 Women were excluded from most forms of higher education in the Middle Ages, but there were opportunities, none the less, for them to study and engage in certain forms of philosophy. Some of those described as “mystics” (such as Hildegard of Bingen, Margaret Porete, Mechthild of Magdeburg and others) engaged with philosophical  issues.[22]  And there was Christine de Pizan (1364–c. 1430), a married woman, educated by her father, astrologer to the King of France, who supported her family by writing French poetry when her husband died. Her writing, at first lyrical verse, became philosophical, with Boethius but also Aquinas as points of reference, informed by a strong consciousness both of the restrictions placed on women and of their capabilities (König-Pralong 2012).