Book Review: The Treasure of the City of Ladies

If I had to sum up this book in a word, it would be ‘pious’. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with so much piety in it before. It’s one thing to revere the heavenly father and find peace in worship; it’s another thing entirely to tell women that we should always think of God before we make any decisions should be done in His name. It was a lot, I must say. But then again, Christine de Pizan was a woman of her time, she wrote when a woman who could read or write was astonishing. Medieval women were not educated – why would they be? Their duties related to the home and children; under what circumstances do they need to be educated at all?

What most critics say about this book is that it gives an insight into the lives of women of this period. This is true, this book is essentially an etiquette lesson. How do women behave? What do they think? How should their servants act with them – the lives of their husbands? Women were submissive, and that was key to a good honest life. They respect their husbands, their opinions, and his parents. It is not to say that she, the lady, countess, princess, or a whore – didn’t exist. On the contrary, Christine de Pizan saw women as a foil to men’s brutishness and violence. In effect, this book is the antithesis of Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’. One promotes cunning, the other promotes peaceful piety and grace.

Would I read this book again? No. Is it an interesting text? Yes. That doesn't mean it wasn’t a struggle to get through. It was. The internalised misogyny is strong in this one. However, Christine de Pizan showed tenacity, guts, and sheer cleverness in this book. A marvellous feat for a woman in the medieval period and I will consider it to be an early feminist text. Why? Because, even in a patriarchal society such as Christine’s, women come out on top.