Wed, 02/10/2021 LAWRENCE – Proto-feminist French author Christine de Pizan’s book of advice for princes, the “Epistle d’Othea,” was the medieval European equivalent of a best-seller. Together with her other works, it made her the first Western woman to support herself solely by writing. First written circa 1400, the book continues to fascinate 21 Schieberle argues that while English author Scrope’s version is a more direct translation of the original text, the anonymous “little Bible” adapts the text to an English literary context, changing form and content to appeal to English trends. The base text for the “little Bible” also represents a far more popular version and thus deserves study. While composed as a “mirror for princes,” dispensing the wisdom of the ages from the mouth of Christine's wholly constructed narrator/goddess of wisdom, Othea, the book was popularized as a guide to chivalry as that word’s literal meaning – knighthood or nobility — was changing to include the notion of proper conduct for all.