This book locates Christine de Pizan’s argument that women are virtuous members of the political community within the context of earlier discussions of the relative virtues of men and women. It is the first to explore how women were represented and addressed within medieval discussions of the virtues. It introduces readers to the little studied Speculum Dominarum (Mirror of Ladies), a mirror for a princess, compiled for Jeanne of Navarre, which circulated in the courtly milieu that nurtured Christine. Throwing new light on the way in which Medieval women understood the virtues, and were represented by others as virtuous subjects, it positions the ethical ideas of Anne of France, Laura Cereta, Marguerite of Navarre and the Dames de la Roche within an evolving discourse on the virtues that is marked by the transition from Medieval to Renaissance thought.
Virtue Ethics for Women 1250-1500 will be of interest to those studying virtue ethics, the history of women’s ideas and Medieval and Renaissance thought in general.
Table of Content
List of Illustrations.- Acknowledgements.- Notes on contributors.- Abbreviations. Introduction.- 1. Does Virtue Recognise Gender? Christine de Pizan’sCity of Ladies in the Light of Scholastic Debate; István P. Bejczy.- 2. The
Speculum dominarum (
Miroir des dames) and Transformations of the Literature of Instruction for Women in the Early Fourteenth Century; Constant J. Mews.- 3. A Mirror of Queenship: The
Speculum dominarum and the Demands of Justice; Rina Lahav.- 4. A Lady’s Guide to Salvation: the
Miroir des dames Compilation; Janice Pinder.- 5. Charles V’s Visual Definition of the Queen’s Virtues; Cécile Quentel-Touche.- 6. Jean Gerson’s Writings to his Sisters and Christine de Pizan’s
Livre des trois vertus: an Intellectual Dialogue Culminating in Friendship; Earl Jeffrey Richards.- 7. From
Le Miroir des dames to
Le Livre des trois vertus; Karen Green.- 8. Appearing Virtuous: Christine de Pizan’s
Le Livre des trois vertus and Anne de France’s
Les Enseignements d’Anne de France; Tracy Adams.- 9. Weaving Virtue: Laura Cereta as a New Penelope; Natasha Amendola.- 10. Margherita Cantelmo and the Worth of Women in Renaissance Italy; Carolyn James.- 11. Like Mother Like Daughter: Moral and Literary Virtues in French Renaissance Women’s Writings; Catherine Müller.- 12. Joanna of Castile’s Entry into Brussels: Viragos, Wise and Virtuous Women; Anne-Marie Legaré.- Bibliography.- Index of manuscripts cited.- General index.
About the author
Karen Green is a philosopher and the author of many articles in philosophy and the history of women’s ideas, including The Woman of Reason (1995) and with Jacqueline Broad, A History of Women’s Political Thought in Europe, 1400-1700 (2009).Constant J. Mews is a medievalist and specialist in the ideas of Abelard and Eloise. He has published many works including Abelard, and The Lost Love Letters of Abelard and Eloise. Together they published Healing the Body Politic: the political thought of Christine de Pizan (2005). Jointly with Janice Pinder their translation of Christine de Pizan’s Livre de Paix won the MLA Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for an Outstanding Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature in 2009.
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