This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Walters, L. J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Christine de Pizan, France’s memorialist

Persona, performance, memory

Florida State University, lwalters{at}mailer.fsu.edu

This study deals with the ways that Christine de Pizan (c. 1365-1430) transformed her personal memories of King Charles V into an enduring form of national memory by allying her 1404 biography of Charles with official French history. To legitimize her role as royal biographer, Christine created a double-gendered persona evocative of Mary and Christ and Mary and David. Her persona allowed her (1) to ‘give birth’ metaphorically to the idea of a ‘wise king’ capable of guiding the nascent ‘nation’ of France mentioned in the official history, and (2) to unite symbolically the kingdom’s male and female subjects behind present and future monarchs. Pierre Nora, Mary Carruthers, Aleida Assmann and Susan Crane provide conceptual models that enable me to connect ideas of nationhood, memory and performance. I conclude that Christine became a link between individual and national memory, thus exemplifying Nora’s idea of the historian as living lieu de mémoire.

Key Words: memory • nationhood • Pierre Nora • performance • royal biography

Journal of European Studies, Vol. 35, No. 1, 029-45 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0047244105051157


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?