CHRISTINE DE PISAN 



Christine's line of argument is that the many 

 must not be condemned for the shortcomings of 

 the few, and that even when God made the 

 angels, some were bad. To the charge that 

 books are full of the condemnation of women, 

 she replies with the simple remark that books 

 were not written by women. Where is the 

 shade of the worthy Christine to-day ? Does 

 it walk the earth with a flag of triumph or a 

 laurel wreath whilst its sisters in the flesh are 

 writing on every subject in heaven and earth 

 and sea ? " De nos jours, le monde est aux 

 femmes." 



Is it marvellous, asks Christine, that a 

 woman " une chose simplete, une ignorante 

 petite femmellette," as she expresses it should 

 be betrayed by man, when even the great city of 

 Troy was, and when all the books and romances 

 are full of the betrayal of kings and kingdoms ? 

 And if a woman is not constant by nature, why 

 should Jean de Meun, in The Romance of the Rose, 

 devise so many tricks to deceive her, seeing 

 that it is not necessary to make a great assault 

 upon a feeble place ? Then she deftly turns the 

 tables on the other sex, reminding each that he 

 is the son of his mother, and that 



Se mauvaise est il ne peut valor rien, 

 Car nul bon fruit de mal arbre ne vient. 



And so on to the end, all is argument and banter. 

 The repute of her letter must have travelled 

 quickly, for whilst Christine was still combating 



