Healing the Body Politic: The Political Thought of Christine de Pizan

Better known today for her mysticism, a significant proportion of Christine de Pizan's have a significant political content, prompting questions about the nature and message of female political discourse in early 15th-century France. Such questions are discussed in these twelve conference papers which examine in detail the texts of de Pizan, and her contemporaries, to explore the originality of her political thought, its political and historical context, her significant inclusion of women in the body politic and her familiarity with a Latin political tradition stretching back to Cicero and Aristotle. Contributors also examine the main themes of Christine's political texts, especially her focus on the virtue of prudence, a necessary requirement for rulers, and her relationship with the notoriously imprudent French queen Isabeau.