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The Book of the City of Ladies - Quiz
Contributed by: Ashworth
  • 1. Who is the author of The Book of the City of Ladies?
A) Christine de Pizan
B) Jean de Meun
C) Princess Margaret of Burgundy
D) Matheolus
  • 2. By what year is The Book of the City of Ladies believed to have been finished?
A) 1405
B) 1305
C) 1450
D) 1500
  • 3. What language did Christine de Pizan use to compose the book?
A) Vernacular French
B) Italian
C) English
D) Latin
  • 4. What style of syntax and conventions does Pizan often use within her French prose?
A) Celtic-style
B) Germanic-style
C) Greek-style
D) Latin-style
  • 5. Which work serves as Pizan's formal response to Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose?
A) Ditie de Jehanne D'Arc
B) Matheolus's Lamentations
C) The Treasure of the City of Ladies
D) The Book of the City of Ladies
  • 6. How does Pizan combat Meun's statements about women?
A) By translating Latin plays
B) By ignoring all male writers
C) By writing a military treatise
D) By creating an allegorical city of ladies
  • 7. How does Pizan defend women in her book?
A) By collecting a wide array of famous women throughout history
B) By arguing that women are physically stronger than men
C) By proving women invented writing
D) By claiming women ruled ancient empires alone
  • 8. What do the famous women act as in the City of Ladies?
A) Building blocks for the walls, houses, and her thesis
B) Slaves performing manual labor
C) Architects designing the layout
D) Guards protecting the city gates
  • 9. What else does Pizan advocate in favour of?
A) Education for women
B) Universal male suffrage
C) The abolition of marriage
D) Monastic life for all citizens
  • 10. What is another name for The Treasure of the City of Ladies?
A) The Book of Matheolus
B) The Book of the Three Virtues
C) The Roman de la Rose
D) Ditie de Jehanne D'Arc
  • 11. To whom is The Treasure of the City of Ladies dedicated?
A) Princess Margaret of Burgundy
B) Matheolus
C) Joan of Arc
D) Jean de Meun
  • 12. What is the nature of The Treasure of the City of Ladies?
A) A historical biography
B) A fictional romance
C) A manual of education
D) A book of poetry
  • 13. What advice does The Treasure give to a woman who has a husband if she wants praise?
A) She will travel the world independently
B) She will be cheerful to him all the time
C) She will manage all the finances alone
D) She will never speak to him
  • 14. Which of the following is NOT one of Pizan's two best-known works alongside her Book and Treasure?
A) Ditie de Jehanne D'Arc
B) The Treasure of the City of Ladies
C) Matheolus's Lamentations
D) The Book of the City of Ladies
  • 15. What is Ditie de Jehanne D'Arc?
A) An educational manual
B) A poem
C) A prose novel
D) A religious play
  • 16. What century does Matheolus's Lamentations belong to?
A) Thirteenth century
B) Fifteenth century
C) Twelfth century
D) Fourteenth century
  • 17. What does Matheolus's work argue about marriage and women?
A) That marriage is unnecessary
B) That marriage brings eternal joy
C) That women should rule households
D) That women make men's lives miserable
  • 18. How does Christine feel after reading Matheolus's work?
A) Angry and ready to fight men
B) Indifferent and amused
C) Upset and ashamed to be a woman
D) Inspired and empowered
  • 19. Who appears to Christine after she reads Matheolus?
A) Three famous queens
B) The three Virtues
C) Jean de Meun and Matheolus
D) Her parents
  • 20. What do the three ladies tell Christine?
A) How to escape from society
B) What her role will be in helping her build the City of Ladies
C) How to write a poem about Joan of Arc
D) Where to find hidden treasure
  • 21. Which virtue is the first to join Christine?
A) Lady Reason
B) Lady Wisdom
C) Lady Mercy
D) Lady Justice
  • 22. What does Lady Reason help Christine build?
A) The external walls of the city
B) The roof of the palace
C) The interior library
D) The grand gates
  • 23. What questions does Lady Reason answer for Christine?
A) How to write vernacular prose
B) How to manage household finances
C) Why books are written in Latin
D) Why some men slander women
  • 24. What does Lady Reason tell Christine to take and dig deep with?
A) An iron pickaxe
B) A golden shovel
C) The spade of her intelligence
D) A wooden stick
  • 25. What did Christine believe in the beginning of the text about women?
A) That women were unfairly targeted
B) That women should rule nations
C) That women were superior to men
D) That women must truly be bad
  • 26. Why did Christine initially accept unfavorable opinions of women in moral works?
A) Because she wanted to marry Matheolus
B) Because her teachers forced her to read them
C) Because so many learned men wrote them
D) Because she hated her own gender
  • 27. What did Christine fail to use to discover the merits of women?
A) Violence
B) Wealth
C) Magic
D) Reason
  • 28. What does Lady Reason teach Christine to dispel?
A) Her own self-consciousness and negative thoughts of past writers
B) Her fear of physical labor
C) Her desire to marry
D) Her inability to write in Latin
  • 29. Besides her allegorical self, who else does Christine teach by creating Lady Reason?
A) Matheolus
B) Her readers
C) Jean de Meun
D) Princess Margaret
  • 30. What does Christine give readers and women reason to believe?
A) That women should govern kingdoms
B) That books are always truthful
C) That marriage is obsolete
D) That women are not evil or useless creatures
  • 31. Which part of The Book of the City of Ladies discusses 36 women?
A) Part II
B) Part I
C) Part III
D) Part IV
  • 32. Which gift is NOT specifically mentioned as being possessed by the ladies in Part II?
A) Great physical strength
B) The gift of prophecy
C) Chastity
D) Devotion to their families and others
  • 33. Besides building the city, what institution do Christine and Lady Rectitude discuss in Part II?
A) Monasticism
B) Education
C) Knighthood
D) Marriage
  • 34. How many women are discussed in Part II of the Book of the City of Ladies according to the text?
A) 124
B) 50
C) 92
D) 37
  • 35. Who is brought in to rule the city of ladies in Part III?
A) A queen
B) Lady Justice
C) The Virgin Mary
D) Christine
  • 36. Whom does Christine name as the queen that women should follow and protect the city for?
A) Rhea Ilia
B) The Virgin Mary
C) Lady Justice
D) Ghismonda
  • 37. How many women are discussed in Part III of the Book of the City of Ladies?
A) 37
B) 92
C) 12
D) 129
  • 38. Who was Christine's main source for information in writing her book?
A) Jean de Vignay
B) Giovanni Boccaccio
C) Vincent of Beauvais
D) Margaret King
  • 39. What is the French title of Boccaccio's work on famous women that Christine may have used?
A) Miroir historial
B) De mulieribus claris
C) Speculum Maius
D) Des Cleres et Nobles Femmes
  • 40. Which work by Boccaccio is cited in the latter stages of The City of Ladies?
A) Decameron
B) Des Cleres et Nobles Femmes
C) Speculum Maius
D) De mulieribus claris
  • 41. Does Boccaccio explicitly state that women should have a formal education?
A) No
B) Only in political matters
C) Yes
D) Only in religious matters
  • 42. According to scholars Margaret King and Albert Rabil, what was Boccaccio's outlook?
A) Progressive
B) Neutral
C) Feminist
D) Misogynist
  • 43. How were women who were active in the public realm depicted in Boccaccio's text, according to King and Rabil?
A) Ruling as queens
B) Being praised for martyrdom
C) Becoming great scholars
D) Suffering terrible punishments
  • 44. In what year was Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial produced or referenced as dating from?
A) 1333
B) 1300
C) 1400
D) 1240
  • 45. Which Virtue is NOT mentioned as one of the three sent to aid Christine?
A) Rectitude
B) Reason
C) Justice
D) Wisdom
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