First published in 1503 in Lyons, Symphorien Champier’s The Ship of Virtuous Ladies helped launch the French Renaissance version of the querelle des femmes, the debate over the nature and status of women. The three books included in this edition include arguments for gender equality, and a catalogue of virtuous women modeled on Boccaccio’s Famous Women and Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend. Titled “The Book of True Love,” book 4 is especially important in gender history, importing and transforming the male-centered Neoplatonic philosophy of Marsilio Ficino for pro-woman ends.
List of Illustrations xiii
Introduction 1
The Ship of Virtuous Ladies 27
Title Page 29
Double Rondeau about The Ship of Ladies 29
Prologue of the Author in French in Rhetorical Style on The Ship of Ladies 30
Genealogy of the Noble and Excellent House of Bourbon 35
Poems Summarizing the First Book, in the Form of a Polemic against Defaming Ladies 37
Book 1 of The Ship of Virtuous Ladies: Praise, Flowers, and Defense of Women 39
Book 2 of The Ship of Virtuous Ladies: Rules for Marriage 95
Book 3 of The Ship of Virtuous Ladies: The Prophecies and Oracles of the Sibyls 120
Book 4 of The Ship of Virtuous Ladies: The Book of True Love 121
Bibliography 137
Index 149