ABSTRACT
The Renaissance Querelle des femmes evolved from a 'moral point of The participants in the debate were especially concerned with the notion of women's intrinsic inferiority to men. Moral equality or even excellence was claimed by those who spoke in favour of women, but their discourse moved within the particularistic and hierarchical assumptions of premodern thought. Generally, they took for granted the existence of a natural and historical gender difference. What they objected to was the denigration and negative evaluation of female difference by men and in the written record. Women's moral rights as women were the crucial issue in the early Querel!e literature: Christine de Pizan envisaged a 'city of virtuous ladies' , not an egalitarian meeting-place for both sexes.
