Middle Ages Primary Sources | Christine de Pisan and The Goodman of Paris

Excerpt from The Treasure of the City of Ladies

Published in 1985

Excerpt from The Goodman of Paris

Published in 1928

"And besides encouraging the others, the wife herself should be involved in the work to the extent that she knows all about it, so that she may know how to oversee his workers if her husband is absent, and to reprove them if they do not do well."

From The Treasure of the City of Ladies

"I have often wondered how I might find a simple general introduction to teach you…. [M]e-seems that … it can be accomplished in this way, namely in a general instruction that I will write for you."

From The Goodman of Paris

In the 1300s and 1400s, as Europe passed from the Middle Ages into the beginnings of the Renaissance (RIN-uh-sahnts), trade was increasing, cities were growing, and a new middle and working class...