The Book Of The City Of Ladies Analysis

Unit 4 Questions

Question 1: Describe the responsibilities, roles, and aspirations of women in the passages of Christine de Pisan, Margret Patson, Alberti, and Martin Luther.

Catherine de Pisan was a writer in the late thirteen hundreds/fourteen hundreds. She wrote a book called The Book of the City of Ladies. Catherine is often considered the first feminist author. In The Book of the City of Ladies, Catherine discusses how men of this period view a woman’s role in society; such as they cannot hold offices of judicial power or that they do not have the mental capacity to understand the sciences. Pisan believes that women can a have a role as homemakers and wives but also scholars and/or learned people. She goes onto say that women’s aspirations

are being homemakers because they believe that all women can be but Pisan tells stories of women such as Nicostrata (Carmenta), who supposedly develop the Latin to prove that can have other aspirations and be successful in them.
Margret Patson was the wife of an English landowner in the fourteenth century. The reason she is famous is due to the fact the personal letters sent between her and her husband and letters from before the sixteenth century are rare. For Margret, her responsibilities were taking care of her family. Evidence of this is found in her letters when she discusses about how she needs to her husband to buy bigger caps for the kids because the ones he bought were too small. Her biggest aspiration was to be a wife and mother and this was probably based on the viewpoint of that being the main aspiration for a woman.
Leon Alberti was a writer and architect during the fifteenth century. In his document, On the Family, he discusses the role of women in marriage. Alberti believed that women were men’s companions and her duty is to run her husband household. For Alberti, a woman’s main role and responsibility in life was to bear children and raise them. He discusses that when choosing a woman to marry, one must make sure that she a strong constitution but is not fat. He also says that women must pure, meaning both being virgins and being well mannered and with a good reputation. This role is a woman’s main aspiration in Alberti’s mind.
Martin Luther is famous for the being the founder of the religious movement Protestantism (modern day Lutheranism).

Whilst many of Luther’s works were about religion, some were about the raising of families, such as Of Marriage and Celibacy. For Luther’s a woman’s role was that of wife and mother and her major responsibilities was caring her family and producing children. Luther viewed the having of children a role, responsibility and an aspiration because to him “A marriage without children is the world without the sun.” Luther believed that since women were more delicate than men that they should “remain at home, sit still, keep house, and bear and bring up children.”

Question 2: Describe the popular view of religious officials in Chaucer’s prologue (set in the late 14th century) and then compare this to the image shown in Erasmus’s Praise of Folly.

Geoffrey Chaucer was an English author and poet in the 1300’s. He wrote the famous Canterbury Tales, which is what he most well known for but never finished. In the prologue of the Canterbury Tales, there are a series of portraits in demonstrating a mostly critical view of the church, discussing members in portraits such as the friar, the monk, the parson and the

pardoner.
The portrait of the friar in Canterbury Tales is not a very positive view of the church at this time. It is however, a common view on friars for this time period. Friars were roaming priests that had no ties to a monastery, and were often a great source of criticism in Chaucer’s time. The friar is a “…wanton and a merry,” and does not want to help with the sick and the poor of where he is. He is polite and courteous to young women and those who are wealthy.
The portrait of the monk is about a monk who does not want to adhere to the monastic tradition of devoting their lives to work and prayer. The monk in the Canterbury Tales is large and loud. He also only cares about hunting and eating. He does not want to be a monk and refuses to study or assist in the labor of maintaining a monastery. This would imply that whilst some monks are in these monasteries to serve God, others are there because they were forced to be based on much the monk refuses to follow the rule of Saint Benedict.
The portrait of the parson reflects the traditional view of religious officials at the time, which was that they are good men of God. The portrait tells the tale of a country priest who “…was a good man of religion,” (Line 477). This priest helps the poor, teaches to his parishioners, gives money or goods to his less fortunate parishioners, and was virtuous. He is not pompous and unlike the other religious officials in Canterbury Tales’ prologue, actually practices what he preaches. Out of all the religious official mention in the prologue, the parson is the only one who has a positive portrait.
The pardoner in Canterbury Tales provides papal indulgences in exchange for charitable donations to the church. The Pardoner carries around a bag of relics that are in fact, fake and sold them to a local priest for more than he could earn in two months. He would preach occasionally but mostly to gain money.
The Praise of Folly is a satirical look on the Catholic Church during the 1400s written by Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus point out many of the issues he finds with the Catholic Church in this document. One major issue to Erasmus is the praying to relics, due to the fact he believes they are fake and used to make money off people. He complains that friars are generally not very religious and are more interested in making money. He then states that there are too many monks out in public places now and that they have given up there original purpose, a solitary life in a monastery reflecting on God, for begging and “…going about from house to house, not like apostles, to break, but to beg, their bread,”. Erasmus also criticized how the church has such strict rules and was so superstitious about them that if one of the clergy failed to follow them to the letter, they would risk a loss of religion. He was against the concept of salvation conforming to “foppish ceremonies.” Erasmus biggest issue was with the Papacy however. He states these men believe themselves to be “Christ’s vicars” yet they are corrupt. Erasmus discusses how the papacy buys votes, hosts lavish parties and even if one is elected, they still risk death from rivals from poison, force, violence or a pistol.

Question 3: How does Petrarch feel about Cicero? What criticisms does he levy against the Roman statesman? What allowances does he make?
Francesco Petrarca, also known as Petrarch, was an Italian poet, scholar, and historian. He is famous for writing letters to letters to classical intellectuals such as Marcus Tullius Cicero, whom he admired most highly of all. In fact, Petrarch states that he loves Cicero “…faithfully and cherishes your [Cicero] name.” in his first letter. He believed that Cicero was a superb philosopher and orator. Petrarch, in his second letter to Cicero states that he is devastated that some of Cicero’s works have been permanently lost due the fact “…men’s minds are slow and dull.”
However, that being said, Petrarch had criticisms about Cicero’s life. He believed that Cicero should have stayed out of politics for his self-preservation. After Julius Caesar’s death, Cicero began to speak about returning the empire back into a republic and Petrarch states that instead of doing that he should have been working on philosophy and “…growing old peacefully in the country, mediating,”. Petrarch also criticizes Cicero for supporting Augustus due to the fact Cicero was trying to return the Roman empire into a republic and that Cicero was not as “…anxious to be rid of all tyrants as to find a tyrant who be well-disposed toward yourself.” In his second letter to Cicero, Petrarch states that it was not Cicero he was criticizing but Cicero’s life.
Petrarch did make some allowances for Cicero. The two mains ones were allowances for his relationships with Pompey and Caesar. He says that Caesar provided Cicero “…well approved clemency,” and “was a harbor of refuge for the very men warring against him.” Petrarch also states that Pompey and Cicero had a very close bond and as such, Cicero would do and “…could do what you [Cicero] would.”

Question 4: Evaluate Columbus to Sanchez as an historic source. Who is the audience? What was the purpose of the letter? What problems does this letter present as an historic source for the study of Caribbean culture?
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who convinced Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain to fund his expedition to the new world. Whilst on his first voyage, Columbus wrote a letter to Lord Raphael Sanchez, who was treasurer to the Spanish majesties, about what they had found on their voyage so far. At this point of the journey, Columbus had found the Caribbean but believed it was part of India. This letter was written for Sanchez but also it has propaganda like tone to it, so it was also most likely for the public as well. The purpose of the letter was a report that he had made it to the Caribbean, discusses the places he had found and seen and the people he has found.
The problem with source at an accurate document of the Caribbean for this time period is that Columbus is writing and viewing these people in a very ethnocentric way. He views them as lesser inferior beings. He makes comments about they become excited about things like plates and leather straps and willing to give large sums of what they have for those things, which in his mind makes them simple. The fact that they are also always naked clearly makes Columbus uncomfortable, which is why he probably gave them cloth. He refers to them as cowards; as timid and fearful. Columbus also sees them as lesser because they do not believe in God, and states in the text that he intends to convert them. Another issue is that this may also not be an accurate telling of what actually happened upon arrival. The people of island they arrived at could have had some resistance to them at first, but that would not be mentioned in a letter for the public.