The Book of the Body Politic

by Christine de Pizan , Edited by Kate Langdon Forhan

• ISBN13: 9780521422598
• ISBN10: 0521422590
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-11-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Christine de Pizan was born in Venice and raised in Paris at the court of Charles V of France. Widowed at the age of twenty-five, she turned to writing as a source of comfort and income, and went on to produce a remarkable series of books, including poetry, politics, chivalry, warfare, religion and philosophy. She is considered to be France's first female professional writer. This is the first translation into modern English of Christine de Pizan's major political work, The Book of the Body Politic. Written during the Hundred Years' War, it discusses the education and behaviour appropriate for princes, nobility and common people, so that all classes can understand their responsibilities towards society as a whole. A product of a time of civil unrest, The Book of the Body Politic offers a medieval political theory of interdependence and social responsibility from the perspective of an educated woman.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi	(2)
Introduction	xiii	(12)
Note on the Text	xxv	(1)
Principal events in Christine de Pizan's life	xxvi	(3)
Bibliography	xxix	(3)
Glossary	xxxii
The Book of the Body Politic	1	(110)
Part 1: On Princes	3	(55)
Part 2: On Nobles and Knights	58	(32)
Part 3: On the Common People	90	(21)
Index	111