FOURTEENTHCENTURY:BEFOREandAFTER

From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, in particular from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth some events held significance for philosophy and guided cultural change: Columbus's discovery of a new world, Copernicus's new theories of the universe, Gutenberg's invention of the press, the Protestant Reformation, and such artistic achievements as those of Dante and Michelangelo. Change fostered both new opportunities for the education of women whose families could afford private tutors and an unfriendly attitude toward educated women. But such women as the French Christine de Pisan (1364-1429) in the Medieval fourteenth century and Marie le Jars de Goumay (1565-1645) in the Renaissance sixteenth century protested against this attitude. While the canon included no philosophy by women, women contributed to philosophy, nonetheless. The rationale for inveighing restrictions on women was that women's reason was weak, so to teach women rhetoric would be dangerous, for it would empower the weak-witted. In addition, for women to speak in public before an audience of men would put women's modesty in jeopardy. Most women scholars confined their scholarly activity to letters and written dialogues. Fifteenth century Isotta Nogarola who addressed students at the University of Padua was one of the exceptions. Laura Cereta listed Nogarola and Cassandra Fedele of her own day among those many who she recalls one after another had provided women with a little acknowledged scholarly heritage. Luisa Sigea of Spain and Portugal, a linguist and political philosopher, and Tullia d' Aragona of Italy wrote philosophical dialogues in the sixteenth century on ethics and on love respectively. Curiosity about the world led philosophers from a search to establish truth by proofs toward skeptical inquiry, and it guided Christian humanists toward classical humanism. Yet mysticism was also given rise. Legitimated in the works of Master Eckhardt, professor in Paris, it gave women a voice in the works of thirteenth and fourteenth century nuns and Beguines. The Beguines, an uncloistered religiously inspired woman's movement began about the year 1210 in Liege, Belgium. Generally the Beguines lived in community or in small cottages behind a wall. At times threatened as heretics, they were finally disbanded by the Reformation.' Beatrice of Nazareth (1200-68), a Cistercian, interpreted the

1 An interesting contrast to Christine de Pi san's allegories are those of the Beguine Marguerite Porete, who was burned at the stake.(1993, Marguerite Porete: The mirror ofsimple souls. Ellen L. Babinsky, tr. and Robert E. Lerner, New York: Pau1ist Press). For background note: Peter Dronke, 1984, Women writers of the middle ages. Cambridge UP; Ernest W. McDonell, 1954, The Beguines and Beghards in medieval culture, New Jersey: Rutgers UP. 74 Fourteenth Century mystical visions of her youth in Holland in contrast to most mystics by focusing on reason rather than on divine love. Mechtild of Magdeburg ( 121 0-97), a Beguine in Saxony before becoming a Benedictine at Gertrude's Helfta, manifested interest in the relation of sensation to cognition in her The Flowing Light of the Godhead. In this work she emphasized transcendence of self through "active seeking of the soul" in a joyous love between her and her creator, defined as a trinity of "power, wisdom and goodness"- a "flowing" love being the source of Mechtild's ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. 2 Hadewych of Antwerp, another early thirteenth century mystic, wrote Visions, and in the twentieth of her Letters, gave a systematic accounting of her mysticism. 3 Her poem "All Things Confine," a translation from the Dutch, a language she cultivated, describes her metaphysical outlook: All things/Have I grasped/ In everlasting time. I After the unshapenl Crowd me in!/ I am so wide! 4 Mysticism continued in the fourteenth century with Birgitta of Sweden ( 1302-73), who developed the earliest Mario logy, one that identified Mary as "Wisdom," as an active rather than passive force. Catherine of Siena (1347-80) developed her philosophy of love of God into a way of life. Anchorite Julian of Norwich's (1342) Book of Showings presented meditations on sixteen encounters in which Julian experienced God as her "Sovereign Teacher" who "wills us to know." One meditation asserts "As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother," reaffirming the feminine image of Anselm of Canterbury and Bernard of Clairvaux.5 Christine de Pisan, the representative woman philosopher of this period, initiated the vigorous debate, Querelles des Femmes, instigated by remarks about women in the Romance of the Rose, that began in the fourteenth century and continued until the Renaissance. 6 Born in Venice, Christine was raised in Paris at

2 Frances Beer, 89 (1992, Women and mystical experience in the middle ages. Woodbridge, England: Boydell, and Joan Gibson, 124 (Mechtild of Magdeburg, 1989, M.E.Waithe, ed., A history of women philosophers, vol. 3/500-1600, Dordrecht: Kluwer: 115-140). Note: Writing in Low German rather than Latin, Mechtild used the vernacular in advance of Dante and Chaucer.

3 Cornelia Wolfskeel, 155 (Hadewych of Antwerp, 1989, M.E.Waithe, ed. A history of women philosophers, v. 2/500-1600, Dordrecht: Kluwer: 141-165).

4 Marie Cosman, 89 (1989, A medieval woman's mirror, the treasury of the city of ladies. tr. C. C. Willard, New York: Persea). l Elizabeth N. Evasdaughter, 219 (1989, Julian of Norwich, M.E. Waithe. ed. A history of women philosophers, v. 2/500-1600, Dordrecht: Kluwer: 191-222.)

• De Pisan began the feminist debate of her century, the "quarrel of the Rose," in 1399 by refuting the debasement of women in the poem The Romance of the Rose in her Letter to the God ofLove. Because one of its authors, Jean de Meun, included the story of Heloise and Abelard (64 lines) to support an argument of the poem, Heloise's story was known to her. Fourteenth Century 75 the court of Charles V. Ironically her mother opposed education for her at a time when Dorothea Bucca and Baptista Malatesta held positions as philosophers at the University of Bologna. Her father, however, ensured Christine a limited education. This was fortunate and doubly ironic, for beginning at age twenty-five de Pisan became the first French woman to make a living by writing. With her husband's death, she was left to raise two children and support her mother and niece. While writing on such subjects as military arms, she managed to publish works on

Alluding to St. Augustine's City ofGod, de Pisan's Book of the City ofLadies fonnulates an feminist epistemology when three ladies: Reason, Rectitude and Justice, build a city for women. Maureen Quilligan notes the inventive means de Pisan employed to give women authority in this allegory, for example, having Reason correct misogynist arguments and her alertness in being the second person to mention Dante in France (1991. 7he allegory offemale authority: Christine de Pizan's Cite des dames. Ithaca, New York: Cornell UP). De Pisan's secular version A Medieval Woman's Mirror (Le livre de trois virtus) develops an ethics that confronts the social realities of women in responsible positions in their attempt to lead virtuous lives. In 7he treasury of the city of ladies by giving advice to women in authority, Jenny A. Redfern claims de Pisan legitimizes "women's words" and "affinns women's worthiness'' 74 (Christine de Pisan and 7he treasure of the city of ladies, 1995. Reclaiming rhetorica: Women in the rhetorical tradition. A.A. Lunsford, ed. University of Pittsburgh Press). Les Ensignments Moraux and Les Proverbs Moraux, ethical advice for her son, were translated and printed by Caxton. Her last work, a poetic tribute to Joan of Arc, was written in 1429 a year before Joan was burned at the stake. Engaging in the wider philosophical issues, de Pisan wrote broadly on John of Salisbury, Pythagoras, the Neo-Platonist's emphasis on cosmology, commented on Aristotle's Book I of the Metaphysics in her Christian vision, and drew on Seneca in 7he treasury and Boethius in her Le chemin de long etude. Other sources researched include: Christine de Pisan. 1977. Ditie de Jehanne D'Arc. A. J. Kennedy and K. Varty, eds., Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature. Dahlberg, C. 1971.The debate ofthe romance rose, Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP. Edwards, E. J. 1992 Reinterpreting Christine de Pis an. University of Georgia. Ferrante, J. M. 1975. Woman as image in medieval literature: From the tweljih century to Dante. New York: Columbia UP. Fields, R. J., ed. 1980. Lechevalierauxdames (1477).Paris: A.G. Nizet. Forham, K. L. 1992. Polycracy, obligation, and revolt: The body politic in John of Salisbury and Christine de Pizan: 33-52 (Margaret Brabant, ed. Politics. gender. and genre: 7he political thought of Christine de Pisan. Boulder: Westview). Green, K. 1994, Christine de Pisan and Thomas Hobbes, 7he Philosophical Quarterly (October):456- 75. McLeod, Glenda. 1991. 7he reception of Christine de Pisan from the Jifteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Edwin Mellen Press. McKeon, R.P. 1930. Selections from medieval philosophers. New York: Charles Scribner's. Robbins, H. W. and C.W. Dunn. 1962. 7he romance ofthe rose. New York: E.P. Dutton. Shennan, C.R. 1995. Imaging Aristotle: verbal and visual representation in the fourteenth century France. University of California Press: Berkeley. Warner, M. 1982. 7he Book ofthe city ofladies, tr. Earl Jeffrey Richards. New York: Persea. Willard, C. C. 1984. Christine de Pizan. her life and works. New York: Persea. ___ . 1994 7he Writings ofChristine de Pizan. New York: Persea. Yenal, E. 1982. Christine de Pisan. A bibliography ofwriting by her and about her. Scarecrow. 76 Fourteenth Century feminist philosophy, ethics, epistemology and politics utilizing profound rhetorical inventions. She bridged the private and public spheres in giving women advice on how to influence public affairs. French Helisenne de Crenne (1510-52?), praised "the graces that flow from conversing with Minerva" and although not a philosopher herself, encouraged women to read composing for them a history of muses and women of intellect from Aspasia to the Queen of Navarre. 7 Other women studied philosophy and contributed to the history of philosophy. The English Margaret Roper ( c 1506- 44) having studied philosophy with the encouragement of her father, Thomas More, translated Erasmus' treatise on the Pater Noster. Erasmus was also of interest to Teresa of Avila, Spain (1515-82), especially his exhortation that all Christians study the "philosophy of Christ."8 Three of her works Life, Way of Perfection, and Interior Castle describe her own method for studying the 'philosophy of Christ." Her inquiry into knowledge of God leads her to account for the roles of sensation and reason. 9 It was her reading of St. Augustine's Confessions, however, that transformed Teresa's life, and hence that of her disciple, the mystic St. John of the Cross. A contemporary of Marie de Goumay, Luisa Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera of Spain (1562) argued in her Nuevafilosofia de Ia naturaleza del hombre the close connection between the soul and the body and the consistency of the philosophy of human nature with what was known of human medicine. The English Francis Bacon ( 1561-1626)who interrogated nature for knowledge did not make that connection. On the other hand De Goumay's close friend and mentor Michel Montaigne ( 1533-92) in the scholastic and humanist traditions in Christian thought, interrogated inner motivation, emphasizing the psychological. 10 It was Montaignewho inspired de Goumay. But it was de Goumay, herself, who saw the connection between the empirical evidence of women's achievements from historical evidence and the reality that turned a blind eye. Articulating this insight, de Goumay carried forward de Pisan' s baton. While none of the above mentioned women's works found their way into the traditional canon, its reformers over the centuries influenced women's

7 Marianna M. Mustacci, tr. and P.J. Archambault. 1986. A Renaissance woman: Helisenne 's personal and invective letters. New York: Syracuse UP.

8 Alison Weber, 21 (1990, Teresa ofAvila and the rhetoric offemininity . Princeton, NJ : Princeton UP).

9 Mary Ellen Waithe, 266-67 (1989. A history of women philosophers .v. 2/500-1600, Dordrecht: Kluwer).

10 William Hazlett concluded that " Montaigne did not require women as capable of the same high order of fiiendship ... " so the idea that Marie de Goumay was a close associate of Montaigne's was a "mere poetic fiction, the offspring of wild enthusiasm." xiii (1851 The Works of Montaigne: Comprising his essays, letters and journey through Germany and Italy, Phi Ia. : J.W. Moore). Fourteenth Century 77 thinking. In the thirteenth century, DominicansAlbertus Magnus (1193-1280)and Thomas Aquinas (1225-74), perfected the scholastic method in their effort to prove the foundation of theology from a rational Aristotlelian basis; Franciscan Roger Bacon (1214-92), advanced experimental science with humanist vision, undertaking to prove that religion rests on Divine authority and science on reason; and Fransiscan Duns Scotus (1270-1308), separated religion from philosophy as secular theory. In the fourteenth century William of Occam (1300-49), Duns Scotus's student, bridged the medieval period to the modem by emphasizing empirical evidence over theoretical speculation. While the influences of scholasticism and empiricism in this philosophical tradition is apparent in the philosophy of women of these centuries and beyond, women philosophers in this time period also carried on reform. In addition, they did so with humanistic methods, that is, methods that included women. From their own history and their own experience, they saw women, not as inferior beings to men but as rational humans whose creativity of mind offered alternative philosophy as well as augmentation to mainstream philosophy. MARIE LE JARS DE GOURN A Y Chronology

1565 Born 6 October in Paris; Guillaume de Jars treasurer of the king. 1577 Father, now Seigneur de Gournay, dies. Marie becomes autodidact. 1580 At age fifteen returns to Gournay-sur-Arondeat Picardie. 1583- 84 At 18-19 years old discovers Montaigne'sessays (1580 edition). 1588 At 22-23 while visiting Paris meets Montaigne, 55 years old. 1590 Corresponds with Justus Lipsius. 1591 Mother, Jeanne de Hacqueville, dies (Marie de Goumay now 26). 1592 Montaigne dies. 1594 Publishes Le Proumenoir as Montaigne 's adopted daughter and dedicated to him. 1595 Remains sixteen months at Chateau de Montaigne with Montaigne's widow and daughter Eleanor. Edits Montaigne's Essais and writes preface to first of 11 editions. 1597 Travels to Brussels to see Anna van Schurman. Well received by Justice Lipsius. 1599 Republishes Le Proumenoir de Monsieur de Montaigne in 3rd edition. 1601 Publishes treatise on the education of children of France, dedicated to Louis XIII. Occasion of marriage of king Henry IV to Marie de Medici. Governess to Marthe's children upon her sister's death. 1606 Lips ius dies. 1608 Publishes Bien-Venue de Monseigneur le Due d 'Anjou, written for birth of Gaston d 'Orleans. Meets the King shortly before he is assassinated. 1610 Publishes Adieu de /'arne du roy de France et de Navarre, He nry /e Grand a Ia Royne, and A defense des Pere Iesuites. 1611 Sister Madeleine and an uncle die. 1612 Brother Augustin dies in battle. 1619 Publishes Version de quelques pieces de Virgile, Tacite et Saluste, /'Institution de Monseigneur,frer du Roy. Traicte sur Ia Poesie. 1620 Publishes Eschantillons de Virgile. 1622 Publishes L 'Egalite des hommes et des femmes. 1623 Montaigne's daughter dies. Publishes A linda, historie tragique. 1624 Publishes Le Prince de Corse ( 14 pp.) Remerciement au Roy for pension 1200 livres. 1626 Publishes l'Ombre de Ia Damoiselle de Gournay. 80 De Goumay Chronology

1628- 36 Meets with French Academy and with Precieuse at I 'hotel Ramboulliet ( 1630-48). 1639 Last sibling brother Charles died some time before this date. 1641 Publishes Les Advis augmented with Discours a Sophrosine, a Lettre liminaire; a treatise Des brocquarts et que/ fruit en tirent les brocardeurs; and her autobiography. 1645 Dies 13 or 14 July.

(Today Chateau de Goumay in Picardy is open to visitors)