Helen Carr picks Christine de Pizan at the Gloucester history festival
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but most of her life was spent in Paris, where her father was astrologer to the King of France. After her husband died she was left alone to bring up her three children. Christine's most famous work is The Book of the City of Ladies, and historian Helen Carr says she has been inspired by her ever since seeing one of her manuscripts in the British Library. Joining her on stage at the Gloucester History Festival is Christine's biographer Charlotte Cooper-Davis for a lively recording about an important character who was definitely ahead of her time.
The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommashranganathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, |
| 0:27.9 | it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, |
| 0:33.4 | listen only on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to this free event on this blustery, blustery day. |
| 0:40.0 | I'm here to welcome you to the recording of Great Lives here at the 15th Gloucester History Festival. |
| 0:47.7 | Great Lives is a West Country show, born and bred in Bristol. |
| 0:51.8 | We've made over 600. |
| 0:57.7 | Matthew has been by far the longest running presenter. 20 years. 20 years this year. Brilliant. You're very good. Matthew, as you can see, |
| 1:08.1 | takes it very seriously. |
| 1:12.8 | Enjoy yourself. Thank you very much. |
| 1:16.1 | And I must say this is the most wonderful hall. |
| 1:17.9 | Just fantastic. |
| 1:25.5 | So hello to you, the audience, who've come to this year's History Festival, the 15th, I believe. |
| 1:33.3 | And hello to our wider audience. I just wish you could see this absolutely amazing hall. |
| 1:37.3 | It's such an honor to make the program here. |
| 1:40.3 | My guest is the historian, Helen Carr, author of Red Prince about John of Gort, |
| 1:47.9 | and also of Scepterdial, a new history of the 14th century. I noticed recently, Helen, |
| 1:53.7 | that you posted about your love for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. So you're clearly quite a medieval |
| 2:00.3 | person. Tell us whom you've picked and why. |
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