Introduction

Summary

Martin Le Franc’s confident prediction in Le Champion des dames (Deschaux in 1361, V, p. 178) that Christine de Pizan’s name would endure for ever (‘dame Cristine / De laquelle a trompe et a cor / Le nom par tout va et ne fine’) has been borne out in the current extraordinary vogue of interest in her life and works. A few statistics will make this clear. The Bibliographical Guide published in 1984 (Kennedy, 505) contained 502 items and covered the period from Christine’s lifetime till approximately 1981; the First Supplement (Kennedy, 899), covering one decade (1981–1991), contained 391 items; the Second Supplement, covering approximately one decade (1991–2002), contains no fewer than 1255 items (these statistics must be seen as eloquent, even allowing for the fact that successive volumes of the bibliography have tried to repair previous omissions). Bibliographers confronted with the task of organising the sheer mass of this material into coherent form find themselves in a position somewhat similar to that of Baudelaire’s artist in Le Confiteor de l’artiste, i.e., locked in a duel ‘où l’artiste crie de frayeur avant d’être vaincu’. The publication of the present volume is proof, I hope, that defeat has not been total. Perhaps future bibliographical work on CP would be best served by a team effort, which could more easily address the increasing number of items to be covered and the diversity of languages in which CP scholarship is now published.

The decade to be covered here has seen a number of real achievements in the field of CP studies: all of her works are now available except for the Livre de prudence/Prod’hommie and the Heures de contemplation (and editions of both are being prepared); much original work has been done on CP’s manuscripts; a large number of collected works has been published, devoted entirely to CP: for these see Chapter IV (b); there has been welcome diversification in the coverage of her works: while the Cité des dames still inevitably attracts most attention, there has been increased coverage of her other works as well; CP’s family background has been and continues to be thoroughly researched; and several works have appeared on CP’s language (e.g. the Lexique, 1337).