Christine de Pizan

In Our Time: Culture

BBC

History

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2017

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of Christine de Pizan, who wrote at the French Court in the late Middle Ages and was celebrated by Simone de Beauvoir as the first woman to 'take up her pen in defence of her sex.' She wrote across a broad range, and was particularly noted for challenging the depiction of women by famous writers such as Jean de Meun, author of the Romance of the Rose. She has been characterised as an early feminist who argued that women could play a much more important role in society than the one they were allotted, reflected in arguably her most important work, The Book of the City of Ladies, a response to the seemingly endless denigration of women in popular texts of the time.

The image above, of Christine de Pizan lecturing, is (c)The British Library Board. Harley 4431, f.259v.

With

Helen Swift Associate Professor of Medieval French at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Hilda's College

Miranda Griffin Lecturer in French and Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge

and

Marilynn Desmond Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:47.0	Hello, Christine de Pizan, born in 1364, earned her living as a writer at the court of the French kings in Paris.
0:54.0	It said she was the first professional woman writer in France and perhaps in Europe.
0:58.0	A best known work is the book of the city of ladies, which defended women against the endless attacks on them in popular
1:04.2	histories and literature which were written by men.
1:07.4	She challenged prejudices against women and led debate on the role of women in society.
1:11.7	Her themes are inspired by her own situation, a widow who
1:14.8	defend for herself and by the turmoil in France in the 100 years war. Her last poem
1:19.7	before her death in 1430 was in praise of Joan of Arc who was stirring up the fight against the English.
1:25.6	With me to discuss Christine de Pizan are Helen Swift, associate professor of
	...

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