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Medieval Europe’s First Female Freelance Author
She wrote poetry for a mad king’s court
In Europe’s Middle Ages, women had it tough. They were considered little more than part of a father’s, then husband’s chattels. A possession, with far less ability, brainpower, and even moral worth than their male counterparts. They had few legal rights and fewer opportunities to change their lot.
Christine de Pizan was born in 1364, to Tommaso di Benvenuto da Pizzano, an Italian astrologer in the French court.
Her father doted on her and allowed her to share in his scholarly pursuits. She came to love ‘manly’ arts like writing and politics.
Her mother would have preferred her to have the traditional girls’ upbringing, and constantly pushed her away from studies towards needlework and housekeeping.
Christine felt as though she was snatching at crumbs of knowledge as they fell from her father, constantly hungering for more.
When she was a mere fifteen years old, she had an arranged marriage to a French nobleman and court secretary, Etienne du Castel.
He was barely older than her, but the two teenagers built a very happy marriage. A scholar himself, he encouraged his wife’s pursuits — making him a rare husband for that age.
