Christine de Pizan was born in Venice and raised in Paris at the court of Charles V of France,Widowed at the age of twenty-five,she turned to writing as a source of comfort and income,and went on to produce a remarkalbe series of books,on subjects including poetry,chivalry warfare,religion and philosophy,She is considered to be France s fust female professional wiriter.This is the fust translation into modem English of Christine de Pizan s major political work ,The Book of the Body Politic.Written during the Hundred Years War, it discusses the education and behavior appropriate for princes,nobility and common people,so that all classes can understand their responsibilities towards society as a whole A product of a time of civil unrest,the Book of the Body Politic offers a medieval political theory of interdependence and social responsibility from the prespective of an educated woman.

KATE LANGDON FORHAN is Associate Professor of Political Science at Siena College.She is the author of a number of articles on the development of medieval politicakl thought and ,with Cary J.Nederman,of Medievakl Political Theory-A Reader:The Quest for the Body Politic,1100-1400（1993）.