ABSTRACT
Christine de Pizan's political thought paradoxically couples a progressive defence of women with what some have characterized as a regressive view of social class. This chapter explores her view of the political community. A general exploration of the idea of the community in the Middle Ages relies very heavily on examination of the dominant metaphors used to describe it. The images of the city and of the human body have been influential in part because they were linked to the foundations of Christian society, the city to the classical world and the body to the Christian Scriptures. The chapter provides a brief introduction to the history of each of these metaphors and Christine de Pizan's use of them, followed by a discussion of nationalism. The emphasis on virtue ethics and mutual obligation in Christine de Pizan's political thought is accompanied by a remarkable lack of interest in the institutional or structural elements of good politics.
