Key Points

• Christine de Pizan was an Italian-French late medieval author, primarily a court writer, who wrote commissioned works for aristocratic families and addressed literary debates of the era.
• Her work is characterized by a prominent and positive depiction of women who encouraged ethical and judicious conduct in courtly life.
• Much of the impetus for her writing came from her need to earn a living to support her mother, a niece, and her two surviving children after being widowed at the age of 25.
• Christine’s participation in a literary debate about Jean de Meun’s Romance of the Rose allowed her to move beyond the courtly circles, and ultimately to establish her status as a writer concerned with the position of women in society.