Author: Peter Wright
Not
long
after
romantic
chivalry
was
invented
and
popularised
a
millennium
ago,
some
medieval
authors
began
to
make
jokes
about
the
outlandish
male
sycophancy
and
pedestalisation
of
women
that
the
new
tradition
entailed.
Christine
de
Pizan
(1364-1431),
a
woman
whom
French
feminists
characterise
as
the
“first
feminist,”
took
public
offense
the
attack
on
romantic
chivalry
and
on
female
purity,
which
she
considered
a
degradation
of
women’s
dignity
which
feminists
today
would
label
misogyny.
Christine’s
response
launched
a
movement
called
La
querelle
des
femmes
(the
quarrel
about
women’s
rights),
which
continues
today
under
the
name
‘feminism.’
The
basic
theme
of
the
centuries-long
quarrel
revolved,
and
continues
to
revolve,
around
advocacy
for
the
rights,
power
and
status
of
women,
and
thus
the
querelle
des
femmes
serves
as
the
originating
title
for
the
modern
feminist
movement.
Feminist
historian
Joan
Kelly
characterizes
this
early
history
of
feminism
as
follows:
We
generally
think
of
feminism,
and
certainly
of
feminist
theory,
as
taking
rise
in
the
nineteenth
and
twentieth
centuries.
Most
histories
of
the
Anglo-American
women’s
movement
acknowledge
feminist
“forerunners”
in
individual
figures
such
as
Anne
Hutchinson,
and
in
women
inspired
by
the
English
and
French
revolutions,
but
only
with
the
women’s
rights
conference
at
Seneca
Falls
in
1848
do
they
recognize
the
beginnings
of
a
continuously
developing
body
of
feminist
thought.Histories
of
French
feminism
claim
a
longer
past.
They
tend
to
identify
Christine
de
Pisan
(1364-1430?)
as
the
first
to
hold
modern
feminist
views
and
then
to
survey
other
early
figures
who
followed
her
in
expressing
pro-woman
ideas
up
until
the
time
of
the
French
Revolution…The
early
feminists
did
not
use
the
term
“feminist,”
of
course.
If
they
had
applied
any
name
to
themselves,
it
would
have
been
something
like
defenders
or
advocates
of
women,
but
it
is
fair
to
call
this
long
line
of
prowomen
writers
that
runs
from
Christine
de
Pisan
to
Mary
Wollstonecraft
by
the
name
we
use
for
their
nineteenth-
and
twentieth-century
descendants.
Latter-day
feminism,
for
all
its
additional
richness,
still
incorporates
the
basic
positions
the
feminists
of
the
querelle
were
the
first
to
take.1
When
we
consider
the
longevity
of
this
movement,
along
with
its
aim
to
increase
the
power
of
women
through
the
exploitation
of
gynocentric
chivalry,2
we
might
be
forgiven
for
believing
its
time
for
romantic
chivalry
and
the
associated
gender
wars
it
has
sparked
to
be
finally
put
to
rest.
A
short
summary:
References:
[1]
Kelly,
J.
(1982).
Early
feminist
theory
and
the”
querelle
des
femmes”,
1400-1789.
Signs:
Journal
of
Women
in
Culture
and
Society,
8(1),
4-28.
See
also:
Bock,
G.,
&
Zimmermann,
M.
(2002).
The
european
Querelle
des
femmes.
Donavín
G.,
Poster,
C.
Utz,
R.(coords)
Medieval
Forms
of
Argument
Disputation
and
Debate,
Or:
Wipf
and
Stock
Publishers,
127-156.
Original Story on AVFM
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