Christine de Pizan, Epistre que Othea la deesse envoya a Hector de Troye [Epistle of Othea the Goddess to Hector of Troy]

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.01: French Writing and Culture: Old French to the Middle Ages , 500-1400.
Vol. editors: Marianne Ailes (University of Bristol), Matthew Siôn Lampitt (University of Bristol), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1400 - 1410

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Letter(s)

Resources

In light of Christine de Pizan’s Epistre Othea from ca. 1400, it becomes immediately clear that the Middle Ages knew also very successful female women writers whom we would today even call bestseller authors. However, until the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, mass production of texts was not yet possible. Even so, this didactic prosimetrum (a combination of prose with verse) experienced enormous popularity -- at least in medieval terms -- and established Christine’s fame as an upcoming and influential author of great significance (1364–ca. 1430).

The Epistre has survived in forty-seven manuscripts, some with no illuminations, some with a handful of illuminations, and some that contain a total of one-hundred and one illuminations (cf. Christine de Pizan, 2009, 100 Bilder der Weisheit; and Cruse and Parussa, 2025). It was...

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1481 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Epistre que Othea la deesse envoya a Hector de Troye". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 March 2026 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34078, accessed 09 June 2026.]

Christine de Pizan, Epistre que Othea la deesse envoya a Hector de Troye [Epistle of Othea the Goddess to Hector of Troy]

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

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