Christine de Pizan

8 minute lives · Jul 24, 2026 · 8m

Hi there, and welcome to 8 Minute Lives.In the summer of 1429, an old woman was living in a convent outside Paris. She'd been there for eleven years, sheltering from a civil war that had torn France apart, and in all that time she had published nothing. She was in her mid-sixties, which by medieval standards made her ancient, and her long, remarkable career seemed to be over.Then news arrived that a teenage peasant girl in armour had just led the French army to victory at Orléans. And the old woman picked up her pen one last time, and wrote one of the earliest poems ever composed about Joan…