OF SIX MEDIEVAL WOMEN 



of Love, and on the other Cupid, with his feet 

 on a leopard, are depicted. This moral and 

 literary contest is perhaps the most brilliant of 

 the many discussions that took place in the 

 Middle Ages in honour of women. The 

 highest and the wisest in the land joined in it, 

 but all the honour must be given to Christine 

 for having, by her brave and reasonable attitude, 

 caused the problem, which henceforth was to 

 evolve like truth itself, to be treated on a 

 rational basis. " Toute la foy remaint en une 

 femme," says Christine. Were not her words, 

 nearly 500 years later, echoed by Renan when 

 he says, " Apres Jesus, c'est Marie de Magdale 

 qui a le plus fait pour la fondation du Chris- 

 tianisme " ? 



UEpistre au Dieu ct 'Amours is an extraordinary 

 product of worldly wisdom and common sense, 

 seasoned with satire. One of the complaints 

 against disloyal suitors, and one which strikes 

 a singularly modern note, is that they make 

 protests of love, and false promises, which must 

 be either paid for dearly, or rejected with scorn. 

 Then the hero, if he has won the day, proclaims 

 his victory in taverns and other places of resort, 

 and even in mixed company. Or if, as is more 

 often the case, he has lost it, he still tries, by 

 suggestive hints, to appear to his fellows a 

 successful gallant. Surely the worldling of to- 

 day does not seem to differ very essentially from 

 his brother of the fifteenth century, or to have 

 progressed any farther along the path of loyalty ! 



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