CHRONICLES, HISTORIES, Ml'.MOlRS. 475 



that, for the fourteenth and part of the fifteenth century, the " Chroniques de 

 St. Denis," notwithstanding the moderation and precision with which they were 

 compiled, are not equal to the Chronicles of Froissart, or even of Monstrelet. 



Jean Froissart (Fig. 368) is certainly one of the most attractive of 

 historians; he is more the chronicler of the chevaliers than the historian 

 of the fourteenth century. Bom at Valenciennes about 1337, the son of 

 ;i painter of armorial bearings, and himself no doubt an heraldic writer, he 

 as a youth attached himself to the Church, and notwithstanding his position 

 as clerk, soon took to travelling about Europe. He was also a poet and a 

 musician, and this gained him admittance to the houses of the nobles, and 

 afterwards to all the courts of Europe. He began by rewriting after his own 



co 

 mm' \' fempift ct ijmi KM- fmC ton 



tojfwnuwit tefyutf} dwfc/iirtflfe fa 



Fig. 366. Fragment of the " Genealogy o;' the Kings of France and of England." Manuscript of 

 the Fifteenth Century. In the National Library, Paris. 



fancy the dull and involved Chronicle of Jean Lebel, Canon of Lige, but, 

 being dissatisfied with his first version, he put it into another shape, and 

 throughout his life perfected it and added to it what he had learned in the 

 course of his travels. As he himself says, " Wherever I went, I questioned 

 the aged chevaliers and esquires who had been engaged in the wars, and who 

 could tell me all about them, and also the ancient heralds, in order to verify 

 and control what I had heard. Thus did I compose the high and noble 

 history." His history is a vivid, animated, and picturesque Chronicle, and 

 the only fault to be found with it is that it contains a few repetitions and 

 mistakes. Froissart is very happy in the variety of tone which he has given 

 to this picture, in which are portrayed festivals of the court, gatherings of 



