474 CHRONICLES, HISTORIES, MEMOIRS. 



or destroyed their original works, in which the history of the deadly wars 

 between France and England, as well as of the civil wars and political 

 factions of the fourteenth century, was narrated in too indignant and sorrow- 

 ful terms. All that remains to us of these valuable Chronicles of the Kings 

 of France from Louis VIII. to Charles V. is the general History of the 

 reign of Charles VI., which gives us a very favourable idea of what the rest 

 must have been. Nor do we even know who were the authors of this History, 

 the last which was written in Latin. 



From the time of Charles VII. there was an official chronicler of France 

 amongst the monks of St. Denis, and the first who held this post was Jean 

 Chartier, younger brother of the royal poet, Alain Chartier. We owe to him 

 an excellent Chronicle of the reign of Charles VII., written in French, but too 

 much abridged ; and it is supposed that this was the last Chronicle compiled 

 under the supervision of the Chapter of St. Denis ; for Jean Castel, appointed 

 chronicler of France after Jean Chartier, was a monk of St. Martin des 

 Champs, and became Abbot of St. Maur des Fosses. At his death in 1482, 

 all his manuscripts were placed in a casket and transferred to St. Denis, but 

 Louis XI. ordered that the said manuscripts, which doubtless related to the 

 history of his reign, should be returned to his Seal Office. Jean d'Auton, 

 Abbot of Angle, succeeded Jean Castel as Chronicler-Royal in the reign of 

 Louis XII., while Jean Mace held that office under Francois I. The Valois 

 were not content with having one chronicler, and henceforward there were 

 three Histriographers of France in place of the chronicler of the King, 

 and this post, the salary of which was raised from 1,200 to 2,400 livres 

 (francs) in 1610, was held by Pierre Paschal, Bernard du Haillan, and Pierre 

 Mathieu. 



The " Chroniques de France " or " de Saint Denis," written in French, 

 stopped at the end of the reign of Charles VII. ; and this great historical 

 work long retained its renown, notwithstanding the fables which envelop the 

 cradle of the monarchy, and trace it back to Francus, son of Hector, who is 

 said to have settled in Gaul after the fall of Troy. The religious legends, the 

 lives of the saints, and the miracles which we find interspersed in the history 

 of the first two races, represent the spirit of the age in which these annals 

 were put together, and are not documents to be set on one side, though they 

 have very erroneously been looked upon as discrediting the simple and honest 

 compilation in which they are embodied. But it must nevertheless be allowed 



