The Book of the City of Ladies or Le Livre de la Cité des Dames (published in 1405), is perhaps Christine de Pizan's most famous literary work. Pizan originally wrote Le Livre de la Cité des Dames in Middle French but it was later translated into English (1999). The book serves as her formal response to Jean de Meun's popular "Roman de la Rose". Pizan combats Meun's statements about women by creating an allegorical city of ladies. She defends women by collecting a wide array of famous women throughout history. These women are "housed" in the City of Ladies, which is an imaginary city from the book. As Pizan builds her city, she uses each famous woman as a building block for the walls and houses of the city. Each woman added to the city adds to Pizan's argument towards women as valued participants in society. She also advocates in favour of education for woman.