Christine
De Pizan, “The Book of the City of Ladies.”
Lady of Reason
8/27/2013
Today I finally got to
the meat of, “The Book of the City of Ladies.”
When I say meat, I mean the primary body of the actual primary source
document independent of the introduction.
De Pizan is an incredible author whose literature is undeniably some of the
greatest work amount feminist literature in the world.
De Pizan was an
Italian-French author who began writing out of interest and financial
necessity. You see her husband died
prematurely and left her with 3 children:
a daughter, a son Jean, and another child who died in childhood. Her father:
Tommaso di Benvenuto da Pizzano was appointed as court astrologer by
King Charles V of France. While living
with her father in the court of the king, she became highly educated which was
unusual for a female of the time.
As I began to study
this great work on women I was most impressed when I discovered that De Pizan
actually prayed to God asking him to make her a male, so that she may be of the
“superior” gender. This occurred before
the three female virtues appeared to her.
This happens on page 5. On this
page her desire to be a man seems to be as strong as my desire to be a
woman. I argue with De Pizan, however,
that it is woman, not man, who is superior.
Women live longer have bodies more pleasing to the eye, and their
fashion is supreme. I believe the world
would have been a greater place if all of the inhabitants had the bodies of
women.
I can’t wait until I
get into this book more later on today after work.
8/28/2013
Christine is introduced
to the three Lady virtues. They explain
to her that there are protections to women in society; however, the men are
forced to help women only because there are laws that exist to do so. Though, men are filled with apathy towards
those laws and protections for women are often ignored.
The city will be built
of the strongest stone material available, it will be built high, and no one
will be allowed admittance if they are not virtuous people. The city will be built of strong stone
material because it will be a symbol of feminine endurance and strength. The City of Ladies will be able to stand the
test of time. It will be filled with
courageous and famous women that will help Christine build the city and
maintain it. The city will be filled
with large houses, mansions, and great inns.
Lady Reason will
provide the building material to Christine and the other women who are within
the city’s walls. Lady Rectitude will be
the woman to help build a bridge between the city and the heavens. Rectitude will be their representative in
heaven, and will occasionally come to Earth and provide help where she
can.
Christine, along with
the power and help from Lady Reason.
Reason will help Christine excavate the Earth and begin to lay the
foundations of the City of Ladies. Prior
to her beginning to lay the base of the City of Ladies Christine explains to
the three Lady Virtues her own physical weaknesses in terms of building a city
will stone because of her female sex.
The three virtues grant her super-human strength to; along with the help
of the Virtues themselves she begins laying the foundation to the City of
Ladies.
As she begins to dig
the foundations, she and Lady Reason begin a conversation about the many
attacks made by men on women. Reason explains
to Christine that men attack women for various reasons. Many male authors attack women because of
their own insecurity. They feel that
women may be better than them so they feel the need to put them down in order
to elevate themselves. Others attack women
because they feel justified in doing so.
They feel that the immorality of women must be stopped and subdued. Lady Reason gives philofolly, because so many
men, philosophers and such, talk about the weakness and immorality of
women. Philofolly, because philosophy
means the love of wisdom. Reason argues
that tearing women down is not wisdom at all, but it is folly; thus,
philofolly.
On page 21 Christine
and Reason discuss a little bit of what they were discussing in terms of
philofolly by way of example. Christine
and Reason talk a little about Ovid in Roman times. Ovid was a famous Roman author that had a
terrible appetite to sleep around without showing loyalty to any woman he was
with. He only felt that women were
around for his pleasure and not for anything long lasting and fulfilling. Rome exiled him as a punishment for his
promiscuity, only to recall him by friends of his in the government. He was recalled by one condition that he
essentially keep it in the pants as it were.
He was unable to do this while back in Rome, the punishment this time
was castration. After he was castrated
he wrote many disparaging works about women.
This is an example of attacks on women that Lady Reason and Christine
discussed between the two. There are many
more examples of this after page 21 to about page 27.
Lady Reason and
Christine analyzed together the attack made by men that women are far too
emotional in particular in terms of crying.
Lady Reason makes Christine and the readers of this work that even Jesus
Christ wept, in fact multiple times in the Holy Scriptures. Reason also uses further scriptural backing
to explain that women are not inferior to men considering that women were
created from Adams rib, and not created below his feet. They were meant to be equal with men and not
made to serve at their feet.
What I also really
liked about what Reason told Christine was the reason why women do not
drink. According to Lady Reason, women
do not drink because men drink away the money at the bars that women could have
used to drink themselves. Women and men did not have enough money for
both of the couple to drink, so often was the case that women let men use that
money to drink themselves and women would go without.
Christine asked Lady
Reason why there were no women in justice and law enforcement. Reason explained that why women would do
great things in law and learning law, they would not do so well in enforcement.
(I believe Christine contradicts the mission of this work and her building the
City of Ladies. She was nervous that she
would not have the strength because of her feminine sex’s weakness to lift the
heavy stones and dig the foundations of the city and yet she is doing those
things along the side of Reason. Reason
explains that it would not be wise in terms of time management to have three do
the job of two in terms of enforcement.
I regret that Christine did not have forethought into the future she
would discover that there are plenty of women today that are seeing great
success in terms of enforcement, they sometimes even work alone.)
8/29/2013
I was impressed that
Christine new of the land of Meroe, south of Ethiopia.
9/03/2013
Lady Reason continues
to address the issue of women in leadership roles and helps Pizan answer the question
whether or not they are able to accomplish great leadership ability as that of
men.
She lies out before
Pizan how many women were great leaders of their time and places. The one that caught my eye and impressed me
was that of Queen Blanche. I read a
little more on her in (
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/blanche-of-castile.html), and learned that after the death of her
husband, King Louis VIII, she had to defend the crown of her young son against
greedy and treasonous land barons. She
did this successfully. The death of her
husband occurred in 1226 CE, and her son took control in 1234 CE.
9/21/2013 (36 – 40 Physical Strength of Women / Queen
Semiramis)
Lady Reason and Pizan
discuss and compare the physical strength of men and women compared. Are women necessarily weak and inferior to
men if they lack the physical strength to match that of man’s? Is strength necessarily defined by physical
force, or can strength come from other areas?
Is strength of will and character something that can be used to define
greatness as well? Reason explains to
Pizan, through using physical attractiveness with strengths in other areas,
just because you may not be attractive you may have strengths in other
areas. Here Reason uses the great
philosopher Socrates as her example.
Socrates was not attractive in the stereotypical sense, however, his
attractiveness was in his tremendous intelligence and great power to deduct and
reason. Reason uses this example to
explain though women are not as physically strong as men they have powers,
abilities, and skills in other areas highly prized as well.
Courage, Reason says,
is a great attribute as well. There are
many women with incredible courage that struggle, endure, and succeed in
overcoming tremendous odds simply because they have the courage in order to do
so. She explains where there are cowardly
women; there are cowardly men as well.
Using this line of reasoning, men and women are alike in this area, with
some being strong and brave, and many others being weak and cowards.
Reason talks to Pizan
about the great Queen Semiramis, wife to King Ninus (legendary founder of the
city Ninevah). She uses her as an
example to provide proof of a courageous and strong woman because after Ninus
passes, she becomes the leader of her people.
She is strong and bold. She
expands the area of her kingdom and transforms it into an empire, even going as
far east as modern day India. Queen
Semiramis is an example of how there are many women in the present time and
historically who have been strong and enduring.
10/1/2013
On page 51 Lady Reason
praises the strength, valor, and lasting endurance of the Amazon women. She particularly praised the name of
Penthesilea. Reason argues that she is
the most courageous Amazonian Queen that had ever lived. She praises that the Amazonians lasted as
long as 800 years up to the time of Alexander the Great.
On page 52 to page 55
Reason tells Pizan of the great and fearless Queen Zenobia who was so fearless
that she challenged the power of the great Persian leader King Sapor. Her soldiers respected her as she would train
fearlessly with them and her husband.
She would only be in her armor when addressing her soldiers. She was also very intelligent. Her personal tutor was the Philosopher
Longinus. Her command of her native
tongue of Egyptian was great, as well as her teaching herself on how to speak
Latin and Greek where she became fluent.
Her people respected her as a great leader over the kingdom.
10/2/2013
On pages 55 – 57
Reason speaks about Queen Artemesia.
Artemesia’s husband died and left her the thrown of the entire
kingdom. As soon as she took power,
immediately rose up challengers to her power and authority in the land. Reason describes that the Queen was quite
capable of dealing with the threats to her power. She talked about the island of Rhodes and how
the Queen captured the island and made it a tributary state. One of the biggest feats to her life and
accomplishments was when Sparta was troubled by King Xerxes of Persia and sent
to her for help and aid. She sent help
and aid in the form of a large army with her at its head. Reason recounts the amazing victories that
the Queen had against King Xerxes.
On pages 58 – 59 I
thought the story here was interesting.
Lilia the mother to the knight Theodoric was so ticked that he son would
flee the battlefield that she went in front of them lifted the skirt of her
dress and told him that if he is going to flee he might as well return to the
womb in which he came. Theodoric was so
embarrassed by this act that he regrouped his army and went and fought back and
conquered Odoacre.
10/3/2013
Page 62 I learned
about the Roman woman named Cloelia who was taken hostage as an element of a
peace treaty with the city of Clusium.
She and a group of other Roman women escape with her leadership and got
back to Rome. The Romans were so
impressed upon her bravery that they constructed a statue and put it up in
Roman itself in her honor. This all
happened over 500 years BCE.
After finishing the
foundations for the wall of the city of ladies Reason and Pizan engage in a
conversation about whether or not women are just as able as men are to learn in
the sciences. Reason assures Pizan that
though men possess superior physical strength that women possess superior
intellect if they apply themselves appropriately in the field. She says that the greatest obstacle for women
in this venture the fact that they restrict themselves to home making skills
and attached industries. Reason explains
that if they are able to engage in other areas besides just home making that
they would greatly excel in terms of intellect and skill.
10/4/2013
What I really liked
about this morning’s readings was Reason recounting the intelligent
accomplishments of earlier women as opposed to the military accomplishments. I appreciate the military accomplishments;
however, I appreciate the educational accomplishments more. Here, on pages 67 and 68 Reason speaks to
Pizan about the great writer Sappho and her many accomplishments. She is an incredible poet and her works were
widely read in ancient times. Her poetry
inspired many people including the great philosopher Plato himself who was
rumored to have had a copy of her poems under his pillow when he died.
10/5/2013
On page 88 Reason
talks about acquired knowledge. One can
learn many things and build great intelligence, but it’s worth nothing if the
individual keeps that knowledge and intelligence to themselves. It only becomes meaningful when acquired
knowledge is shared with others. In only
spreading knowledge can ones work be learned from and retained and obtained by
future generations. Reason uses
Aristotle’s work as an example of true acquired knowledge. Aristotle is a great example because his
acquired knowledge happened over two thousand years ago and we are still using
his knowledge to learn and grow. In sum,
learn it, record it, and share it with others.
On pages 70 – about
around 80, Reason addresses the cultural and societal impact of many women in
Mythological stories that impacted life; these peoples belief in these women
affected how they worked, lived, and progressed in their respective areas of life
and the world over. The following are
some of the examples that Reason addresses: (ex. Minerva (iron and steel),
Ceres (the cultivation of the Earth), and Isis in Egypt (gardening and
planting), Arachne (dyeing wool and making tapestries).
She also addresses
other women of great importance; women such as Pamphile who, according to Pliny
the Elder, was the first to spin silk; or of Thamaris who was famous for the
art of painting, and of Sempronia at the time of Caesar whose beauty,
intelligence, and accomplishments made her famous.
I tell you these women
because Pizan and Reason find it important to address the cultural impact of
extraordinary women, whether of Myth or Historical, these women helped form
humanity in areas where men did not. These
women and their accomplishments were so important that human beings thousands
of years into the future (the 21st century) are still speaking their
names and learning about their deeds and accomplishments.
Beginning on page 91
to about page 95 Reason speaks about the first Queen and founder of the ancient
city state of Carthage. That woman and
Queen is named Dido. In sum, Dido fled
the presence of her wrathful brother and took with her great treasures from the
court of her brother and many followers.
Through great deception she got the treasure to the shores of Northern
Africa. When she arrived there the
sellers of some land told Dido they will give her a piece of land, as much land
as a piece of leather could encompass.
She took the largest piece she find and began to cut it in the thinnest
strips possible. She took those strips
and encompassed a huge piece of land whereupon she began building her city, the
city of Carthage.
On page 97 Reason
ceases to speak to Pizan, however, before she explained to her that she, with
her help, have built the walls and foundation to the City of Ladies.
Lady of Rectitude
From page 99 to 110
Rectitude speaks to Pizan about many women who prophesied and were proven
through time that they were right in their prophesies. One of the groups of women that Rectitude speak
about were the Sibylline prophesies.
On page 110 Pizan asks
Rectitude about the many men and some women who complain when they give birth
to a girl. Pizan has a point here in
that she explains the women should be more grateful that they survived child
birth and yet some complain when they give birth to girls instead of boys. Pizan argues women who do this are simply
complaining because their husbands are upset about them having girls instead of
boys. Then Pizan asks Rectitude a
question whether or not girls are a greater liability to their parents than are
sons.
From page 110 – 116
Rectitude and Pizan engage in a conversation, along with examples, about how
fathers and mothers mourn when they give birth to daughters instead of
sons. Rectitude addresses that their
mourning is foolishness. Rectitude’s
rationale concerning this is when sons of poor fathers wish that their fathers
die so as to be free from the embarrassment of having a father who is not wealthy. On the flip side the sons of wealthy fathers
wish their fathers would die so as to be able to inherit their land and great
wealth for themselves; furthermore when the sons of wealthy fathers and their
fathers die, rarely treat their widowed mothers well. Rectitude explains these sons will often take
their mothers to court to obtain their riches quicker. Sons will frequently abandon their parents
and move far away from them, whereas the daughters will stay behind and take
care of their parents until the day they die.
Rectitude proceeds to
recount the many women who were fiercely loyal to their parents until their
parents die. For example: Hypsipyle
defended her father, the king, even at the risk of her own life. Her father was hated by his subjects and they
tried to kill him and remove him from the throne. She put him in a chest to hide him from the
angry mob. She went outside to calm her
father’s subjects. In the process of
doing this, they threatened her with her life, and said they would kill her if
she did not reveal to them the location of her father. She refused.
With her strong loyalties and resistance to them with her bravery, they
forced her to be the Queen of the land. Albeit,
Rectitude does confess that not all sons abuse their parents in such a way and
that not all daughters are all as loyal, however, she argues that the scale is
tipped in the favor for daughters over the sons.
On pages 16 and 17
Rectitude and Pizan begin to people the City of Ladies as the houses, palaces,
the wall, and the defensive turrets were completed. They both set out to find the greatest of
women to inhabit their fair and beautiful City of Ladies.
From pages 117 to 120
Rectitude and Pizan engage in another conversation about the subject of men
saying that their wives are a burden to them that there is no benefit to being
married insofar that a loyal and paid servant would wait on them hand and foot
far more effectively leaving them away from the emotions, burdens, gossiping,
and other inconvenience caused by their wives through marriage. Rectitude mocked such a belief recounting the
horrible experiences that many women have to endure. Rectitude primarily recounts the many women
who are beaten and mistreated by their husbands. Granted this is an extreme side, in light,
Rectitude explains to Pizan that there are many men who love, cherish, protect,
and take care of the wives and husbands that are fiercely loyal to them and
care not for the inconveniences of marriage for they love their wives.
10/6/2013
As concerning the
subject of spousal loyalty, on page 130 I really liked the example of the wife
of Socrates, Xanthippe. I really liked
this example primarily because of my deep admiration and respect for the knowledge
and life insight as that of Socrates himself.
This story is sweet because Xanthippe, upon hearing news of the
execution order of her husband after his trial, rushed to his side. She initially threw the first cup of hemlock
that Socrates was ordered to drink.
Albeit Socrates, touched by his wife’s compassion and love, explained to
her that he must go through with the execution order by hemlock. She stayed by his side until the end.
On page 134 Pizan
talks to Rectitude about the outrageous claim that men spread about women in
that they are unable to keep confidences to themselves. Rectitude refutes this claim by using several
examples to back her up. One example she
uses was when a group of Roman men conspired to kill the Emperor Nero. These men met in the house of a woman to plan
out their conspiracy. They met there
because they had the utmost trust in this woman to keep all of their plans to
herself. One night a passerby of the
house overheard their plans and in order to seek favor from the Emperor, this
individual revealed this conspiracy to Nero himself. Nero ordered soldiers to the house of this
woman with orders to seize her and bring her to him for questioning. The Emperor’s objective was to get her to
divulge the names of the conspirators so he might put them to death. As he was questioning her, she refused to
divulge this great conspiracy against the Emperor along with the names of the
men who were planning on killing him.
Even through torture, which the Emperor was predictable to do, she still
did not divulge the names of the men behind the conspiracy of his assassination
plot.
Beginning on page 137
Pizan complains that many men believe that is would be folly to them to follow
the advice that their wives give them.
Rectitude gives to ancient examples of when two specific powerful men
failed to listen to their wives advice and as a result ended up with their very
lives. The first example she gives is of
course one of the most famous stories of when a husband should have listened to
his wife. This example is Julius Caesar himself. Portia warned Caesar of the terrible omens
she had witnessed that day and plead with him not to go to the senate floor
that day. He ignored her many pleadings
and warnings and went to the senate floor any way. That was the day, the Ides of March, when
Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the senate floor. Rectitude also tells Pizan of the great
general Pompey when he fled from Caesars wrath in Rome and sailed to
Egypt. The Egyptians under the Ptolemies
directed Pompey in a small vessel to be protected by the Egyptians. Pompey’s wife, Cornelia, begged him not to
get into the small vessel because she had a terrible feeling of possible
deception on the part of the Ptolemies.
He, much like Caesar, ignored the sound advice of his wife and entered
the vessel to be carried to the land of Egypt from the sea. Cornelia never took her eye off of him while
in her Roman ship. A little ways off she
witnessed the horrible scene of the Ptolemies and Pompey’s Roman betrayers stab
him to death. Rectitude does however
offer examples of when husbands listened to their wives and succeeded. Belisarius was a great general at the court
of Emperor Justinian. A few court
conspirers falsely told the Emperor that Belisarius plans on murdering
him. To protect himself, the Emperor
ordered the great general to attack the Vandals. The Emperor knew very well at the strength of
the Vandal army and the weaknesses of Belisarius’s army. Belisarius knew this information well as
well. His wife consoled him by
committing to him that she will go into battle with him, she also drew out
plans to conquering the Vandals. The
both of them execute the advice and military strategy of Antonia, Belisarius’
wife, and they conquered the Vandals and took the Vandal king hostage. Justinian was so pleased by this that he
ignored the false rumors of his disloyalty.
Pizan again complains
of the terrible beliefs that men have of women.
The next thing that Pizan and Rectitude discuss is the belief that women
should not be educated. This discussion
begins on page 153 and goes until page 155.
Rectitude brings in several examples were fathers have been inspired by
the curiosities of their daughters in learning and growing in knowledge. I really liked the example of Novella and her
father Giovanni Andrea. I liked this
example because Andrea, a lawyer and law professor in Bologna, was so inspired
by his daughters determination to become educated tutored her in all aspects of
the law. He was so effective that she,
Novella, became so intelligent on matters of the law that when Andrea was too
busy to teach his class he would ask her to substitute for her. She did this with tremendous efficiency and
success. Rectitude draws upon the
personal experiences of Pizan herself.
Pizan was daughter of Tommaso di Benvenuto da Pizzano, who was a
counselor in the court of King Charles the V of France. He also served as a court astrologer and
physician. Pizan, under these
circumstances, was able to learn many things with her father being at court. She was able to learn from her highly
intelligent father and many other educated people in the court as well. She became so highly educated that upon the
death of her husband, Etienne du Castel, and upon her refusal to remarry again
began to write in order to provide for herself and her children. She was so successful at this that she was able
to provide for her and her family became very well-known through the kingdom,
and her words and knowledge are still being read and learned clear into the 21st
century. Pizan was, and still is,
influential in society. Rectitude and
Pizan prove that educated women help improve life and educate society in truth
and fact.
On page 155 Rectitude
and Pizan begin to dispel the horrible myth that women are immoral and that few
are chaste. Using Biblical women and
women in the Pagan stories, they both dispel this myth, and further prove that
women or both chaste and virtuous. They
even tie in examples of where women refuse to sleep around even with abusive
husbands and husbands that they hate. An
example of this is Mariannes, wife of Herod Antipater. Herod was tremendously cruel including
putting to death the father of his wife.
He made the command that if he dies before his wife does, because of her
incredibly beauty, she should be put to death as well so to avoid letting her
be with any other man but he. Even
beyond her hatred of him, she still remained chaste to him and would not be
with any other man but him. There are
many other examples that go until page 160.
From page 160 to page
164 Rectitude refutes the horrific belief by some men that women actually enjoy
being raped. She shares numerous
examples of how women after being raped commit suicide because they are unable
to bear the humiliation and burden of the memory of the pain and thus end their
very lives. She also discusses many
women, who instead of allowing a man to rape them kill themselves before they
are forced to experience this unpleasantry.
She uses the rape of Queen Orgiagon as an example of a woman, who after
being raped, kills the man who violated her and presents his head to the
king. Rectitude uses these examples to
dispel the horrific belief by some people that women enjoy being raped.
From pages 164 to 184
Rectitude recounts the argument whether or not women are fickle and
inconstant. She uses a multitude of
brief and lengthy examples to prove her words that women are indeed constant
and loyal in their deeds and actions.
She uses many Roman Emperors to prove the point of male inconstancy,
fickleness, and cruelty as seen here with these Roman Emperors. She recounts a few lengthy stories about
women who are obedient, are not fickle, are constant, and loyal. The example that stood out to me was a story
that I read about in my British Literature class at Utah Valley University and
that is the story of Griselda, the Marquis of Saluces and her husband Gualtieri
and how he put her through a number of heartbreaking tests including lying to
her about putting her two children to death and lying to her about a divorce
and remarriage. The essence of the story
is how constant the woman is and how unwilling she was to break in the face of
such tests. It was revealed at the end
of the story that she was only being tested and the Marquis awarded her for her
unwavering respect for him. They lived
with each other for 20 more years after he revealed the tests in marriage.
The capacity to love
with a deep and profound love and to be loved in returned for women and the men
they chose is discussed by Rectitude and Pizan on pages 184 to 204. The story that stood out at me the most was
when Rectitude told about the deep and profound love that Ghismonda had for her
man Guiscardo. When her father the
prince of Salerno found out about this love, was wrought with disappointment
and anger because he felt that his daughter could have chosen someone superior
to that of Guiscardo. As a result he had
him killed and his heart cut out and sent to his daughter in a golden
goblet. When she received the goblet she
lamented and was deeply saddened by the loss of her lover. As a result she took poison and poured it
into the goblet with the heart and drank from it. When her father found out about this he
rushed to her side. She uttered angry
and damning words to her father. She
died and he was sick at heart for the loss of his daughter and regretted his
actions.
From 204 to 208
Rectitude addresses the concern from Pizan whether or not women dress finely in
order to attract men in a coquettish manner.
Rectitude explains that although there may be women who do indeed to
something like this, she does argue that there is nothing wrong with dressing
in a fine fashion for one’s own satisfaction and not for others. She further explains that there are women who
dress in a fine manner because it is in their nature to adorn themselves with
fine, beautiful, and pretty things.
On page 209 Rectitude
and Pizan engage in a conversation about the greed of women. Rectitude refutes this argument with examples
of generous women who care not for possessions and money.
On pages 212 to 215,
Rectitude and Pizan wrap their conversation up by naming the many women in
France at the time of Pizan that will be welcomed to live in the City of
Ladies. Pizan addresses the inhabitants
of the city by stating the reason why they are all there, and it is because
they are all respected, well honored, and revered.
From pages of 217 to
257 Justice first introduces Mary Magdalene who will be the sovereign of the
City of Ladies. She talks about numerous
women who were tortures, raped, and executed for their faith in
Christianity. Justice, toward the end of
the book, explains to Pizan that the city is completely finished and filled
with the good ladies throughout history, currently, and the ladies of the
future. My atheistic interpretation of
why Justice told about these ladies was to show the pettiness, immaturity, and
despicableness of the men who put these harmless women to death.
Pizan then addresses
the women encouraging them to be strong, enduring, and always disproving male
falsities.
