1045 



FROIS8ART, JEAN. 



FRONTINUS, SEXTUS JULIUS. 



IMC 



III 1594 lie was sent with four men-of-war to the assistance of 

 Henry IV. of France, against a body of the leaguera and Spaniards, 

 then in possession of part of Brittany, who had fortified themselves 

 very strongly at Croyzon, near Brest. Here in an assault upon that 

 fort, on November 7th, he was wounded by a ball in the hip, of which 

 he died soon after he had brought the fleet safely back to Plymouth, 

 and was buried in that town. (Hakluyt's 'Collection of Voyages,' 

 voLiii., pp. 29, 32, 39; Stow's 'Annales,' edit. 1631, p. 109; 'Biogr. 

 Brit.,' vol. iii., p. 2044.) There is a good portrait of Sir Martin Frobisher 

 in the picture-gallery at Oxford ; and many of his letters and papers, 

 with others relating to him, are preserved in the Cottonian and Harleian 

 collections of manuscripts in the British Museum. The instructions 

 given to him for the voyage of 1577 are printed in tho ' Archxologia,' 

 vol. xviii., p. 287, from one of Sir Hans Sloane's manuscripts. His last 

 letter, reporting the taking of the fort of Croyzon, dated November 8th 

 1501, is preserved in the Cottonian Manuscript, Calig. E. ix. fol. 211. 

 A Latin translation of the account of liis voyage of 1577, under the 

 title of ' Hietoria XavigationU Martini Forbisseri,' by Job.. Tho. Freigius, 

 was published at Hamburg in 4to, 1675. 



FliOISSART, JEAN, was born at Valenciennes about 1337. He 

 was the son, as is conjectured from a passage in his poems, of Thomas 

 Froiasart, a herald-painter, no inconsiderable profession in the days 

 of chivalry. The youth of Froissart, from twelve years upwards, as 

 he himself informs us, was spent in every species of elegant indulgence. 

 In the midst of his dissipation however, he early discovered the ardent 

 and inquisitive spirit to which we owe so much; and even at the 

 age of twenty, at the command of his " dear lord and master, Sir 

 Robert of Namur, lord of Beaufort," he began to write the history of 

 tho French wars. The period from 1326 to 1356 was chiefly filled up 

 from the chronicles of Jean le Bel, canon of Liege, a confidant of John 

 of Hainault, and celebrated by Froissart for his diligence and accu- 

 racy. It is reasonable to believe that this work was interrupted 

 during a journey to England in the train of Philippa of Hainault, 

 the heroic wife of Edward III., and mother of the Black Prince. 

 Froisart wa? for three or four years secretary, or clerk of her chamber, 

 a situation which he would probably have retained but for a deep- 

 rooted passion for a lady of Flanders, which induced him to return to 

 that country ; a circumstance equally favourable to the history of 

 the Continent, and unfortunate for that of Britain. During his 

 residence in England he visited the Scottish mountains, which he 

 traversed oil a palfrey, carrying his own portmanteau, and attended 

 only by a greyhound. His character of historian aud poet introduced 

 him to the court of David II., and to the hardly less honourable 

 distinction of fifteen days abode at the castle of Dalkeith with William, 

 earl of Douglas, where he learned personally to know the race of 

 heroes whose deeds he has repeatedly celebrated. 



Froissart was in France at Melun-sur-Seine in April 1366; perhaps 

 private reasons might have induced him to take that road to Bordeaux, 

 where he was on All Saints' day of that year, when the Princess of 

 Wales was brought to bed of a son, who was afterwards Richard II. 

 The Prince of Wales setting out a few days afterwards for the war in 

 Spain against Henry tho Bastard, Froissart accompanied him to Dax, 

 where tlie prince resided some time. He had expected to attend him 

 during the continuance of this great expedition, but the prince would 

 not permit him to go farther ; and shortly after his arrival sent him 

 back to the queen his mother. Froissart could not have made any 

 long stay in England, since in the following year, 1368, he was at 

 different Italian courts. It was this same year that Lionel, duke of 

 Clarence, son of the king of England, espoused Jolaiid, daughter of 

 O alt as II., duke of Milau. Froissart, who probably was in his suite, 

 was present at the magnificent reception which Amadeus, count of 

 Savoy, surnamcd the Count Verd, gave him on his return : he describes 

 the feasts on this occasion, and does not forget to tell us that they 

 danced a virelay of his composition. From the court of Savoy he 

 returned to Milau, where tho same Count Amadeus gave him a good 

 cotardie, a sort of coat, with twenty florins of gold ; thence he 

 went to Bologna and Ferrara, whero he received forty ducats from 

 the King of Cyprus, and thence to Rome. Instead of the modest 

 equipage he travelled with into Scotland, he was now like a man of 

 importance, travelling on a handsome horse, attended by a hackney. 

 It was about this time that Froissart experienced a loss which nothing 

 could recompense the death of Queen Philippa, which took place iu 

 13C9. He composed a lay on this melancholy event, of which how- 

 ever he was not a witness ; for he says, in another place, that in 1395 

 it was twenty-seven years since he had seen Eugland. According to 

 Vossius and Bullart, he wrote the life of Queen, Philippa ; but this 

 assertion is not founded on any proofs. 



Independently of the employment of clerk of tho chamber to tlie 

 Queen of England, which Froissart had held, he had been also of the 

 household of Edward III., and even of that of John, king of France. 

 Having however lost his patroness, he did not return to England, but 

 went into hi own country, whero ho obtained the living of Lestines. 

 Of all that he performed during the time he exercised this ministry, 

 ho tells us nothing more than that the tavern-keepers of Leetines had 

 600 francs of his money in tho short space of time ha was their 

 rector. It is mentioned in a manuscript journal of the Bishop of 

 Chartres, chancellor to the Duke of Anjou, that, according to letters 

 sealed December 12, 1381, this prince caused to be seized fifty-six 



quires of the 'Chronicle' of Froissart, rector of the parish of 

 Lestines, which the historian had sent to be illuminated, and then to 

 be forwarded to the If ing of England, the enemy of France. Frois- 

 sart attached himself afterwards to Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, duko 

 of Brabant, perhaps in quality of secretary. This prince, who had a 

 taste for poetry, commissioned Froissart to make a collection of hia 

 songs, rondeaus, aud virelays ; and Froissart, adding some of hia own 

 pieces to those of the prince, formed a sort of romance, uuder the 

 title of 'Meliador; or, the Knight of the Sun;' but the duke did 

 not live to see the completion of the work, for he died in 1384. 



Immediately after this event, Froissart found another patron, in Guy 

 count do Blois, who made him clerk of his chapel, for which Froissart 

 testified his gratitude by a pastoral and epithalamium on a marriage 

 in the family. He passed the years 1385, 1386, and 1387 sometimes 

 in the Blaisois, sometimes in Touraine ; but tho Count de Blois having 

 engaged him to continue his history, which he had left unfinished, he 

 determined in 1388 to take advantage of the peace which was just con- 

 cluded to visit the court of Gaston Phcebus count de Foix, in order to 

 gain full information of whatever related to foreign countries and the 

 more distant provinces of the kingdom. His journey to Ortez, the 

 chief residence of the Count de Foix, in company with Sir Espaing 

 du Lyon, is one of the most interesting parts of Froissart's ' Chronicle." 

 The Count do Foix received and admitted him as a momber of his 

 household. Here Froissart used to entertain Gastou after supper by 

 reading to him the romance of ' Meliador,' which he had broxiglit with 

 him. After a long sojourn at the court of Ortez he returned to 

 Flanders by the route of Avignon. We learn from a poem referred 

 to by M. de St. Palaye, that on this occasion tho historian, always iu 

 quest of adventures, met a personal one with which he could havo 

 dispensed, being robbed of all the ready money which his travels had 

 left him. After a series of journeys into different countries for the 

 sake of obtaining information, we find him in 1390 in his own country, 

 solely occupied in the completion of his history, until 1393, when he 

 was again at Paris. About 1378 he obtaiued from Pope Clement VII. 

 the reversion of a cauonry at Lille, and in the collection of his poetry, 

 which was completed in 1393, and elsewhere, ho calls himself canon 

 of Lille ; but Pope Clement dying iu 1394, he gave up his expectations 

 of the reversion, and began, to qualify himself as canon and treasurer 

 of the collegiate church of Chimay, which he probably owed to tho 

 friendship of the Count de Blois. 



In 1395 Froissart revisited Eugland, whero he was received with 

 marks of high favour and affection by Richard II. and the royal 

 family. Here he went on collecting for his history, aud had the 

 honour to present his ' Meliador ' to the king, who was much delighted 

 with it, " for he could speak and read French very well." After a 

 residence of three mouths Froissart left England, aud at his departure 

 received from the king a silver goblet containing a hundred nobles. 

 He finally settled at his benefice of Chimay, and employed as usual 

 the hours of his leisure in arranging and detailing the information 

 collected in his travels. The melancholy fate of his benefactor, 

 Richard II., in 1399, became tho subject of hia latest labours. It is 

 uncertain how long Froissart survived the death of Richard and the 

 conclusion of his 'Chronicle;' he was then about sixty years old, aud 

 died shortly after at Chimay, according to an entry in the obitucry 

 of the chapter. 



The period of history embraced iu Froissart's ' Chronicle ' is from 

 1326 to 1400. The best of the old editions of the original is that of 

 Lyon, iu 4 vols. folio, 1559. One of the most valuable of the recent 

 editions is that in the ' Collection des Chroniques Nationales Fran- 

 caises, avec Notes et Eclaircissements, par J. A. Buchon,' in 15 vols. 

 8vo, Paris, 1824-26. Froissart's 'Chronicle' seems to have been first 

 printed at Paris by Ant. Verard, without date, 4 vols. folio, and was 

 reprinted by GuilL Eustace, Paris, 1514. There aro two English 

 translations; one by Bourchier lord Berners, made 'at the high com- 

 mandment' of king Henry VIII., fol., Lond., Pinsou, 1525-26; re- 

 printed in 2 vols. 4to, Lond., 1812, under the editorial care of E. V. 

 Utterson, Esq. ; the other, ' with additions from many celebrated 

 MSS.,' translated by Thomas Johnes, Esq., appeared 'from the Hafod 

 press,' in 4 vols. 4to, 1803-5. 



The principal particulars of Froissart's life havo been here condensed 

 from that by St. Palaye, translated and edited by Mr. Johnes, 8vo, 

 Loud., 1801, aud revised and republished in 4to, Hafod, 1810. 



There are several splendidly illuminated manuscripts of Froissart's 

 'Chronicle,' quite or nearly contemporary, preserved iu the British 

 Museum : one a complete copy, belonging to tho old royal library of tho 

 kings of England, 14 D. ii.-vi. ; another consisting of the second aud 

 fourth books in the saino collection, 18 E. i. and ii. ; a third in tho 

 Harleian Library, MSS. 4379 and 4380, containing the fourth book only ; 

 a fourth, an imperfect copy, is in the Aruudel collection, No. 97. 



FRONTINUS, SEXTUS JULIUS, boru of a patrician family, was 

 praator of Rome A.D. 70, and about five years later was sent by Ves- 

 pasian to Britain, where he seems to have remained three years, during 

 which he conquered the Silures. (Tacitus, ' Agricola,' 17.) About 

 A,D. 78 ho was succeeded by Agricola in the command of the troops 

 iu Britain. On his return to Rome he wrote, under the reign of 

 Domitian, his work, ' Strategcmatica,' in four books, in which he gives 

 short anecdotes of numerous Greek and Roman generals, illustrative 

 of the practice and resources of war. Nerva entrusted him with the 



