The Treasure of the City of Ladies
The Treasure of the City of Ladies (Le trésor de la cité des dames, also known The Book of the Three Virtues) is a manual of education by medieval Italian-French author
Genesis and description
After I built the City of Ladies with the help and by the commandment of the three ladies of Virtue, Reason, Rectitude and Justice, in the manner explained in the text of that book, and after I, more than anyone else, had worked so hard to finish the project and felt so exhausted by the long and continued exertion, I wanted only to rest and be idle for a while.[2]
In the Book of the City of Ladies Christine had given a passionate and well-organized defense of women by arguing (in many different ways and methods) for the value and worth of women, refuting the view of authors such as Jean de Meun and citing famous examples of notable and virtuous women. In the subsequent Treasure she claimed that after finishing the Book all she wanted to do was rest; however, harassed and accused of indolence by the three ladies of Virtue (Reason, Rectitude, and Justice) who had helped her with the Book, she agreed to continue with a sequel. The earliest surviving miniature for the book, supervised by Christine de Pizan and made by the same master who illustrated the Book, shows Christine attempting to rest, in bed, but with the Three Virtues standing to her left and pulling her out of bed by the arm.[3] In the Treasure, she offered the lessons imparted from those feminine avatars to women of all estates, including such categories as nuns, prostitutes, married and unmarried women.[4]
Titles and editions
The early manuscripts, dedicated to
The Treasure survives in a few 15th-century manuscripts and three printed editions from the 15th and 16th centuries; the last of these dates from 1536 and was printed by Jehan André and Denis Janot.[5] Christine de Pizan, who wrote for a living, was very interested in producing sumptuously illustrated manuscripts, and therefore eight of the twenty-one surviving 15th-century manuscripts are illustrated. She preferred what Laura Rinaldi Dufresne calls a "simple, straightforward Italianate style rather than the fussy embellished versions preferred in French workshops". De Pizan supervised the first miniature illustrations, which were made by "The City of Ladies Master", a name bestowed by Millard Meiss.[3]
References
- ^ Willard, Charity C. (1984). Christine de Pizan: Her Life and Works. New York: Persea Books. p. 135.
- ^ Pizan, Christine de (1985). The Treasure of the City of Ladies. Sarah Lawson, trans. New York: Penguin. p. 32.
- ^ JSTOR 1358572.
- ISBN 9780802833471.
- ISBN 9780141961019.