Editing Christine de Pizan (section)

=== Writing career (1389–1405) ===
After her husband Etienne died, Christine was left to support her mother and her children.{{sfn|Brown-Grant|1999}}  When she tried to collect money from her husband's estate, she faced complicated lawsuits regarding the recovery of salaries still owed to her husband.{{sfn|Willard|1984|p=39}} Through this, Christine became a court writer. By 1393, she was writing love [[ballads]], which caught the attention of wealthy patrons within the court.{{sfn|Redfern|1995|p=77}} Christine became a prolific writer. Her involvement in the production of her books and her skillful use of patronage in turbulent political times has earned her the title of the first professional woman of letters in Europe.{{sfn|Schaus|2006|p=133}}

[[File:Queen Penthesilea Harley 4431 Pizan.png|thumb|A miniature of Queen [[Penthesilea]] with her army of [[Amazons]] coming to the aid of the [[Troy|Trojan]] army, illustrating ''L'Épître Othéa a Hector''{{sfn|Biggs|2013}}]]
[[File:Pisan lelivredestroisvertus.jpg|thumb|One page of Christine's book ''Le livre des trois vertus''. In the illumination Christine is kept from rest by the Three Virtues.]]Although Venetian by birth, Christine expressed a fervent nationalism for France. Affectively and financially she became attached to the French royal family, donating or dedicating her early ballads to its members, including [[Isabeau of Bavaria]], [[Louis I, Duke of Orléans]], and [[Marie of Berry]]. [[Patronage]] changed in the late [[Middle Ages]]. Texts were still produced and circulated as continuous roll [[manuscript culture|manuscripts]], but were increasingly replaced by the bound [[codex]]. Members of the royal family became patrons of writers by commissioning books. As materials became cheaper a book trade developed, so writers and bookmakers produced books for the French nobility, who could afford to establish their own libraries. Christine thus had no single patron who consistently supported her financially and became associated with the royal court and the different factions of the royal family – the Burgundy, Orleans and Berry – each having their own respective courts.{{sfn|McGrady|1998|p=197}} Throughout her career Christine undertook concurrent paid projects for individual patrons and subsequently published these works for dissemination among the nobility of France.{{sfn|McGrady|1998|p=197}}

France was ruled by [[Charles VI of France|Charles VI]] who since 1392 experienced a series of mental breakdowns, causing a crisis of leadership for the French monarchy.{{sfn|Schaus|2006|p=133}} He was often absent from court and could eventually only make decisions with the approval of a royal council.{{sfn|Green|2010|p=5}} Queen Isabeau was nominally in charge of governance when her husband was absent from court but could not extinguish the quarrel between members of the royal family.{{sfn|Green|2010|p=14}} In the past, [[Blanche of Castile]] had played a central role in the stability of the royal court and had acted as [[regent]] of France. Christine published a series of works on the virtues of women, referencing Queen Blanche and dedicating them to Queen Isabeau.{{sfn|Green|2010|p=6}}{{sfn|Adams|2014|pp=115–116}} In 1402 she described Queen Isabeau as "High, excellent crowned Queen of France, very redoubtable princess, powerful lady, born at a lucky hour".{{sfn|Langdon Forhan|2017|p=68}}

Christine believed that France had been founded by the descendants of the [[Troy|Trojans]] and that its governance by the royal family adhered to the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] ideal.{{sfn|Langdon Forhan|2017|p=71}} In 1400 Christine published ''L'Épistre de Othéa a Hector'' (''Letter of Othea to Hector'').{{sfn|Langdon Forhan|2017|p=34}} When first published, the book was dedicated to [[Louis I, Duke of Orléans|Louis of Orléans]], the brother of Charles VI, who was at court seen as potential regent of France.{{sfn|Krueger|1998|p=20}} In ''L'Épistre de Othéa a Hector'' [[Hector of Troy]] is tutored in statecraft and the political virtues by the goddess of wisdom Othéa.{{sfn|Langdon Forhan|2017|p=34}} Christine produced richly illustrated luxury editions of ''L'Épistre de Othéa a Hector'' in 1400.{{sfn|Schaus|2006|p=134}} Between 1408 and 1415 Christine produced further editions of the book.{{sfn|Krueger|1998|p=20}} Throughout her career she produced rededicated editions of the book with customised prologues for patrons,{{sfn|McGrady|1998|p=198}} including an edition for [[Philip the Bold]] in 1403, and editions for [[Jean de Berry|Jean of Berry]] and [[Henry IV of England]] in 1404.{{sfn|Wolfthal|1998|p=43}}

In 1402, Christine became involved in a renowned literary controversy, the "Querelle du Roman de la Rose".{{sfn|Willard|1984|p=73}} Christine questioned the literary merits of [[Jean de Meun]]'s popular ''[[Roman de la Rose|Romance of the Rose]]'', which satirizes the conventions of courtly love while critically depicting women as nothing more than seducers.{{sfn|Quilligan|1991|p=40}} In the midst of the [[Hundred Years' War]] between French and English kings,{{sfn|Schaus|2006|p=133}} Christine wrote the [[dream allegory]] ''[[Le Chemin de long estude]]'' in 1403. Writing in the first-person, she and the [[Cumaean Sibyl]] travel together and witness a debate on the state of the world between the four [[allegories]] – Wealth, [[Nobility]], [[Chivalry]] and [[Wisdom]].{{sfn|Altmann|McGrady|2003|p=11}} Christine suggests that [[justice]] could be brought to earth by a single monarch who had the necessary qualities.{{sfn|Green|2010|p=26}}

In 1404, Christine chronicled the life of Charles V, portraying him as the ideal king and political leader, in ''Le Livre des fais et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles V''.{{sfn|Langdon Forhan|2017|p=34}} The chronicle had been commissioned by [[Philip the Bold]] of Burgundy and in the chronicle, Christine passed judgment on the state of the royal court.{{sfn|Green|2010|p=11}} When praising the efforts of Charles V in studying [[Latin]], Christine lamented that her contemporaries had to resort to strangers to read the law to them.{{sfn|Krueger|1998|p=26}} Before the book was completed, Philip the Bold died, and Christine offered the book to Jean, Duke of Berry in 1405 in an attempt to find a new patron.{{sfn|Krueger|1998|p=27}} She was paid 100 livres for the book by Philip the Bold's successor [[John the Fearless]] in 1406 and would receive payments from his court for books until 1412.{{sfn|McGrady|1998|p=198}}

In 1405, Christine published ''Le Livre de la cité des dames'' (''[[The Book of the City of Ladies]]'') and ''Le Livre des trois vertus'' (''Book of Three Virtues'', known as ''[[The Treasure of the City of Ladies]]'').{{sfn|Adams|2014|pp=115–116}} In ''Le Livre de la cité des dames'' Christine presented intellectual and royal female leaders, such as [[Queen Zenobia]].{{sfn|Krueger|1998|p=29}} Christine dedicated ''Le Livre des trois vertus'' to the dauphine [[Margaret of Nevers]], advising the young princess on what she had to learn.{{sfn|Adams|2014|pp=115–116}} As Queen Isabeau's oldest son [[Louis of Guyenne]] came of age Christine addressed three works to him with the intention of promoting wise and effective government. The earliest of the three works has been lost. In ''Livre du Corps de policie'' (''The Book of the Body Politic''), published in 1407 and dedicated to the dauphin,{{sfn|Green|2010|p=6}} Christine set out a political treatise which analysed and described the customs and governments of [[Middle Ages|late medieval European]] societies. Christine favoured hereditary monarchies, arguing in reference to Italian [[city-state]]s that were governed by princes or trade [[guild]]s, that "such governance is not profitable at all for the common good".{{sfn|Langdon Forhan|2017|p=70}} Christine also devoted several chapters to the duties of a king as a military leader and she described in detail the role of the military class in society.{{sfn|Willard|Willard|2010|p=5}}