More on Findlen's view of feminism

Macchiavelli aggressively made up [biographies of] medieval women and supplied the evidence that was missing for them." Presented as facts, these fables forged the medieval origins of Bologna's female intelligentsia.

While people later recognized that Macchiavelli was a forger, he brought critical attention to women's lives. In a sense, He also contributed to the beginnings of the discipline of medieval history. When he forged a document, he did so based on extensive knowledge of the archives and a fine understanding of historical method. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, people began to identify and select the documents that matter for defining the Middle Ages.

Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Findlen said, representations of medieval women enhanced a city's reputation. Scholars in Bologna wanted to learn about its presumed tradition of learned women. They craved information about medieval women who could provide historical precedents for someone like Laura Bassi, the first woman who can be documented as receiving a degree and professorship from the University of Bologna in 1732. Having precedents made her seem like a reinvention of the old rather than someone threateningly new.

Findlen first turned to Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430), the daughter of a University of Bologna graduate and professor. She is perhaps best known for her writings praising women. In her Book of the City of Ladies (1405), a catalog of illustrious women, Christine contemplated her Italian roots. This longing for her past inspired Christine to imagine "what the ingredients were of this world that made her, and other women like her," Findlen said. Although inspired by some kernels of truth, Christine's writings invented evidence to fill out her narratives, Findlen said. In this way, Christine provides a starting point for Bologna's interest in women's history that will unfold over the next four centuries.

Findlen's project rethinks our compulsion to write about the past. "Some of the stuff we take for granted is legend, not fact," she said, "but the unreliability of the past is also part of the evidence that we have to account for." 

Envisioning the wider impact of her work, Findlen said: "I would like this project to offer a window into the invention of history, taking Italy as a case study, to understand why people were so passionate about the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance, people are increasingly concerned with documenting the history that was.They're interested in the history that might have been. And then they're also interested in the history that should have been. And those are three different approaches to history."