Just a little girl, only 16 years old. Isn't this something miraculous? Wielding her weapons as though they weighed nothing at all.

Indeed, she seems to have been raised for just such a moment, so strong she is and resolute.

Her enemies stumble in flight before her.

Not one of them can stand up to her, and all this she does before the gaze of the world.

She drives her foes out of France. She recaptures castles and towns.

Never has anyone seen such formidable deeds.

Not hundreds, not thousands of men can compare with her.

Of our brave and able warriors. She is the chief captain.

Neither Hector nor Achilles can rival her prowess. But it is God who has wrote this. God

who leads her on. So that's a poem written in July 1429.

It would astound people to know that that poem was written by a French woman, a French woman,

one of the most remarkable women, according to Tom Holland, in medieval history.

So she's often described as the first professional female writer in Western history.

Her name was Christine de Bison.

She was born in Venice, actually, so maybe I should have given her a little bit of an Italian lilt.

But she came when she was four years old.

Yeah, so she came to France.

Her father was appointed the court astrologer, wasn't he?

So he was the Anthony Scaramucci, because he's a big fan of astrology. She was the Anthony Scaramucci. The father was the Anthony Scaramucci of medieval history. And then 1389, her husband dropped out of the plague, Christine. She had three small children and a mother and a niece to support.

And she turned to writing poetry.

And in those days, actually, you could make money by rating poetry.

So good for her.

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