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FROISSART, JEAN (1338-1410?)
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See also:FROISSART, See also:JEAN (1338-1410?) , See also:French chronicler and raconteur, historian of his own times. The See also:personal See also:history of Froissart, the circumstances of his See also:birth and See also:education, the incidents of his See also:life, must all be sought in his own verses and See also:chronicles. He possessed in his own lifetime no such fame as that which attended the steps of See also:Petrarch; when he died it did not occur to his successors that a See also:chapter might well be added to his See also:Chronicle setting forth what manner of See also:man he was who wrote it. The See also:village of Lestines, where he was cure, has See also:long forgotten that a See also:great writer ever lived there. They cannot point to any See also:house in See also:Valenciennes as the lodging in which he put together his notes and made history out of personal reminiscences. It is not certain when or where he died, or where he was buried. One See also: See also:Early in the 14th See also:century the See also:castle and
regarded and continued ever afterwards to regard a See also:prince gallant in the See also: And in this hopeless way, the See also:passion of the See also:young poet remaining the same, and the coldness of the lady being unaltered, the course of this passion ran on for some time. Nor was it until the day of Froissart's departure from his native town that she gave him an interview and spoke kindly to him, even promising, with tears in her eyes, that "Doulce Pensee" would assure him that she would have no joyous day until she should see him again.
He was eighteen years of See also:age; he had learned all that he wanted to learn; he possessed the See also:mechanical See also:art of See also:verse; he had read the slender stock of classical literature accessible; he longed to see the See also:world. He must already have acquired some distinction, because, on setting out for the See also:court of See also:England, he was able to take with him letters of recommendation from the See also: The See also:story, whatever it was, that Malebouche whispered in the See also:ear of the lady led to a See also:complete rupture. The damoiselle not only scornfully refused to speak to her lover or acknowledge him, but even seized him by the hair and pulled out a handful. Nor would she ever be reconciled to him again. Years afterwards, when Froissart writes the story of his one love passage, he shows that he still takes delight in the remembrance of her, loves to draw her portrait, and lingers with fondness over the thought of what she once was to him. Perhaps to get healed of his sorrow. Froissart began thosewanderings in which the best See also:part of his life was to be consumed. He first visited See also:Avignon, perhaps to ask for a See also:benefice, perhaps as the See also:bearer of a See also:message from the See also:bishop of Cambray to See also:pope or See also:cardinal. It was in the year 136o, and in the pontificate of See also:Innocent VI. From the papal See also:city he seems to have gone to See also:Paris, perhaps charged with a See also:diplomatic See also:mission. In 1361 he returned to England after an See also:absence of five years. He certainly interpreted his leave of absence in a liberal spirit, and it may have been with a view of averting the displeasure of his kind-hearted See also:protector that he brought with him as a See also:present a book of rhymed chronicles written by himself. He says that notwithstanding his youth, he took upon himself the task "a rimer et a dieter "—which can only mean to " turn into verse "—an See also:account of the See also:wars of his own time, which he carried over to England in a book " tout compile,"—complete to date,—and presented to his See also:noble mistress Philippa of Hainaut, who joy-fully and gently received it of him. Such a rhymed chronicle was no new thing. One See also:Colin had already turned the See also:battle of See also:Crecy into verse. The queen made young Froissart one of her secretaries, and he began to serve her with " See also:beaux ditties et traites amoureux."
Froissart would probably have been content to go on living at ease in this congenial See also:atmosphere of flattery, praise and caresses, pouring out his virelays and chansons according to demand with facile monotony, but for the instigation of Queen Philippa, who seems to have suggested to him the propriety of travelling in See also:order to get See also:information for more rhymed chronicles. It was at her charges that Froissart made his first serious See also:journey. He seems to have travelled a great part of the way alone, or accompanied only by his servants, for he was See also:fain to beguile the journey by composing an imaginary conversation in verse between his See also:horse and his See also:hound. This may be found among his published poems, but it does not repay perusal. In See also:Scotland he met with a favourable reception, not only from King See also:David but from See also: No newspaper correspondent, no See also:American interviewer, has ever equalled this See also:medieval See also:collector of intelligence. From Queen Philippa, who confided to him the See also:tender story of her youthful and lasting love for her, great See also:husband, down to the simplest knight—Froissart conversed with none beneath the See also:rank of gentlemen—all See also:united in telling this man what he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything: he liked the story of a battle from both sides and from many points of view; he wanted the details of every little See also:cavalry skirmish, every See also:capture of a castle, every gallant See also:action and brave See also:deed. And what was more remarkable, he forgot nothing. " I had," he says, " thanks to God, sense, memory, good remembrance of everything, and an See also:intellect clear and keen to seize upon the acts which I could learn." But as yet he had not begun to write in See also:prose. At the age of twenty-nine, in 1366, Froissart once more See also:left England. This time he repaired first to See also:Brussels, whither were gathered together a great concourse of minstrels from all parts, from the courts of the See also:kings of See also:Denmark, See also:Navarre and See also:Aragon, from those of the See also:dukes of See also:Lancaster, See also:Bavaria and See also:Brunswick. Hither came all who could " rimer et dieter." What distinction Froissart gained is not stated; but he received a See also:gift of See also:money, as appears from the accounts: " uni Fritsardo, dictori, qui est cum See also:regina Angliae, dicto See also:die, vi. mottones." After this See also:congress of versifiers, he made his way to See also:Brittany, where he heard from See also:eye-witnesses and knights who had actually fought there details of the battles of Cocherel and See also:Auray, the Great Day of the See also:Thirty and the heroism of Jeanne de See also:Montfort. See also:Windsor See also:Herald told him something about Auray, and a French knight, one See also:Antoine de See also:Beaujeu, gave him the details of Cocherel. From Brittany he went southwards to See also:Nantes, La Rochelle and See also:Bordeaux, where he arrived a few days before the visit of See also:Richard, afterwards second of that name. He accompanied the See also:Black Prince to Dax, and hoped to go on with him into See also:Spain, but was despatched to England on a mission. He next formed part of the expedition which escorted Lionel See also:duke of See also:Clarence to See also:Milan, to marry the daughter of Galeazzo See also:Visconti. See also:Chaucer was also one of the prince's See also:suite. At the See also:wedding banquet Petrarch was a See also:guest sitting among the princes. From Milan Froissart, accepting gratefully a cotte hardie with 20 florins of See also:gold, set out upon his travels in See also:Italy. At See also:Bologna, then in decadence, he met See also:Peter king of See also:Cyprus, from whose follower and See also:minister, Eustache de Conflans, he learned many interesting particulars of the king's exploits. He accompanied Peter as far as See also:Venice, where he left him after receiving a gift of 40 ducats. With them and his cotte hardie, still lined we may See also:hope with the 20 florins, Froissart betook himself to See also:Rome. The city was then at its lowest point: the churches were roofless; there was no pope; there were no pilgrims; there was no splendour; and yet, says Froissart sadly, " Ce furent jadis en Rome Li plus preu et li plus See also:sage homme, Car See also:par See also:sens tons See also:les arts passerent." It was at Rome that he learned of the See also:death of his friend King Peter of Cyprus, and, worse still, an irreparable loss to him, that of the good Queen Philippa, of whom he writes, in grateful remembrance " Propices li soit Diex a Fame! J'en suis bien tenus de pryer Et ses larghesces escuyer, Car elle me fist et crea." Philippa dead, Froissart looked around for a new See also:patron. Then he hastened back to his owrrcountry and presented himself, with a new book in French, to the duchess of See also:Brabant, from whom he received the sum of 16 francs, given in the accounts as paid uni Frissardo dictatori. The use of the word uni does not imply any meanness of position, but is simply an See also:equivalent to the See also:modern French sieur. Froissart may also have found a patron in See also:Yolande de See also:Bar, grandmother of King Rene of See also:Anjou. In any See also:case he received a substantial gift from some one in the shape of the benefice of Lestines, a village some three or four See also:miles from the town of Binche. Also, in addition to his cure, he got placed upon the duke of Brabant's See also:pension See also:list, and was entitled to a yearly See also: He had now, about the year 1374, an excellent reputation as a good See also:captain. In him Froissart, who hastened to resume acquaintance, found a new patron. More than that, it was this sire de Beaumont, in emulation of his grandfather, the patron of Jean le See also:Bel, who advised Froissart seriously to take in See also:hand the history of his own time. Froissart was then in his thirty-See also:sixth year. For twenty years he had been rhyming, for eighteen he had been making verses for queens and ladies. Yet during all this time he had been accumulating in his retentive See also:brain the materials for his future See also:work. He began by editing, so to speak, that is, by rewriting with additions, the work of Jean le Bel; Gui de Blois, among others, supplied him with additional information. His own notes, taken from information obtained in his travels, gave him more details, and when in 1374 Gui married See also:Marie de See also:Namur, Froissart found in the See also:bride's See also:father, See also:Robert de Namur, one who had himself largely shared in the events which he had to relate. He, for instance, is the authority for the story of the See also:siege of See also:Calais and the six burgesses. Provided with these materials, Froissart remained at Lestines, or at Beaumont, arranging and See also:writing his chronicles. During this period, too, he composed his Espinette amoureuse, and the Joli See also:Buisson de jonesce, and his romance of Meliador. He also became See also:chaplain to the count of Blois, and obtained a canonry of Chimay. After this See also:appointment we hear nothing more of Lestines, which he probably resigned.
In these quiet pursuits he passed twelve years, years of which we hear nothing, probably because there was nothing to tell. In 1386 his travels began again, when he accompanied Gui to his castle at Blois, in order to celebrate the See also:marriage of his son See also: He set himself to ascertain the history with as much accuracy as the comparison of various accounts by eye-witnesses and actors would allow. He stayed at See also:Ghent, among those ruined merchants and See also:mechanics, for whom, as one of the same class, he See also:felt a sympathy never extended to English or French, perhaps quite as unfortunate, and he devotes no fewer than 300 chapters to the Flemish troubles, an amount out of all proportion to the See also:comparative importance of the events. This portion of the chronicle was written at Valenciennes. During this See also:residence in his birthplace his verses were crowned at the " puys d'amour " of Valenciennes. and Tournay. This part of his work finished, he considered what to do next. There was small See also:chance of anything important happening in See also:Picardy or Hainault, and he determined on making a journey to the See also:south of France in order to learn something new. He was then fifty-one years of age, and being still, as he tells us, in his See also:prime, " of an age, strength, and limbs able to See also:bear fatigue," he set out as eager to see new places as when, 33 years before, he rode through Scotland and marvelled at the bravery of the Douglas. What he had, in addition to strength, good memory and good See also:spirits, was a manner singularly pleasing and great personal force of character. This he does not tell us, but it comes out abundantly in his writings; and, which he does tell us, he took a singular delight in his book. " The more I work at it," he says, " the better am I pleased with it." On this occasion he rode first to Blois; on the way he fell in with two knights who told him of the disasters of the English See also:army in Spain; one of them also informed him of the splendid hospitalities and generosity of Gaston See also:Phoebus, count of See also:Foix, on See also:hearing of which Froissart resolved to seek him out. He avoided the English provinces of See also:Poitou and See also:Guienne, and rode southwards through Berry, See also:Auvergne and See also:Languedoc. Arrived at Foix he discovered that the count was at See also:Orthez, whither he proceeded in See also:company with a knight named Espaing de See also:Lyon, who, Froissart found, had not only fought, but could describe. The account of those few days' ride with Espaing de Lyon is the most charming, the most graphic, and the most vivid chapter in the whole of Froissart. Every turn of the road brings with it the sight of a ruined castle, about which this knight of many memories has a See also:tale or a reminiscence. The whole country teems with fighting stories. Froissart never tires of listening nor the good knight of telling. " Sainte Marie! " cries Froissart in mere rapture. " How pleasant are your tales, and how much do they profit me while you relate them! And you shall not lose your trouble, for they shall all be set down in memory and remembrance in the history which I am writing." Arrived at length at Orthez, Froissart lost no time in presenting his See also:credentials to the count of Foix. Gaston Phoebus was at this time fifty-nine years of age. His wife, from whom he was separated, was that princess, See also:sister of See also: To such a prince such a visitor as Froissart would be in every way welcome. Mindful no doubt of those paid clerks who were always writing verses, F'roissart introduced himself as a chronicler. He could, of course, See also:rhyme, and in See also:proof he brought with him his romance of Malodor; but he did not present himself as a wandering poet. The count received him graciously, speedily discovered the good qualities of his guest, and often invited him to read his Meliador aloud in the evening, during which time, says Froissart, " nobody dared to say a word, because he wished me to be heard, such great delight did he take in listening." Very soon Froissart, from reader of a romance, became raconteur of the things he had seen and heard; the next step was that the count himself began to talk of affairs, so that the notebook was again in requisition. There was a good See also:deal, too, to be learned of people about the court. One knight recently returned from the See also:East told about the Genoese occupation of Famagosta; two more had been in the fray of Otterbourne; others had been in the See also:Spanish wars. Leaving Gaston at length, Froissart assisted at the wedding of the old duke of Berry with the youthful Jeanne de See also:Bourbon, and was present at the grand reception given to Isabeau of Bavaria by the Parisians. He then returned to Valenciennes, and sat down to write his See also:fourth book. A journey undertaken at this time is characteristic of the thorough and conscientious spirit in which he composed his work; it illustrates also his restless and curious spirit. While engaged in the events of the year 1385 he became aware that his notes taken at Orthez and elsewhere on the affairs of See also:Castile and See also:Portugal were wanting in completeness. He left Valenciennes and hastened to See also:Bruges, where, he felt certain, he should find some one who would helphim. There was, in fact, at this great commercial centre, a See also:colony of Portuguese. From them he learned that a certain Portuguese knight, Dom Juan Fernand See also:Pacheco, was at the moment in See also:Middelburg on the point of starting for Prussia. He instantly embarked at Sluys, reached Middelburg in time to catch this knight, introduced himself, and conversed with him uninterruptedly for the space of six days, getting his information on the promise of due See also:acknowledgment. During the next two years we learn little of his movements. He seems, however, to have had trouble with his seigneur Gui de Blois, and even to have resigned his chaplaincy. Froissart is tender with Gui's reputation, mindful of past favours and remembering how great a See also:lord he is. Yet the truth is clear that in his declining years the once gallant Gui de Blois became a See also:glutton and a drunkard, and allowed his affairs to fall into the greatest disorder. So much was he crippled with See also:debt that he was obliged to sell his castle and See also:county of Blois to the king of France. Froissart See also:lays all the blame on evil counsellors. " He was my lord and See also:master," he says simply, " an See also:honourable lord and of great reputation; but he trusted too easily in those who looked for neither his . welfare nor his honour." Although See also:canon of Chimay and perhaps cure of Lestines as well, it would seem as if Froissart was not able to live without a patron. He next calls Robert de Namur his seigneur, and dedicates to him, in a See also:general introduction, the whole of his chronicles. We then find him at See also:Abbeville, trying to learn all about the negotiations pending between Charles VI. and the English. He was unsuccessful, either because he could not get at those who knew what was going on, or because the secret was too well kept. He next made his last visit to England, where, after See also:forty years' absence, he naturally found no one who remembered him. Here he gave King Richard a copy of his " traites amoureux," and got favour at court. He stayed in England some months, seeking information on all points from his See also:friends See also: We would willingly place the date of his death, where his Chronicle stops, in the year 1400; but tradition assigns the date of 1410. What date more fitting than the See also:close of the century for one who has made that century illustrious for ever? Among his friends were Guillaume de Machault, Eustache Deschamps, the most vigorous poet of this age of decadence, and Cuvelier, a follower of See also:Bertrand du Guesclin. These alliances are certain. It is probable that he knew Chaucer, with whom Deschamps maintained a poetical See also:correspondence; there is nothing to show that he ever made the acquaintance of Christine de See also:Pisan. Froissart was more proud of his See also:poetry than his prose. Posterity has reversed this See also:opinion, and though a selection of his verse has been published, it would be difficult to find an admirer, or even a reader, of his poems. The selection published by See also:Buchon in 1829 consists of the Dit dou florin, See also:half of which is a description of the See also:power of money; the Debat dou cheval et dou leerier, written during his journey in Scotland; the medii aevi, i. (See also:Berlin, 1896). An abridgment was made in Latin by Dittie de la See also:flour de la Margherite; a Dittie d'amour called L'Orlose amoureus, in which he compares himself, the imaginary lover, with a See also:clock; the Espinette amoureuse, which contains a See also:sketch of his early life, freely and pleasantly See also:drawn, accompanied by rondeaux and virelays; the Buisson de jonesce, in which he returns to the recollections of his own youth; and various smaller pieces. The verses are monotonous; the thoughts are not without poetical See also:grace, but they are expressed at tedious length. It would be, however, absurd to expect in Froissart the vigour and verve possessed by none of his predecessors. The time was gone when Marie de France, Rutebceuf and Thihaut de See also:Champagne made the 13th-century See also:language a See also:medium for verse of which any literature might be proud. Briefly, Froissart's poetry, unless the unpublished portion be better than that before us, is monotonous and mechanical. The See also:chief merit it possesses is in simplicity of diction, This not infrequently produces a pleasing effect. As for the character of his Chronicle, little need be said. There has never been any difference of opinion on the distinctive merits of this great work. It presents a vivid and faithful See also:drawing of the things done in the 14th century. No more graphic account exists of any age. No historian has drawn so many and such faithful portraits. They are, it is true, portraits of men as they seemed to the writer, not of men as they were. Froissart was uncritical; he accepted princes by their See also:appearance. Who, for instance, would recognize in his portrait of Gaston Phoebus de Foix the cruel voluptuary, stained with the See also:blood of his own son, which we know him to have been? Froissart, again, had no sense of See also:historical responsibility; he was no See also:judge to inquire into motives and condemn actions; he was simply a chronicler. He has been accused by French authors of lacking patriotism. Yet it must be remembered that he was neither a Frenchman nor an Englishman, but a See also:Fleming. He has been accused of insensibility to suffering. Indignation against oppression was not, however, common in the 14th century; why demand of Froissart a quality which is rare enough even in our own time? Yet there are moments when, as in describing the See also:massacre of See also:Limoges, he speaks with tears in his See also:voice. Let him be judged by his own aims. " Before I commence this See also:hook," he says, " I pray the Saviour of all the world, who created every thing out of nothing, that He will also create and put in me sense and understanding of so much See also:worth, that this book, which I have begun, I may continue and persevere in, so that all those who shall read, see, and hear it may find in it delight and pleasance." To give delight and See also:pleasure, then, was his See also:sole See also:design. As regards his personal character, Froissart depicts it himself for us. Such as he was in youth, he tells us, so he remained in more advanced life; rejoicing mightily in dances and carols, in hearing minstrels and poems; inclined to love all those who love See also:dogs and See also:hawks; pricking up his ears at the uncorking of bottles,—" Car au voire prens grand plaisir "; pleased with good cheer, gorgeous apparel and joyous society, but no common-place reveller or greedy voluptuary,—everything in Froissart was ruled by the good manners which he set before all else; and always eager to listen to tales of war and battle. As we have said above, he shows, not only by his success at courts, but also by the whole See also:tone of his writings, that he possessed a singularly winning manner and strong personal character. He lived wholly in the present, and had no thought of the coming changes. Born when chivalrous ideas were most widely spread, but the spirit of See also:chivalry itself, as inculcated by the best writers, in its decadence, he is penetrated with the sense of knightly honour, and ascribes to all his heroes alike those qualities which only the ideal knight possessed. The first edition of Froissart's Chronicles was published in Paris. It bears no date; the next See also:editions are those of the years 1505, 1514, 1518 and 152o. The edition of Buchon, 1824, was a continuation of one commenced by See also:Dacier. The best modern editions are those of Kervyn de Lettenhove (Brussels, 1863–1877) and See also:Simeon Luce (Paris, '869–1888); for bibliography see See also:Potthast, Bibliotheca hist.
Belleforest, and published in 1672. An English See also:translation was made by Bouchier, Lord See also:Berners, and published in London, 1525. See the " Tudor See also:Translations " edition of Berners (Nutt, 1901), with introduction by W. P. See also:Ker; and the " Globe " edition, with introduction by G. C. See also:Macaulay. The translation by See also: For Froissart's poems see See also:Scheler's See also:text in K. de Lettenhove's complete edition; Meliador has been edited by Longnon for the Societe See also:des Anciens Textes (1895-1899). See also Madame See also:Darmesteter (See also:Duclaux), Froissart (1894). (W. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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