Interrogating boundaries: Christine de Pizan and her influence in late medieval and early modern England

The politics of book ownership and the politics of book readership are not that fundamentally different: they share an interest in the provocative relationship between writer and reader. Christine de Pizan enjoyed a vibrant readership in late Medieval France, and her influence spread to England, but little has been known about the details of her influence. This study asks who were these English readers, what works did they own and read, and why did they enjoy reading Christine de Pizan? Establishing the characteristics and range of Christine's original readership (the Yorkist, Lancastrian, and ultimately Tudor court) allows us to begin understanding the ways in which England responded to an author as celebrated and as unusual as Christine. Her popularity in England began with the readers associated with Anthony Woodville (Earl Rivers), and her influence spread through the interaction of this circle to the larger literary culture of the time, and then further, beyond the scope of her own popularity. Her writings became a part of both broad cultural texts and cultural mores. Feats of Arms, the touchstone of this study because it was favored by the Woodville circle, not only contributed to the rise of military professionalism in the 16th century and modern humanitarian law, but provided readers a new way to approach chivalry and masculinity. Christine's readers were exposed to humanist ideas that question the theories and politics of identity and responded to her provocative new challenges to the conventions of gender, which in turn contributed to her influence on late medieval society.