Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1431), known as the first professional female French author, was successful in becoming a professional writer because she understood the medieval manuscript business in Paris, she knew the aristocrats and royalty who might buy her works, and she knew how to market her work to her prospective patrons. As a young widowed mother in Paris, Christine built a career as an author not just to support her family but to build fame and espouse her views on the importance of education, moral conduct, personal responsibility, and women’s place in history. This study investigates the significance of the city of Paris in Christine’s career, the important events in her life, and the content of some of her diverse writings, such as The Letter of Othea, The Book of the City of Ladies, and The Book of the Body Politic, to show how she successfully marketed her work, earning her a unique position in history.
","abstract_html":"<p>Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1431), known as the first professional female French author, was successful in becoming a professional writer because she understood the medieval manuscript business in Paris, she knew the aristocrats and royalty who might buy her works, and she knew how to market her work to her prospective patrons. As a young widowed mother in Paris, Christine built a career as an author not just to support her family but to build fame and espouse her views on the importance of education, moral conduct, personal responsibility, and women’s place in history. This study investigates the significance of the city of Paris in Christine’s career, the important events in her life, and the content of some of her diverse writings, such as The Letter of Othea, The Book of the City of Ladies, and The Book of the Body Politic, to show how she successfully marketed her work, earning her a unique position in history.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sawyer, Cynthia J."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"Humanities","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Patricia Dougherty, OP, PhD","Leslie Ross, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2000,"date_issued":"2000-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2000-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:59Z","subjects":["Humanities","Arts and Humanities"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/222","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Patricia Dougherty, OP, PhD","Leslie Ross, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sawyer, Cynthia J."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Humanities"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Humanities","Arts and Humanities"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/222"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1431), known as the first professional female French author, was successful in becoming a professional writer because she understood the medieval manuscript business in Paris, she knew the aristocrats and royalty who might buy her works, and she knew how to market her work to her prospective patrons. As a young widowed mother in Paris, Christine built a career as an author not just to support her family but to build fame and espouse her views on the importance of education, moral conduct, personal responsibility, and women’s place in history. This study investigates the significance of the city of Paris in Christine’s career, the important events in her life, and the content of some of her diverse writings, such as The Letter of Othea, The Book of the City of Ladies, and The Book of the Body Politic, to show how she successfully marketed her work, earning her a unique position in history.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Paris and Patronage: Christine De Pizan and Her Writer's Market"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Patricia Dougherty, OP, PhD","Leslie Ross, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Sawyer, Cynthia J."],"dc:description.abstract":["Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1431), known as the first professional female French author, was successful in becoming a professional writer because she understood the medieval manuscript business in Paris, she knew the aristocrats and royalty who might buy her works, and she knew how to market her work to her prospective patrons. As a young widowed mother in Paris, Christine built a career as an author not just to support her family but to build fame and espouse her views on the importance of education, moral conduct, personal responsibility, and women’s place in history. This study investigates the significance of the city of Paris in Christine’s career, the important events in her life, and the content of some of her diverse writings, such as The Letter of Othea, The Book of the City of Ladies, and The Book of the Body Politic, to show how she successfully marketed her work, earning her a unique position in history.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/humanities-print-theses/222"],"dc:subject":["Humanities","Arts and Humanities"],"dc:title":["Paris and Patronage: Christine De Pizan and Her Writer's Market"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Humanities"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:59Z"}