Though presumably he made neither love nor war, he thoroughly approved of both and took them as subjects for his Chronicles, that grand and noble history of his time, the waning middle ages. Jean Froissart, the poet priest, has imposed upon most of us, indirectly,our concept of the later Middle Ages. The question is what concept may one conceive of that maker of concepts.
Froissart presenting his Chronicles to King Richard II
He was born in 1337, to a middle-class family on the edge of Northern france but then in the independent country of Hainault.Thus he inherited French as his native language and also the Netherlanders linguistic readiness, cosmopolitanism, and tradition of observant neutrality in the wars of nations. Froissart, after vainly attempting to reconcile clerical duties with poetry, the dance, and amorous gallantry, took ship for England, where he presented to Queen Philippa his own verse chronicle of recent events.
Appointed private secretary to the queen and court chronicler, he remained five years in England, with a long visit to Scotland. He then joined Edward, the Black Prince, on his punitive expedition into Spain. He also made a trip to Milan and Rome. Queen Philippa died in 1369, and Froissart returned to Belgium, where he found a princely patron and a comfortable church living. He had probably begun his ”Chronicles” in England, as a mere day to day factual record ; now his purpose became more definite. A chronicle of the wars between England and France and their allies. He had found his task, his burden and his joy.
Froissart,s ''Chronicles'' were avidly read in the fifteenth century, for his subject was war, and he cast it in the heroic mold his highborn readers expected; the mold of chivalry and derring-do.
Froissart’s ambition was to review the governments and judge the rulers of his world. Riding his mare Grisel and holding his white greyhound in leash, he made long journeys to interview eminences and to check on battle terrains. He revisited England, bearing to King Richard II a book of his verse, bound in crimson velvet and richly worked with silver gilt studs and roses. ”What does the book treat of?” asked the King. ”Love!” replied the poet. Love , for his poetic mood, war, for his prose; What other subjects could a man wish?
However, both arms and love were forbidden to him as a cleric. He must needs be a reporter of others’ feats in the lists of mars and Venus. He did not repine. For the literary mind, the search for truth and the recording of it can be as satisfying as particiaption in sweaty battles and sweaty loves. The historians first duty, he recognized, was to seek out the truth and to describe it scrupulously and impartially; then he might allege causes, make judgements, award praise and blame and draw lessons. Froissart had a high view of himself as a historian that superceded his high view of history.
The gallant deeds that Froissart so relished were pinpoints of light in a dark era of anarchy and rapine.
He strove to be impartial… and failed. He produced his ”Chronicles of England, France and Spain, a compendium of his own stormy times. It is a brick of over one million word proportions. its characters are sharply defined however the book is weak on economics, sociology, and the concerns of philosophical history. Chiefly the book is precious as a picture of a superbly pictorial period; the declining middle ages. The time masked misery with magnificence. War was permanent; that segment of Anglo-French hostility that we call the Hundred Years’ War lasted formally from 1337 to 1453. War was accompanied by drums and brazen music, parades, banners, and proud horses daintily stepping through their drill. Froissart could never get enough of such shows.
Froissart, Chronicles
Surely it was a beautiful sight, with newly polished armor glittering
Battlefield etiquette did not go very deep, or at least no deeper than most etiquette. The commanders took their game seriously and played to win. An Art of medieval War could be compiled from Froissart,s pages. He is very good on tactics; his descriptions of the battles of Crecy and Poitiers are much quoted minor classics. He is well aware of the importance of terrain, weather, timing, fod supply, and especially, weaponry; the English longbow, the Genoese crossbow, the Spanish sling.
Froissart. Battle of Crecy. of Edward, the Black Prince, he said'' who had never been weary or sated with war since the first time he bore arms...He was of a high and overbearing spirit, and cruel in his hatred"
Fighting is, of course, the best of sports, and armies are the best of playthings. A commander canot bear to see his darlings unemployed. The Earl of hainault in 1340 sent herals to the Duke of Normandy ” to say he was ready for battle, and it would be a very great shame if such fine armies should separate without engagement” . The alternative to fighting is a lowering of morale and mere boredom, the curse of soldiering. Froissart tells us that it was unbecoming for men-at-arms to idel their garrison without attempting some feat of arms. If they could not fight for profit, they would fight for fun.
At the siege of Rennes in 1357 the famous Bertrand du Guesclin performed against the English champion, with the walls serving as grandstands. ”The two knights behaved most valiantly. They were seen with pleasure by both armies” . However, the gentlemen’s code of sportsmanship in war was often infringed, especially at the promptings of greed. A French squire, after surrendering, was kiled for the sake of his beautiful armor. ”This made many good men angry”.
Froissart. Chronicles
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