This interesting article by Deanna Rodriguez gives details of many of Christine’s works, some of which are readily available to the modern reader in translated form.
Christine de Pizan (or Pisan) was born in Venice but moved to France at an early age and spent the rest of her life there. After her husband’s death, she became the first woman in French history (and probably in Western European history) to support herself by writing. She has been called ‘the first feminist’. However, she did not challenge the social order of the day but argued that women could do more within their own assigned place in it. Often, her works use famous women and their achievements as exemplars.
Christine was acquainted with and perhaps a friend of John Montagu, Earl of Salisbury (executed/murdered 1400.) She placed her son in his household. Salisbury was a poet in his own right, although no known works have survived. So it was probably a literary friendship, developed during one of Salisbury’s diplomatic missions to France.
Subsequently, Henry IV invited Christine to England. However, she had no difficulty in declining the request. As Henry’s court was notably less cultured than Richard II‘s had been and far less Francophile it was probably not a tough decision for an educated Frenchwoman.
murreyandblue 