A society inhabited only by women and solely controlled by women? It is a thought that might seem to have its origins among radicals in the 1960s when society looked ripe for revolutionary change. It is however a thought that is at least 600 years old and which was formulated by Christine de Pizan (1363-1430) in her eloquent literary work Le Livre de la Cité des Dames (The Book of the City of Ladies), an exquisite allegory from 1405 in the defence of female rights.
The debate about whether noblewomen should receive the same education as noblemen was already a vivid issue before the publication of de Pizan’s work. An Italian intellectual, Leonardo Bruni, claimed in a letter from 1405 that women as a rule were suited to be taught in every scholarly subject. The only exception in Bruni’s mind was rhetoric, since women never had to address people publicly as far as he was concerned. An Italian seventeen-year old girl, Laura Cereta, wrote in one of her letters from 1487 about how she could not forgive women who acted stupidly. In her view such women undermined the general perspective on their gender and where also prone to slander intelligent ladies with envious gossip. As such, Le Livre de la Cité des Dames did not enter a vacuum in the intellectual arena of medieval Europe.
The book portrays the author herself and her sorrow caused by the statements from male scholars that women lack the ability to contribute to the good of humanity. Christine soon finds herself however in the company of the three virtues; Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude and Lady Justice. The first lady convinces her to believe in the notion that women truly are intellectual creatures despite the statements of male scholars. Together they build the City of the Ladies where the Virgin Mary, considered to be the foremost of all women, is crowned Queen.
To suggest that de Pizan’s work was an early manifesto of feminism would possibly give rise to anachronisms but it was indubitably an astounding defence speech which caught the attention of the elite. Her readers were primarily the ladies of the royal courts and de Pizan herself discussed intellectual issues with the Queen of France. Although her defence of women’s participation in society was practically restricted to those of noble birth she did not refrain from praising the peasant girl Joan of Arc (1412-1431), successful commander of the French army, with a poem.
It is sometimes worthwhile to remember allegories such as Le Livre de la Cité des Dames. For example, they alleviate the understanding of today’s debate about taking the gender factor into consideration in order to benefit underrepresented groups as a mean of counterbalancing historical injustices. de Pizan preferred to view men and women as equals as long as their inner qualities were not taken into consideration and the following quotation is suitable to bring this article to a conclusion:
“The man or the woman in whom resides greater virtue is the higher; neither loftiness nor the lowliness in a person lies in the body according to the sex but in the perfection of conduct and virtues.” - Christine de Pizan, Le Livre de la Cité des Dames (The Book of the City of Ladies)
Daniel Nykvist
