Healing the Body Politic
The Political Thought of Christine de Pizan
Edited by Karen Green Edited by Constant Mews
Christine de Pizan (1364-1431) has been recognised as a poet, early humanist and feminist precursor but rarely as political theorist whose works were intended to have a direct impact on the tumultuous politics of her time. The essays in this collection focus on Christine as a political writer and provide an important resource for those wishing to understand her political thought. They locate her political writing in the late medieval tradition, discussing her indebtedness to Aristotle, Aquinas and Augustine as well as her transformations of their thought. They also illuminate Christines political epistemology her understanding of political wisdom as a part of theology, the knowledge of God. New light is thrown on the circumstances which prompted Christine to write on political issues and on her attitude to Isabeau of Bavaria. These essays show that Christines originality consisted in her capacity to modify and feminise the tradition of Christian Aristotelianism through the use of elements of Christian imagery, in particular Mariology, in order to construct an image of the virtuous and prudent monarch which had lost the explicitly manly and warlike character of the Aristotelian phronimos. This reconfigured image of the monarch lent itself to the extension which she developed in her more feminist works, which demonstrated the prudence of women and their capacity, in times of need, to function as authoritative political figures.
Christine de Pizan (1364-1431) has been recognised as a poet, early humanist and feminist precursor but rarely as political theorist whose works were intended to have a direct impact on the tumultuous politics of her time. The essays in this collection focus on Christine as a political writer and provide an important resource for those wishing to understand her political thought. They locate her political writing in the late medieval tradition, discussing her indebtedness to Aristotle, Aquinas and Augustine as well as her transformations of their thought. They also illuminate Christines political epistemology her understanding of political wisdom as a part of theology, the knowledge of God. New light is thrown on the circumstances which prompted Christine to write on political issues and on her attitude to Isabeau of Bavaria. These essays show that Christines originality consisted in her capacity to modify and feminise the tradition of Christian Aristotelianism through the use of elements of Christian imagery, in particular Mariology, in order to construct an image of the virtuous and prudent monarch which had lost the explicitly manly and warlike character of the Aristotelian phronimos. This reconfigured image of the monarch lent itself to the extension which she developed in her more feminist works, which demonstrated the prudence of women and their capacity, in times of need, to function as authoritative political figures.
- Edited by Karen Green
- Edited by Constant Mews
Other Titles in this Series
Public Declamations
Essays on Medieval Rhetoric, Education, and Letters in Honour of Martin Camargo
Volume 27
Medieval Art at the Intersection of Visuality and Material Culture
Studies in the 'Semantics of Vision'
Volume 32
Law and Theology in Twelfth-Century England
The Works of Master Vacarius (c. 1115/20 - c. 1200)
Volume 10
Sapientia et eloquentia
Meaning and Function in Liturgical Poetry, Music, Drama, and Biblical Commentary in the Middle Ages
Volume 11
The Classics in the Medieval and Renaissance Classroom
The Role of Ancient Texts in the Arts Curriculum as Revealed by Surviving Manuscripts and Early Printed Books
Volume 20
Medieval Thought Experiments
Poetry, Hypothesis, and Experience in the European Middle Ages
Volume 31
Fictions of the Inner Life
Religious Literature and Formation of the Self in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
Volume 4
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