ABSTRACT

Critics have spoken of Christine de Pizan's Ditie de Jehanne d'Arc as everything from a hymn of thanksgiving to a justification of feminism. The historical narrative in the poem mentions the lifting of the siege of Orleans in May, the coronation on July 17, the progress of Joan and Charles toward Paris on July 23, and their arrival at the outskirts of Paris on July 29, only two days before the poem is dated. For Christine de Pizan to see the taking of Paris as a point of contention, her poem must have been written more than two days after July 29. Nor is this argument merely a textual exercise in the dating of a piece of literature. The poet's inclusion of the date has been read as an unproblematically historical gesture.