Christine de pizan biography

By Student Deanna Rodriguez

Biography

Christine de Pizan was the first professional woman writer in France. She was born in Venice around 1364.

Shortly after her birth, in 1368, her family moved to Paris. Because of this, she’s often described as being a woman of two worlds. [1] She grew up surrounded by the French culture, but retained her Italian heritage through her familial ties.

Christine de pizan biography wikipedia

She was fluent in French, Italian, as well as some Latin, which she learned while her husband, Etienne de Castel, was the royal secretary to the court. [2] She was widowed at the age of 25, and left to fend for herself, her two children, daughter Marie, son Jean and an son who remains unnamed in records (as he likely died very early on) and her widowed mother and a niece.

Almost all of her male family had left France and Christine had no relatives in Paris she could turn to him her time of distress.[3]

It was through her literacy and writing that she was able to turn her luck around and