Background

The Book of the Queen is a manuscript owned by the British Library. It is a collection of the major works by the medieval author Christine de Pizan (1365-1434). Although Italian by birth, she grew up in France. The picture above shows Christine lecturing to a group of men.

Selected pages from the manuscript are included in this blog. In order to view the entire work in a larger size (thus allowing for more detail) the entire manuscript is available at the following website under the images tab: http://www.pizan.lib.ed.ac.uk/index.html

Political Thought

In addition, to being a writer of poetry and a defender of equality for women, one area that is sometimes overlooked is her thoughts on politics. She had personal contact with many of the major historical personalities of the time. They included kings, queens, and other prominent individuals. So, some of her writing involved her opinions on the political state of affairs in France. She reflected deeply on political life, including questions of legitimacy, authority, liberty, justice and rights (Forhan, p. 167, 2002).

Summary

Christine's accomplishments are considerable when you take into account that she did not begin to write until she was thirty-five years old (with shorter life expectancy this would have been considered middle age). Much of her energy, following her husband's death, was spent in educating herself. This was a necessity for enabling herself to write at the level she did. Her major works were written between 1400-1418. The Book of the Queen was produced towards the end of this time period in 1414. The manuscript was begun with a request by Queen Isabeau for "copies of all that she had written" (McLeod, p.136, 1976). Since this was a request by the Queen it was actually more of a royal command. It is very fortunate that the book was commissioned by the queen because it has enabled generations of book lovers, artists, and historians to appreciate both Christine as an exceptional woman and to display the talents of the craftsmen and artists personally involved in its production. When one takes into account all of the manuscripts lost through the years due to wars, religious disagreements, and ordinary ignorance, it is miraculous that this manuscript was able to survive.

What perhaps helped in the survival of the manuscript, given the setting of the Hundred Years' War between England and France (1337-1453), was the appreciation of her work in both the English and French royal circles. At one time she was even asked to join the English royal court(Henry IV of England sent ambassadors pleading with her to go and live at his court), though she would never have done so. Christine might have been Italian by birth, but she was very much a French nationalist.

Another gift that Christine gave future generations was her glimpses into the lives of women around 1400. They did not include solely the court circles she was familiar with, but they gave portraits of ordinary women whether they were a peasant, a servant, or even the wife of a merchant.

Christine's surviving son had three children, two sons and one daughter. Descendants of one of her grandsons became one of her modern biographers.

References

Avrin, L. (1991). Scribes, Script and Books The Book Arts from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Chicago: The American Library Association.

Brabant, M. (Ed.). (1992). Politics, Gender, and Genre The Political Thought of Christine de Pizan. Colorado: Westview Press.

British Library. Research project on The Book of the Queen manuscript (n.d.). Retrieved on March 1, 2010. Web site: http://www.pizan.lib.ed.ac.uk/context.html

Brown, M.P. (1994). Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts A Guide to Technical Terms. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum.

Dinshaw, C. & Wallace D.(Eds.).(2003). The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women's Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Farber, A.S. (n.d.). Considering a Marginal Master: The Work of an Early Fifteenth Century Parisian Manuscript Decorator. Retrieved on March 5, 2010, from State University of New York College at Oneonta, Web site:
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth214_folder/Amaster_considering.html

Forhan, K.L. (2002). The Political Theory of Christine de Pizan. England: Ashgate Publishing.

Katz, B. (1995). Dahl's History of the Book. New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press.

Kilgour, F.G. (1998). The Evolution of the Book. New York: Oxford University Press.

McLeod, E. (1976). The Order of the Rose The Life and Ideas of Christine de Pizan. London: Chatto & Windus.

Pizan, C.D. (1982). The Book of the City of Ladies (E.J. Richards, Trans.). New York: Persea Books.

Willard, C.C. (1984). Christine de Pizan Her Life and Works. New York: Persea Books.

Ilumination

As evidenced by this and other manuscript pages, The Book of the Queen is beautifully illustrated and is a good example of the art of illumination. Although the gold has faded from its original state, it is still quite incredible. The intricacy of these border designs, miniatures, and initials are one of the reasons that many medieval manuscripts are such works of art.

One theory is that at least some of the artwork done in the manuscript was completed by a famous woman artist of the time period named Anastaise. In Christine's own words can be found her praise for the artist:

"... Regarding what you say about women expert in the art of painting, I know a woman today, named Anastaise, who is so learned and skilled in painting manuscript borders and miniature backgrounds that one cannot find an artisan in all the city of Paris -- where the best in the world are found -- who can surpass her, nor who can paint flowers and details as delicately as she does, nor whose work is more highly esteemed, no matter how rich or precious the book is. People cannot stop talking about her. And I know this from experience, for she has executed several things for me which stand out among the ornamental borders of the great masters" (Farber, n.d.).

The illuminations in The Book of the Queen are polychromatic illustrations versus the grisaille technique (painting in shades of brown or grey) used in Christine's earlier manuscripts. Obtaining the pigments used in illuminated manuscripts could be a complex task and the recipes for them were carefully guarded secrets handed down from a craftsman to his apprentice. Some of the most favored colors were red and blue, but gold was highly valued as well. For example, blue was originally from lapis lazuli, later it was extracted from plants like woad or indigo. Gold leaf was used in many illuminations and a single coin would be pounded by the craftsman to create the tissue thin gold leaf. Of course, gold was a very important part of the classic illuminated manuscript.

Scribes

There were probably several scribes who helped produce this manuscript (although without a colophon one can only notice the variations in the writing style). Christine supervised a scriptorium in Paris and these scribes were responsible for producing the work she did for patrons. However, she did act as scribe on some of her own work as well. The British Library website states that The Book of the Queen was copied by one or more scribes along with Christine herself.

In the Middle Ages scribes would be seated at a steeply sloped desk. This was necessary when using a quill pen (they work best when used at a right angle). It also prevented the hand of the scribe from resting on the parchment, thus preventing any smearing of wet ink. Before the scribe began writing he would often give the parchment a final rub with fine pumice, followed by smoothing of the surface with chalk.

Scribes would have their quill in one hand and in the other they would hold a knife. This knife was used for several functions. First, it was used to sharpen the quill pen, next it was used for erasing mistakes (this had to be done very quickly, before the ink had soaked in), and the final use was to hold down the parchment. A knife was also preferable to using a finger for holding down a page because there was no risk of grease from the scribe's skin. A professional scribe would write the text itself and the artists decorated the borders and painted the miniatures.

Rubrication

As can be seen in the top right column of this manuscript page, the rubric is written in red ink and appears to have been added in after the original writing. This is typical of rubrication and it generally follows the laying out and writing of the text (Brown, p.111,1994).

Red was frequently a part of the medieval manuscript. It was most typically used for headings, titles and initials, in addition to rubrics. The use of red ink goes back to the fifth century and continued until the fifteenth century. The invention of the printing press changed the customary use of red and black ink in medieval manuscripts.

Material and Collation

This manuscript was written on parchment codex. The codex is a form of book consisting of folded sheets that are then sewn together along an edge. Judging by the light color of the pages it most probably was initially treated with pumice and then whitened with chalk.

The term parchment is often used generically to denote animal skin prepared to receive writing, although it is more correctly applied only to sheep and goat skin (Brown, p.95, 1994). Vellum is the term that should be used to identify calfskin used for writing. The process of preparing the skins involved a lime bath, scraping, then the use of a pumice and chalk. Techniques for preparing the parchment differed and resulted in a different appearance from one technique to the next.

Author - Marriage

As was typical of the time period, her parents arranged a marriage for Christine when she was fifteen. The bridegroom was a twenty-four year old minor French aristocrat named Etienne de Castel. He was a kind, gentle husband and it became a love match between the two. Luckily, she had a happy marriage that helped her weather the death of her dear father. Her husband became the sole support of Christine, their two children, her mother, and two brothers (who were born in France). Etienne had a good position in court as a secretary and so was able to support his own and extended family.

Tragedy was to strike Christine once again though when her husband died from an illness (probably the plague) while traveling with the king to Beauvais. They had only been married for ten years. Aside from the loss of her beloved husband she faced economic hardship with the loss of his income. Her father had left almost no estate in France due to careless management. Her two brothers returned to Italy, so that they could claim their father's Italian estate. However, their mother remained behind with Christine. As a result, Christine had to seek a source of income for her family. This was the catalyst for her to begin her writing career. With no formal education (which was typical for women of this time period), she was mostly self taught.

Christine lived in a turbulent time in history and it was quite remarkable that she was able to survive not only the unstable environment, but her personal tragedies as well. She managed to do this along with becoming the first successful, published woman author. Quite an accomplishment at anytime, let alone as a woman in the Middle Ages.

Author - Later Life

Her status as a writer was solidly established in her strong support of women and she became known outside the limited court circles. This began when she became part of a famous literary debate. The book involved was The Romance of the Rose by Jean de Meun. It depicted women in a not very flattering light.

Several of her well known literary works include The Book of the City of Ladies (see the illustration above) and The Book of the Three Virtues. In modern times, these works helped her reputation as the original feminist.

Around 1415 or 1416 Christine retired to a convent. She is thought to have retired to the Abbey of Poissy, although not much is known of her life during this period. Her daughter had joined the convent as a very young girl, possibly as companion to a royal daughter (this would have been considered a privilege for the time). Unlike her daughter though she was not a nun, but one of the lay women who were part of the convent and housed in a separate section. Conditions in the outside world were very unstable (France was at war off and on with England during her entire life) at the time she entered Poissy. So, the protected walls of the convent must have been a welcome retreat. In addition, her remaining son had died (her other son had died while still a young boy).

It was at the convent where she wrote her final work in 1429. It was a poem about Joan of Arc called The Tale of Joan of Arc. In this work she had praise for a female military leader. Somewhat of an irony considering her own preference for peace. She must have been greatly saddened upon hearing of Joan of Arc's execution in 1431. It was only three years later that Christine herself died.

Decoration

This page is a good example of the decoration used in medieval manuscripts. One of the elements included here is the elaborate decorative borders. The outer border is a foliate decoration of blue and faded gold. Within the outer border there is a partial decorative bar border to further frame the text and the miniature. Between the two columns of text there is a ribbon-like multi-colored bar.

Another element is the decorated initial. There are two such initials on this page. It not only is visually pleasing, but it also provides a good text division in the manuscript. As is typical they are both larger than the letters that follow them. The initial in the first column is larger and more elaborate, it has a height equivalent to five lines of text. The second initial has a height of only two lines and is simpler in design. These rich details are what help to make this and many other medieval manuscripts such masterpieces. The figure in the illumination is Christine in her study. Authors of manuscripts were often thus included in their work.

Much of the decorative work in The Book of the Queen was probably done by another famous woman of the time period named Anastaise. She was a famous artist and known by Christine (see section on illumination). Given the importance of this commissioned work, Christine would have chosen the best talent available.

Ink

The use of a quill and a pot of ink was the method used by scribes in the Medieval era of Christine. The pot of ink was usually a horn. These were either set in metal hoops attached to the desk or set in holes at the right side of the desk. When two holes were used it was for the black ink and red ink.

During the period when this manuscript was written the ink would have been iron-gall ink. One of the main ingredients for this ink was the gallnut(formed from wasp nests). These gallnuts were rich in gallic and tannic acids. A second ingredient is ferrous sulphate or copperas. When mixed together this solution turns slowly from brown to black. A final ingredient is gum arabic (not for its adhesive qualities, but for thickening the ink). This last ingredient is a necessity when using quill pens. Some important attributes of iron-gall ink in the production of manuscripts includes: darkening when exposed to air, good absorption into the parchment (so it does not rub off like its predecessor carbon ink), and it is both more translucent and shiny than carbon ink.

Red ink was also used in The Book of the Queen manuscript. The red ink was produced by mixing mercuric sulfide, with the white of an egg and gum arabic or mixing brazilwood chips with vinegar and gum arabic.

Other pigments used in this time period were lapis lazuli (blue), vermilion red, verdigris and malachite green. Gold ink was used as well.

Script

According to the British Library (which is the current owner) the script used for the manuscript is Gothic Cursive. It was written in Middle French. This style of French began around the time of Christine de Pizan and continued until the early part of the 17th century. The photo above shows one of the pages of script. When carefully reviewing the entire manuscript it can be seen that there were several scribes involved in writing out the manuscript. Considering the state of manuscript production during this time period (scriptoriums), it is quite typical to find multiple individuals involved.

When viewing medieval manuscripts it is sometimes possible to see that the ink is concentrated on the lower portions of a letter. This is due to the writing surface used by medieval scribes. Writing desks of this era had a steep slope.

Binding

Its original binding has been replaced in The Book of the Queen. The current binding was done in-house by the British Library/British Museum in 1962 (paper leaves were inserted to protect some of the miniatures in the manuscript). No reference could be found about whether or not this replaced the original binding or a previous re-binding effort. In appearance, the binding is green leather embellished with gold tooling. It is not unusual that the original binding did not survive, as this is the case with most medieval manuscripts.

"Prepared in eight sections, it comprises 398 folios ruled in double columns, and contains thirty works: lyric poetry; narrative, moralising and devotional verse; prose works on education and on illustrious women"
(British Library, n.d.).

Size

The Book of the Queen measures 365 x 285 mm (or about 14.37" x 11.22"). Given the intricacy of the decoration and illuminations, the size certainly seems appropriate. Although it would be a bit large to be held in your hands while reading, so it would have been read or viewed while seated at a table. This would also provide easier viewing to appreciate the artwork.

Colophon

Some basic details about the printing and publication of a book are printed in the colophon (for medieval manuscripts this was usually on the last page, along with the explicit). These details included the date it was published, where it was published or printed, and the name of the printer or publisher. A change occurred around 1500. After this time the information began to appear on the title page instead. The Book of the Queen does not appear to have this information in the usual place on the last page even though it has an explicit (see photo under Explicit section). Since this was a presentation copy to the Queen the usual procedure might have been altered.

Explicit

In stark contrast to the incipit page of the manuscript the explicit page is very ordinary. The page has two columns of ordinary script (with the exception being the decorative initials, of slightly larger size than the remaining text). At the bottom of the column to the right can be seen the word explicit almost in the place of a signature. It seems to be used much as some modern books will have the words "the end" on the last page.

Incipit

Although this page is not as elaborate as the example in the Illuminated Manuscripts textbook (Brown,p 75, 1994), it still offers a nice example of an incipit initial. The page is an elegant beginning to The Book of the Queen. Some of the typical characteristics of an incipit page can be found, such as the first letter being much larger and more decorative than the following letters. The other script is not as pronounced as in some manuscripts and no display script is used. However, the border is very ornate and colorful, with a tapestry-like feel to it. Also, the miniature takes up half the page.

Title

The title of this manuscript is The Book of the Queen. It is so named because it was written for and presented to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. She was the wife of Charles VI of France. In addition to being queen she was a great patron of the arts, which greatly benefited Christine de Pizan. After reading a number of works by Christine she requested a manuscript of all her works (it does not include all of them, but it includes her most important works).

The picture to the left shows Christine presenting her manuscript to the queen. It is one of the miniatures in The Book of the Queen.

Author - Early Life

Christine de Pizan was born around 1365. Although she lived in France from a very young age, she was actually born in Venice, Italy. Her father was an Italian professor named Tommaso di Benvenuto da Pizzano (in France his name was changed to Thomas de Pizan). He was invited to become the court physician and astrologer (this was a common dual specialty in the Middle Ages) to Charles V of France. Thomas preceded his family to the royal court in Paris. His wife and daughter, Christine joined him when she was four years old. Their life at court was very happy as he was well compensated and favored by the king. Christine was even presented to the king at his ceremonial palace, The Louvre.

Her writings of life in the court provide a good view of French history in that time period. The only criticism is that she might have painted a more complimentary picture of Charles V than he deserved, due to her personal fondness of the monarch.

Context

The Book of the Queen is a highly unusual manuscript for the time period it was written, given that the author was a woman. Not only was she a woman, but she was a successful author in her lifetime. The time when this manuscript was written falls towards the end of the Middle Ages, but before the Renaissance period. It was not for many centuries before female authors were published, let alone able to support themselves with their writing. This illustration shows Christine presenting the manuscript to Queen Isabeaux of Bavaria.

"To ensure a collection fit for the Queen, Christine engaged artists of the highest quality. The decoration is lavish; the miniatures, the majority by the Master of the Cité des Dames, are complemented by numerous decorated initials, borders, rubrics and paragraph marks" (British Library).

This is one of the fifty manuscripts of Christine's works that were produced by her Paris scriptorium (basically a production center for manuscripts). These were completed between 1399-1418 and were commissioned by various patrons. Christine's professional and intellectual achievements were extraordinary for her time, as was her awareness of the constructedness of social categories of gender as it applied to her own case (Dinshaw & Wallace, p. 193, 2003).

Highly unusual for her time she believed that women were as capable of learning as men and should be entitled to equal access to education. One of her works in The Book of the Queen is The Book of the City of Ladies. In this book she is a strong advocate for women and provides positive portraits of historical figures.

This work was prompted by her anger at the portrayal of women in a well known poem from the Middle Ages entitled Roman de la Rose. The poem was comprised of 21,000 lines. It was considered a classic work for several hundred years. Also, it was a must to read for any educated person during Christine's time. Guillaume de Lorris was the original author, but after his death it was finished by Jean de Meun. He portrays women as deceivers out to snare men. Her initial attacks on the book were done through a series of poems. As she grew more confident as a writer she wrote the aforementioned book in defense of women.

Introduction

This manuscript, The Book of the Queen, is a collection of works by the author Christine de Pizan. It was presented to Queen Isabeau of Bavaria. She was the wife of Charles VI. He was the King of France from 1380-1422. His father, Charles V, was a popular king. However, the same could not be said of Charles VI. From an early age he suffered from bouts of madness (he probably suffered from schizophrenia). These continued throughout his life.

Due to her husband's condition the queen had a much more prominent role in government than would usually have been the case. Much controversy surrounds her reign (she was foreign born and a woman), but she was a large benefactor to the arts. This is of particular relevance given her patronage of Christine de Pizan and the remarkable manuscript that is a legacy for both the author and the queen herself.