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The Medieval Church · 1405
The Book of the City of Ladies
Christine de Pizan · c. 1364–c. 1430
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What it is
Reason, Rectitude, and Justice help the author build a walled city peopled by virtuous women from scripture, history, and legend, in answer to misogynist authorities.
Why it lasted
The first sustained defence of women written by a woman in European letters, and an argument conducted largely on Christian ground.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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