The Treasure of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan

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Recommended: Attitude towards women during the renaissance

The Treasure of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan

Christine de Pisan’s book, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, explains in detail the various aspects of women’s lives during the late Medieval and Renaissance culture. She addresses all women of this time from those with power and authority to the poorest peasant women. Christine de Pisan focuses on three main areas of a women’s life during this time period. First she discusses the role of knowledge and education in the lives of the various women. Then she offers her advice to all the different women of varied backgrounds and social standards. She relates how all of these women are in fact connected due to common concerns. Finally, she depicts how men and women interact with one another. By describing the way in which women are treated by the men during this time, she portrays the typical relationship between men and women during Renaissance times. Women were expected to lead a very specific life, focusing on the men of their society.

Throughout Christine de Pisan’s book, she refers to the three ladies of Virtue: Reason, Rectitude, and Justice. These ladies are the foundations of her teachings. She uses them to explain the relationship between men and women and how they view one another.

The lady Prudence teaches all the women of that society about the “rules” they should follow in order to be good Renaissance women, specifically in their relations with men. “Now we would like to advance for their edification seven principal teachings, which according to Prudence are necessary to those who desire to live wisely and wish to have honour” (62). These teachings say that the women should love their husbands; they should live in peace with men. If they f...

... middle of paper ...

...d the chance to lead a respectable life according to the “rules” of the ladies of Virtue.

In the late Medieval and Renaissance time period, women had a strict standard to live up to. They should love their husbands, respect them, and obey their commands. The men in return fulfilled the women’s needs by supplying them with whatever they needed. The men and women lived with a mutual respect between themselves.

Works Cited

Author: Christine, de Pisan, ca. 1364-ca. 1431

Uniform Title: Livre des trois vertus. English

Title: The treasure of the city of ladies, or, The book of

the three virtues / Christine de Pisan ; translated

with an introduction by Sarah Lawson.

Published: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England ; New York, N.Y.,

U.S.A. : Penguin, 1985.

ISBN: 014044453X (pbk.)

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