OF SIX MEDIAEVAL WOMEN 



with dissentients, an epitomised rendering of it 

 appeared (1402) in English from the pen of 

 Hoccleve, the pupil of Chaucer, entitled The 

 Lettre of Cupide, God of Love. 



Later, Christine, with Boccaccio's De claris 

 mulieribus before her, writes La Cite des Dames^ 

 an account of the building of an imaginary city 

 which is to shelter within its strong ramparts 

 the women of all times and all countries who 

 have distinguished themselves by good and 

 heroic deeds. This has been aptly called " The 

 Golden Book of Heroines." It may certainly 

 be considered her masterpiece on her favourite 

 subject. She urges that philosophers and poets, 

 with one accord, have defamed women, and she 

 appeals to God, asking why such a thing should 

 be, seeing that He Himself made them and gaVe 

 them such inclinations as seemed good to Him, 

 and that in no way could He err. She maintains 

 that God created the soul, and made it as good 

 in woman as in man, and that it is not the sex, 

 but the perfection of virtue, that is material. 

 Combating the suggestion that women are not 

 fit to plead in Court because they have not 

 sufficient intelligence to apply the law when 

 they have learnt it, she refers to history to prove 

 that women who have had the management of 

 affairs have shown that, far from lacking in- 

 telligence and judgment, they have possessed 

 both in large measure. At the same time, 

 whilst defending their capability when necessity 

 arises, she does not think it necessary for women 



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