Pizan, Christine de (1364-1430)

Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (aka Christine de Pisan)

*September 11, 1364 (Venice, Italy)
†1430 (Poissy, France)

Spouse: Etienne du Castel

Children: Three

Christine de Pizan was an Italian/French writer born in Venice. She was the daughter of an Italian scholar who held a chair of astrology in Bologna. Conditioned by her father, her family moved to Paris, where she eventually grew up. At the age of 15 she married the royal secretary Etienne du Castel, who died in 1930. The marriage produced three children. Due to the family’s poor economic situation, Pizan tried to provide for the livelihood by writing.
Her main work, La Livre de la Cité des Dames, combines poetry, historiography, didactic poetry, and the fight for women’s rights. Her work aims to strengthen women’s self-confidence through virtues such as reason, righteousness and justice. She provides insights into a woman’s life and reality. In addition to topics such as war, civilization and marriage, she discusses the prejudices against the female sex and speaks of building a city of women as a place of refuge.

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