CHRONICLES, HISTORIES, MEMOIRS. 



Suetonius, and other Latin writers, undertaken by order of King Charles V. 

 There were six handsome copies of the " Chroniques de France ;" four or five 

 of Vincent de Beauvais' "Miroir Historial ;" eight Lives of St. Louis, com- 

 prising, doubtless, that written by Joinville ; various Histories and Chronicles 

 of events beyond the seas (" Chroniques d'Outre Mer," as they were called) ; five 

 or six Chronicles of the Popes and the Emperors ; a number of Lives of the 

 Fathers and of the Saints ; a few foreign Chronicles translated into French 

 (Fig. 366) ; narratives of battles and of war, &c. But in these inventories 



Fig. 368. Portrait of Froissart, after a Red Chalk Drawing pretcrved in the 

 Town Library, Arras. 



there is not a single work of history written in Latin. Most of the 

 manuscripts had been acquired at great expense by Charles V., who read 

 them or had them read to him, and who appended his autograph to each one. 

 They were seized or purchased in 1425 by the Duke of Bedford, who took 

 them to England, where they were either destroyed or dispersed, and the 

 library of the French kings in the Louvre had to be reformed. 



The fondness of Charles V. for the study of history did much to aid the 





