Christine de Pizan

Born in Italy in September 1364, Christine moved to the French court and turned to writing after her husband died, taking commissions from Louis I of Orleans and the Burgundian dukes Philip the Bold and John the Fearless. She worked in prose and verse across genres - biography, political theory, philosophy, advice manuals - and her output stayed in print for over a century. The Book of the City of Ladies and The Treasure of the City of Ladies, both written under John the Fearless, became her signature works: defenses and guides framed around the lives and capacities of women, written inside the apparatus of royal patronage. She died around 1430.