The Chronicles of Jean Froissart
Have you ever thought, considering the miniatures from Froissart's Chronicles as a valuable historical source, how these miniatures look directly in the text? For example: The Battle of Sluys. Miniature from the "Chronicles" by Jean Froissart, XV century.
Exodus 39: 30
Documents stories. As already noted here, history as such ... does not exist. None of us witnessed the battle on Lake Peipus, and the burning of Moscow in 1812, and as for the living witnesses of the events of 1941-1945, there are fewer and fewer of them every year, and one can hardly rely on their memory. So what is there? And there are descriptions of events made by contemporaries. And these descriptions are very often subjective and do not reflect reality. But ... there are those descriptions that have become more widespread than others and, again, caused only positive responses from contemporaries of the events described. It is these writings that can be considered historical documents. This applies especially to medieval manuscripts, and here's why. In addition to the text itself, as a rule, they were supplied with many miniatures. The artists who painted them captured in them the life that surrounded them. Therefore, knowing the years of writing this or that manuscript, we can see with our own eyes sketches from the life of that time. Plus, these drawings are the finds of archaeologists and artifacts preserved in castles. And if images from miniatures and artifacts converge, then, at least in relation to material culture, everything is correct here.
And it looks like this, and the framing of the page is no less interesting from an artistic and cognitive point of view than the illustration itself
As for the information side of the content of certain manuscripts, here a lot depends on the authority of their author. And one of the most authoritative historians in the same France was considered none other than Jean Froissart, the author of his famous and outstanding Chronicles. What is known about him? What he wrote about himself in the text of his Chronicles. He was born in 1333 or 1337 in Valenciennes, and died around 1405, leaving behind entire volumes of "chronicles" - which became the most important source of information on the history of the initial period of the Hundred Years War. And it is obvious that even during his lifetime, the reliability of what he stated was recognized as very high, otherwise he would not have received the title "the singer of chivalry" and "the best of the medieval historians of France". However, he himself constantly emphasized that the motivation for writing the Chronicles was his desire to tell posterity about "glorious military deeds and exploits in France, England and neighboring countries". But his story was a kind of attempt to glorify what he himself considered worthy of this ... glorification, and he conveyed the events known to him not only as a chronicler, but also as an entertaining storyteller!
Page with miniature "Entry of Isabella of Bavaria into Paris"
About 80 accurately attributed manuscripts of Froissart's Chronicles have survived. Moreover, they are all illuminated, that is, they contain illustrations, since wealthy people ordered them from scribes for their own pleasure, and what pleasure can there be from just one text?! Today they are in such European libraries as the National Library of France (Paris), the Royal Library of Belgium (Brussels), the British Library (London). And there is also a copy in the Pierpont Morgan Museum and Library (New York), in the Vatican Apostolic Library, in the library of Leiden University and some other places. And over 15 of them are in Book I, nine in Book II, 30 in Book III, and 26 in Book IV. But the most famous of them, the manuscript was made in the first half of 1470 by craftsmen from Bruges, commissioned by the noble Fleming Ludwig Gruuthuse, a philanthropist and bibliophile who was keen on collecting books.
But this very small miniature is dedicated to a very interesting fact ...
What does this “Chronicle” look like, which is called the “Gruuthuse Manuscript”, which is today such an important historical source? These are four volumes with parchment pages and many fine illustrations. All of these volumes are today in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, where they are identified as Français 2643-2646.
... The execution of Hugh Despenser Jr., who was subjected to a shameful execution "on the stairs" - as a sodomy who seduced the king himself. His stomach was cut open, and the insides were torn out and burned before his eyes!
The manuscript consists of pages of 44 x 33 cm, with miniatures of various sizes inscribed in the text, from 3/4 of a page to full-page illustrations, of which there are 112 in all, along with vignettes and initials. The text in French is in two columns and is decorated with frames with intertwining plant stems and figures of people and animals between them.
The illustrator of the first two volumes was the artist Loise Liede, who created sixty miniatures for them. Prior to that, he worked on manuscripts commissioned by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (Philip the Good), and for his court. Most likely, he had several assistants, but it’s hard to say what exactly they did, judging by the drawings.
Book 2. Richard II meets the rebels on June 13, 1381. Miniature from the "Chronicles" by Jean Froissart
For some reason, the last two volumes, with more subtle drawings, are by a number of anonymous illustrators, including "master Anthony of Burgundy","Master Margaret of York" and "masters of the Dresden Prayer Book". Their names remain unknown, and they themselves are so named in honor of either their outstanding works or famous patrons. You might think that in order to speed up the work, the project was divided in half between the performers from the very beginning, since both the texts and the style of the frames in volumes 1-2 and 3-4 differ from each other.
The works of the master Anthony of Burgundy differ sharply from the miniatures of the master of the Dresden Prayer Book both in the palette and the combination of colors, the arrangement of the figures and the composition. That is, it is quite obvious that two different groups of scribes and artists worked on these books.
The murder of Wat Tyler
Ludwig Gruuthuse (1427–1492) himself was born and subsequently lived in Bruges, where he was an important member of the royal court of Philip the Good. After Philip himself, he was the second most important buyer of illuminated manuscripts and did not spare money on them. His library consisted of about 190 volumes, mostly secular, and more than half of them were provided with illustrations. How large it was, says at least the fact that it was twice the size of the English Royal Collection. He probably began collecting books sometime in the late 1460s, when printed books already existed and Flemish illustration of secular works was in decline. By the way, Froissart's Chronicles were also printed in Paris after 1498.
Battle of Neville's Cross. Miniature from Froissart's Chronicles. XNUMXth century Looking at these miniatures, however, it should be remembered that the appearance of the men-at-arms depicted on them must be “shifted” a hundred years ago!
Interestingly, Gruuthuse has placed his portraits in several books, so we know his appearance. By the way, many of the books of his library then went to the King of France, Louis XII, and through him they subsequently ended up in the National Library of France. Some of the chronicles ended up in England, where they are in the British Library, so there are plenty of miniatures by which we can judge those times, as well as texts, by the way!
As noted above, the "Chronicles" of interest to us consist of 4 books. But for researchers, Book I, known from several editions, is of particular interest. There are three main editions: the Amiens Manuscript, the A/B Family Manuscript, and the Roman Manuscript. The Amiens Manuscript survives in only one copy, the work of an unknown scribe who copied it no later than 1491. The “Manuscript of the A / B family” has been preserved in several dozen (!) Lists at once, and all of them have not yet been systematized. The "Roman Manuscript" has survived to our time, also in just one list. In 1860, Kerwin de Lettenhove found it in the Vatican library and was the first to prepare a scientific edition of it. However, the exact time frame of these books is unknown, as they are not signed. Therefore, scientists are still arguing which of the editions of Book I was made earlier than the others. However, everyone agrees that it was made in the XIV century. We are talking about a difference of several decades, which in general is not so important.
And yet, all the illustrations from Froissart's four books are extremely informative, not to mention the fact that they are simply ... beautiful!
The "Chronicles" are interesting for us primarily because they tell in detail about the Hundred Years' War. Major battles and smaller battles are described, and even just small minor skirmishes. All of this is covered in the vast majority of chapters. Moreover, Flanders, which was the node of contradictions between England and France, occupies a special place in his narrative. It was Flanders that became one of the main causes of the Hundred Years War and played an important role in it. Moreover, Froissart describes in detail the policy of England and France in alliance with Flanders. So, in one of the chapters of "Book I" describes the alliance of Edward III with the inhabitants of Flanders. It is described how Edward III offered the Flemings "attack France and march through Touraine and the castellations of Lille and Douai". However, the inhabitants of Flanders refused, because they had an agreement with the Pope, according to which, having started a war against France, they would have to undergo a huge fine and excommunication. But then Froissart describes what cunning methods the Flemings resorted to in order to circumvent even such agreements. At the council of cities, it was decided that if Edward III wants to be the king of France, then let him first place the coat of arms of France on his heraldic shield and call himself the king of France in letters. That's when they will respect him for their king and will obey him. This is how they concluded an alliance with Edward, and avoided a fine!
Gaston Phoebe and Jean de Grailly suppress the uprising of the Jacques on the road to the city of Meaux. Miniature from the "Chronicles" by Jean Froissart
However, the author was attracted not only by political life and episodes of hostilities. Far from it. He describes the birth and death of royalty, peace negotiations, embassies from one country to another, the election of popes, solemn entries into the city and holidays - in a word, the whole life of the "upper echelons of power." But Froissart also writes about those below, in particular, popular movements and uprisings of certain cities do not escape his attention. And in general, quite a lot of chapters are devoted to the urban theme in his work, including descriptions of the uprisings of the cities of Flanders and unrest in Paris in 1383.
That is, this is a very interesting source in all respects, it’s only a pity that it was written for us, Russians, in a completely incomprehensible language, and to read them on our own, well, I don’t know who we can ...
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