Christine de Pisan (circa 1364--1430) was born in Italy and came to France at the age of four with her father. Arguably the first woman in Europe to earn a living as an author, she is widely regarded as an early feminist who spoke out for the rights of women and espoused female achievement. She wrote poems and prose texts that were often allegorical and philosophical and that reflected her own original and engaged personality. She prepared the books with the aid of copyists and illuminators and offered them to patron princes and kings. Le Livre de la Cité des dames (The book of the city of ladies) is perhaps the best expression of Christine's lucid and humanist feminism. An implied response to St. Augustine's City of God, and also inspired by the work of Boccaccio, the book was written as a dialogue between student and master. The allegorical figures of Reason, Justice, and Rectitude enter into a conversation with Christine and invite her to build a city for famous women of the past and virtuous women of all times in a world made for men. Among the approximately 30 known copies of the text, this well known and beautifully illustrated copy contains the signature of its owner, Jean de Berry (1340--1416), a great bibliophile of the House of Burgundy.

Together with two curious elegies / translated from the French of F.A.E.M. by William Rooke ; printed at Paris in 1585. "To the husband of the woman with the frizzled hair": p. [34]-35. "France complaining of the lewdness of her maidens" Full text available.

“Do not offer good reasons to those who cannot understand them” advises the goddess Othea to her young pupil, the fifteen-year-old Hector of Troy, in Christine de Pizan’s Epistre d’Othea (Letter of Othea). Writing just after the year 1400, Christine de Pizan (1364-c.1430) had her own good reasons to create this pseudo-classical goddess of prudence and to cast her as the authoritative voice in a poetical allegory that plays within a popular tradition of advice literature about the ideals of good governance.

This play broke new ground in England and features the characters and political scandals around Isabella of France. Features the unabridged text of ‘Edward II by Christopher Marlowe - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe’.

Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482) Nominally the Queen of France and praised by many for her courage and wit as well as her savvy in politics, she was a key player in England during the Wars of the Roses (a dynastic struggle between York and Lancaster). Her husband suffered from mental illness and she ruled in his place, and was captured after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. She lived out the remainder of her life in France. Many of her letters are preserved in a publication by the Camden Society (a publishing society that focuses on rare historical manuscripts).

Edited and translated by Claire M. Waters.

French writer and activist for women's rights. She taught herself Latin and so impressed her contemporary, Michel de Montaigne that she became one of his pupils. She published her first book, Le Proumenoir de Monsieur de Montaigne in 1594. She went on to publish Égalité des hommes et des femmes (The Equality of Men and Women) in 1622 and Grief des dames (The Ladies' Grievance) in 1626. [Sometimes considered a woman of the Renaissance and Ancien Régime.]

Open-access and downloadable primary resources form the Middle Ages in France. Available from Gallica.

A very detailed life of Madame de Chantal in French written by Marie Aymée, the Baroness de Thorens, and Françoise, the Comtesse de Toulonjon. 610 pages.

Original text written by Anne of France to her daughter. Anne of France (1461-1522), daughter of Louis XI and sister of Charles VIII, was one of the most powerful women of the fifteenth century. She was referred to by her contemporaries as Madame la Grande, and remained an active and influential figure in France throughout her life. As the fifteenth century drew to a close, Anne composed a series of enseignements, "lessons", for her daughter Suzanne of Bourbon. These instructions represent a distillation of a lifetime's experience, and are presented through the portrait of an ideal princess, thus preparing her daughter to act both circumspectly and politically. Having steered her own course successfully, Anne offers her daughter advice intended to help her negotiate the difficult passage of a woman in the world of politics.

Anne of France (1461-1522), daughter of Louis XI and sister of Charles VIII, was one of the most powerful women of the fifteenth century. She was referred to by her contemporaries as Madame la Grande, and remained an active and influential figure in France throughout her life. As the fifteenth century drew to a close, Anne composed a series of enseignements, "lessons", for her daughter Suzanne of Bourbon. These instructions represent a distillation of a lifetime's experience, and are presented through the portrait of an ideal princess, thus preparing her daughter to act both circumspectly and politically. Having steered her own course successfully, Anne offers her daughter advice intended to help her negotiate the difficult passage of a woman in the world of politics. This is the first translation into English of Anne of France's Lessons. (30 pages digitized)

Letters written by Madame de Sévigné to her daughter. Lettres de Madame de Sévigné : nouveau choix de ses lettres les plus remarquables sous le rapport du style et de la pensée

A biography of Saint Jane de Chantal, influenced by the French work "Les Deux Filles de Ste Chantal".

By O.W. Wight. Published in 1861.

This is a digitized copy of a book (secondary source) published in 1916 that has a wealth of information from a different era about women of Medieval and early Renaissance France.