How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
And let us suppose that all sons were good, nevertheless one usually sees the daughters keep their fathers and mothers company more often than the sons, and the daughters visit them more, comfort them more, and take care of them in sickness and old age more frequently. (1.7.1)
For Christine de Pizan, women are probably even more loyal than men in the long run. After all, it always tends to be women who spend a lot of time with their parents once the parents get old. The dudes just run off to start their own lives and never look back.
Quote #2
For this reason, in order to escape and avoid such inconveniences, many authorities have advised wise men not to marry, affirming that no women—or very few—are loyal to their mates. (2.3.1)
Some people in Christine de Pizan's time warned men against marrying because they thought women could never be loyal within the bonds of marriage. This is crazy dumb. It's also probably hypocritical; tons of men in de Pizan's time had mistresses and frequented brothels.
Quote #3
She was quite ugly, for she had an extra row of teeth—a monstrosity—but she was so well loved by her father that she never left his side, whether in prosperity or in misfortune. (2.8.1)
The woman in this story has freaky shark teeth, but she's more loyal than any man you'll ever find. She even sticks with her dad when the guy's whole life goes to ruins.
Quote #4
But, after having secretly guarded her father for some time, she became frightened that in the end he could be discovered by some jealous subject and so took him out at night and safely sent him off by sea with a great deal of wealth. (2.9.1)
Some daughters are so loyal that they're willing their fortune (and even their lives) to take care of the people closest to them. In this story, a girl helps sneak her father out of a city because she knows that there's a plot to kill him. She knows she'd be brutally tortured if she ever got caught. But hey—that's loyalty.
Quote #5
[And] then they saw that the unhappy daughter, who had recently had a child, would give her teat to her mother until the mother had taken all the milk from her breasts. (2.11.1)
This story tells us about a young woman who kept her mother from dying in prison by breastfeeding her. Yeah, it's pretty strange. But what else can you do when you've got guards patting you down for food each time you go into the jail?
Quote #6
But let me hasten to assure you that not all marriages are conducted with such spite, for there are those who live together in great peacefulness, love, and loyalty, because the partners are virtuous, considerate, and reasonable. (2.13.1)
Christine de Pizan doesn't want people to despair over the things that men have said against marriage and women's loyalty. As she's quick to show us, there are many examples we can find of marriages where men and women are totally devoted to one another.
Quote #7
How many good women there are who are so conscientious in caring for their husbands, healthy or sick, with a loyal love as though their husbands were gods! (2.13.2)
Once again, Christine de Pizan argues that many (or even most) women tend to treat their husbands as though they were gods. This claim would have pleased a lot of de Pizan's male readers, who weren't interested at all in having an equal partnership with a woman.
Quote #8
Artemisia's loyal love for her faithful spouse thus was clear both in her acts and in this token, a love which lasted as long as she lived. (2.16.1)
The story of Artemisia shows us that women are capable of being loyal to a man for their entire lives. In fact, Artemisia was so loyal that she never loved another man even after her husband had died. She spent the rest of her life alone just out of loyalty.
Quote #9
I have seen similar women who, although they knew that their husbands bore them little loyalty, nevertheless did not stop loving them and being well-disposed toward them. (2.20.2)
Even women who know their husbands cheat on them tend to stay loyal their entire lives. And if you don't believe us, Christine de Pizan has plenty of examples to throw your way.
Quote #10
[Hero] saw her lover's dead body floating on top of the waves and, having no desire to live on after him, she threw herself into the sea. (2.58.1)
Some women in de Pizan's book are so loyal that they kill themselves when their husbands die because they don't want to live without them. If there's a more drastic way of showing loyalty, we don't know what it is.