ABSTRACT
In order better to understand the intellectual context in which Christine is situated, a brief discussion of the development of the mirror for princes and Christian political thought is important. Christine de Pizan's influence and competence as a political writer derive in part from her deep familiarity with the mirror for princes genre of didactic literature. The mirror is a magical invention and its reflective ability has given it great power as a metaphor in Western thought, and it evoked a complex series of images for the medieval reader. The Christian's responsibility in the world was to 'mirror' Christ and at one's highest development to be reflection of God even in most pedestrian of daily activities. A mirror provides model for comparison with examples of virtuous behavior. Developed for elite audience, the mirror for princes drew on richness of the mirror imagery, drawing both on Christian and classical sources for their exempla but also for very virtues they valued.
