Louis of Guyenne.
These also included the Livre des fais d’armes et de chevalerie (ca. 1410), based on
Vegetius and on Honoré Bouvet, outlining the essentials of military leadership and
stressing international laws to govern warfare. With affairs in France steadily worsening,
in 1410 she addressed a letter to the elderly duke of Berry, King Charles VI’s uncle,
begging him to act to save the country. A civil uprising, the Cabochien revolt, led her to
appeal once more to Louis of Guyenne in the Livre de la paix (1412–14). This prince
appeared to be developing qualities of leadership, but his untimely death (December
1415) added to France’s chaos following the defeat at Agincourt. This disaster inspired
Christine’s Épistre de la prison de vie humaine, addressed to Marie de Berry, duchess of
Bourbon, but speaking to all women who had suffered losses at Agincourt and indeed to
widows and bereaved women of all wars.
As violence in Paris increased, Christine sought refuge in a convent, probably the
abbey of Poissy, where her daughter had been a nun for many years. There, she wrote the
Heures de contemplation de Notre Dame, possibly at the time of her son’s death in 1425.
Her hopes for France were unexpectedly renewed by the appearance of Jeanne d’Arc,
who inspired her final poem, the Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc, written shortly after the
coronation of Charles VII at Reims in July 1429.
The date of Christine’s death is unknown, but Guillebert de Mets, writing memories of
Paris in 1434, refers to her in the past tense.
Although not French by birth, Christine wrote many pages inspired by her concern for
France; as the mother of three children, her views on education of the young were
considerably in advance of her times; as a woman obliged to make her own way in an
unfriendly society, she courageously raised her voice in protest against traditional
misogyny. She is an unusually interesting witness of her times. Her works were printed
and read well into the 16th century, providing for her the earthly fame she, like other
early Renaissance writers, so greatly desired.
Charity Cannon Willard
[See also: BIOGRAPHY; BOUVET, HONORÉ; CABOCHIENS; COURTESY
BOOKS; JEAN DE MEUN; LE FRANC, MARTIN; QUARREL OF THE ROMAN DE
LA ROSE; WERCHIN, JEAN DE]
Christine de Pizan. Œuvres poétiques, ed. Maurice Roy. 3 vols. Paris: Didot, 1886–96.
Bornstein, Diane, ed. Ideals for Women in the Works of Christine de Pizan. Detroit: Michigan
Consortium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 1981.
Kennedy, Angus J. Christine de Pizan: A Bibliographical Guide. London: Grant and Cutler, 1984.
Richards, J.E. Reinterpreting Christine de Pizan. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1991.
Solente, Suzanne. “Christine de Pizan.” In Histoire littéraire de la France. Paris: Imprimerie
Nationale, 1974, Vol. 40.
Willard, Charity C. Christine de Pizan: Her Life and Works. New York: Persea, 1984.
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