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Jean Froissart (~1337 - ~1405) was one of the most important of the chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of fourteenth-century England and France. His history is also one of the most important sources for the first half of the Hundred Years' War.
Froissart originated from Valenciennes, and became a court poet and a kind of official historian to Philippa of Hainault, queen consort of Edward III of England. His memoirs of his time in her service, between 1361 and 1369, were later put together with reports of other events he had witnessed, in his Chroniques ("Chronicles") of 1373. He took a serious approach to his work:
- Je suis de nouveau entré dans ma forge pour travailler et forger en la noble matière du temps passé
- ("Again I entered my smithy to work and forge in the noble manner of times past")
After the publication of this first book, he enjoyed the patronage of the Duke of Brabant and various others, and received sufficient rewards to finance further foreign travels, which provided additional material. The date and circumstances of his death are unknown.
External links and references
- Jean Froissart, Chronicles, Penguin Classics, 1978 ISBN 0140442006 (at close to 500 pages even this is only an exerpt).
- Tales from Froissart (http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/froissart/tales.htm) excerpts from 1849 edition of the Thomas Johnes translation (1805).
- The Chronicles of Froissart (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id=FroChro&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed) excerpts from John Bourchier and Lord Berners 1910 Harvard Classics translation.
- An extensive bibliography collected by Dr Godfried Croenen (http://www.liv.ac.uk/~gcroenen/biblio.htm)
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