Giovanni Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris

Giovanni Boccaccio composed his De mulieribus claris with the intent to present the first compendium of the lives of famous women from antiquity to the modern era. Boccaccio’s presentation of subjects takes as its criteria strength of character and reputation rather than virtue, and he hoped that the historical examples provided would either inspire or shame his readers to learn from those historical models. After the De mulieribus claris, volumes dedicated to the lives of women became a popular topic during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, most notably Christine de Pizan’s Livre de la citée des dames.