"Though Sad At Heart, Sing Joyfully"

Christine de Pizan, The Queen’s Manuscript, early 15th Century

Here is a little secret. Whenever I feel down, demoralised, there is a medieval painting that I like to look at. It is the image of an extraordinary woman of letters. The writer, poet, intellectual and one of the earliest women’s rights advocates, Christine de Pizan.

I like everything about …