medieval-women: Christine de Pizan Author, historian, poet, philosopher Born 1364 or 1365 – Di
medieval-women: Christine de Pizan Author, historian, poet, philosopher Born 1364 or 1365 – Died 1430 (age 65 - 66) Claim to fame: An advocate for women’s education, Christine is the first European woman known to have made her living as a writer. Born the eldest child of the personal physician to King Charles V of France, Christine was well educated and benefited from access to the King’s vast library. Christine was married at 15 and widowed just 10 years later. After her husband’s death, she turned to writing to support herself and her family, serving as a court writer for several dukes as well as Charles VI of France. Her 1405 book, ‘La Cité des Dames’ (‘Book of the City of Ladies’), catalogued female accomplishment and helped establish her popularity. This book is considered by many as the inaugural text in the field now known as women’s studies. Christine completed forty-one works during her career. Her work contradicted negative female stereotypes and countered unjust slander of women within other literary texts. She argued that women have the same aptitudes as men and thus the right to the same education. Christine’s influence in the otherwise male-dominated field of rhetorical discourse lead Simone de Beauvoir to acknowledge her as the first woman to “take up her pen in defence of her sex”. Boston College Magazine Wiki -- source link
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