OF SIX MEDIAEVAL WOMEN 



then to the deductions of such sciences as I 

 had time to give heed to, as well as to a study 

 of the poets." Her master was Aristotle, and 

 she made his ethics her gospel. " Ancelle de 

 science/' she calls herself, and remains a humble 

 worshipper at the shrine of knowledge, for 

 knowledge, she says, is " that which can change 

 the mortal into the immortal." We can picture 

 her to ourselves at work in the library of the 

 Louvre, amidst its 900 precious MSS., and in 

 the library of the University of Paris, to which 

 she had access through her friend Gerson, the 

 renowned Chancellor. In a miniature at the 

 beginning of one of her MSS. she is seen seated, 

 in a panelled recess, on a carved wooden bench, 

 dressed in a simple blue gown and a high white 

 coif. She is working at a folio on a large table 

 covered with tapestry, with a greyhound lying 

 at her feet. It is quite possible that this may be 

 either a conventional setting, or one due to the 

 imagination of the artist, but as the miniaturists 

 of those days were, as far as they could be, 

 realists, it is more than possible that we here see 

 her represented at work in her favourite nook in 

 the Louvre library, together with the favourite 

 dog who shared her lonely hours. Gradually 

 solace came to her through work, and having 

 found so precious a treasure for herself, she, like 

 our own modern sage, never tired of preaching 

 to others the gospel of its blessedness. 



Whilst Christine wrote and lived her student 

 life " son cuer hermit dans Termitage de 



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