A French poet of Italian birth (Venice 1364 - 1430) and champion of women everywhere, de Pisan took up writing to support her family after the early passing of her father and then her husband. In her most successful literary works, The Book of the City of Ladies and The Book of the Three Virtues, de Pisan first pointed out the importance of women in society and then encouraged women to cultivate "useful qualities" to counteract the growth of misogyny.
