From the city of men to the city of ladies

Abstract

It is a question of establishing a parallel between three lectures of history (lectio historiae), generated within medieval Christianity, which result in different government proposals. The first is the De civitate Dei by Augustine of Hippo (5^th century), in which there is a clear opposition between the city of God and that of men. The second is that of Joachim of Fiore (12^th century), in which the prognosis of a new monastic order that will lead the third spiritual state stands out; and the third comes from The City of the Ladies by Christine of Pizan (14^th century), understood as the first project of government in the city by women.  As a result, we point out the latent or declared tension between the cyclical and the linear model, which goes from its total negation by Augustine to its incorporation by Joachim of Fiore; and, in some way, by Christine of Pizan. In addition, we test the hypothesis that the history itself continues to be treated by medieval Christianity from the Greco-Roman perspective: as a depository of examples worthy or not of memory, in which their location in time can or not matter.