Synopses & Reviews
In Christine de Pizan and the Fight for France, Tracy Adams offers a reevaluation of Christine de Pizan's literary engagement with contemporary politics. Adams locates Christine's works within a detailed narrative of the complex history of the dispute between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs, the two largest political factions in fifteenth-century France. Contrary to what many scholars have long believed, Christine consistently supported the Armagnac faction throughout her literary career and maintained strong ties to Louis of Orleans and Isabeau of Bavaria. Adams claims that Christine's writings not only voiced support for Louis and Isabeau in opposition to John of Burgundy, but also contributed to defining kingship and creating authority in France's turbulent political climate. In addition, Christine promoted, defended, and profoundly affected the nature of female regency as it developed in France from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Alternating between chapters focusing on the historical context of the Armagnac-Burgundian feud at different moments and chapters offering close readings of Christine's poetry and prose, Adams shows the ways in which the writer was closely engaged with and influenced the volatile politics of her time.
Review
"In an earlier book, Tracy Adams did great service to the scholarly community by helping dispel the outdated, slanderous fictions surrounding the lives of Isabeau of Bavaria and Louis of Orleans. In this work she continues to apply recent historical research to the task of developing new readings of Christine de Pizan. The result is an up-to-date and very readable history of the conflict between the Burgundians and Armagnacs that offers insightful readings of all of Christine's major works and enhances our understanding of her allegiances and the ways in which her texts responded to the conflict."
--Karen Green, Monash University
Synopsis
Evaluates Christine de Pizan's literary engagement with fifteenth-century French politics. Locates the writer's works within a detailed narrative of the complex history of the dispute between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs, the two largest political factions.
About the Author
Tracy Adams is Associate Professor of French at the University of Auckland.
Table of Contents
Note on Translations and Manuscripts
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter 1: Christine and the Armagnac-Burgundian Feud: Kingship and Regency
Chapter 2: The Beginnings of the Feud and Christine's Political Poetry, 1393-1401
Chapter 3: The Point of No Return and the Political Allegories, 1401-1404
Chapter 4: The Entrance of Jean of Burgundy and Reconfiguring Regency, 1405
Chapter 5: Heading Toward Showdown and the Prose Treatises, 1405-1407
Chapter 6: The Great Feud, After 1407
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index