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MEZIERES, PHILIPPE DE (c. 1327—1405)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 351 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MEZIERES, PHILIPPE DE (c. 1327—1405) , See also:French soldier and author, was See also:born at the See also:chateau of Mezieres in See also:Picardy. He belonged to the poorer See also:nobility, and first served under Lucchino See also:Visconti in See also:Lombardy, but within a See also:year he entered the service of See also:Andrew, See also:king of See also:Naples, who was assassinated in See also:September 1345. In the autumn of that year he set out for the See also:East in the French See also:army. After the See also:battle of See also:Smyrna in 1346 he was made a See also:knight, and when the French army was disbanded he made his way to See also:Jerusalem. He realized the See also:advantage which the discipline of the See also:Saracens gave them over the disorderly armies of the See also:West, and conceived the See also:idea of a new See also:order cf See also:knighthood, but his efforts proved fruitless. The first See also:sketch of the order was See also:drawn up by him in his Nova religio passions (1367—1368; revised and enlarged in 1386 and 1396). From Jerusalem he found his way in 1347 to See also:Cyprus to the See also:court of See also:Hugo IV., where he found a kindred enthusiast in the king's son, See also:Peter of See also:Lusignan, then See also:count of See also:Tripoli; but he soon See also:left Cyprus, and had resumed his career as a soldier of See also:fortune when the See also:accession of Peter to the See also:throne of Cyprus (Nov. 1358) and his recognition asking of Jerusalem induced Mezieres to return to the See also:island, probably in 136o, when he became See also:chancellor. He came under the See also:influence of the pious See also:legate Peter See also:Thomas (d. 1366), whose friend and biographer he was to be, and Thomas, who became See also:patriarch . of See also:Constantinople in 1364, was one of the See also:chief promoters of the crusade of 1365. In 1362 Peter of Cyprus, with the legate and Mezieres, visited the princes of western See also:Europe in quest of support for a new crusade, and when the king returned to the east he left Mezieres and Thomas to represent his See also:case at See also:Avignon and in the cities .of See also:northern See also:Italy.

They preached the crusade throughout See also:

Germany, and later Mezieres accompanied Peter to See also:Alexandria. After the See also:capture of this See also:city he received the See also:government of a third See also:part of it and a promise for the creation of his order, but the Crusaders, satisfied by the immense See also:booty, refused to continue the See also:campaign. In See also:June 1366 Mezieres was sent to See also:Venice, to Avignon and to the princes of western Europe, to obtain help against the Saracens, who now threatened the See also:kingdom of Cyprus. His efforts were in vain; even See also:Pope See also:Urban V. advised See also:peace with the See also:sultan. Mezieres remained for some See also:time at Avignon, seeking recruits for his order, and See also:writing his Vita S. Petri Thomasii (See also:Antwerp, 1659), which is invaluable for the See also:history of the Alexandrian expedition. The Prefacio and Epistola, which See also:form the first draft of his See also:work on the projected order of the See also:Passion, were written at this time. Mezieres returned to Cyprus in 1368, but was still at Venice when Peter was assassinated at See also:Nicosia at the beginning of 1369, and he remained there until 1372, when he went to the court of the new pope See also:Gregory XI. at Avignon. He occupied himself with trying to establish in the west of Europe the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin, the See also:office of which he translated from See also:Greek into Latin. In 1373 he was in See also:Paris, and he was thenceforward one of the trusted counsellors of See also:Charles V., although this king had refused to be dragged into a crusade. He was See also:tutor to his son, the future Charles VI., but after the See also:death of Charles V. he was compelled, with' the other counsellors of the See also:late king, to go into retirement. He lived thenceforward in the See also:convent of the See also:Celestines in Paris, but nevertheless continued to exert an influence on public affairs, and to his See also:close See also:alliance with See also:Louis of See also:Orleans may be put down the calumnies with which the Burgundian historians covered his name.

When Charles VI. freed himself from the domination of his uncles the See also:

power of Mezieres increased. To this See also:period of his See also:life belong most of his writings. Two devotional See also:treatises, the Contemplatio horae mortis and the Soliloquium peccatoris, belong to 1386-1387. In 1389 he wrote his Songe du vieil Merin, an elaborate allegorical voyage in which he described the customs of Europe and the near East, and advocated peace with See also:England and the pursuit of the Crusade. His Oratio tragedica, largely autobiographical, was written with similar aims. In 1395 he addressed to See also:Richard II. of England an Epistre pressing his See also:marriage with See also:Isabella of See also:France. The Crusade of 1396 inspired Mezieres with no See also:enthusiasm. The disaster of See also:Nicopolis on the 28th of September 1396 justified his fears and was the occasion of his last work, the Epistre lamentable et consolatoire, in which he put forward once more the principles of his order as a remedy against future disasters. Mezieres died in Paris on the 29th of May 1405. Some of his letters were printed in the Revue historique (vol. xlix.) ; the two epistres just mentioned in Kervyn de Lettenhove's edition of See also:Froissart's Chroniques (vols. xv. and xvi.). The Songe du vergier or Somnium viridarii, written about 1376, is sometimes attributed to him, but without definite proofs. See See also:Antoine Becquet, Galiicae coelestinorum congregationis monasteria, fundationes .

(1719); the See also:

Abbe See also:Jean See also:Lebeuf's Memoires in the Memoires of the See also:Academy of See also:Inscriptions, vols. xvi. and xvii. (1752 and 1753) ; J. Delaville le Roulx, La France en Orient au xiv. siecle (1886—189o) ; A. See also:Molinier, See also:Manuel de bibliographie historique vol. iv. (1904); and especially the researches of N. Jorga, published in the Bibliotheque de l'ecole See also:des hautes etudes vol. no (Paris 1896) ; and the same writer's Philippe de Mezieres, et la croisade au xiv. siecle (1896). Jorga gives a See also:list of his See also:works and of the See also:MSS. in which they are preserved, and analyses many of them. On the Songe du vergier, see P. Paris, in Memoires vol. xv. (1843) of the Academy of Inscriptions.

End of Article: MEZIERES, PHILIPPE DE (c. 1327—1405)

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