Jehan Froissart

Jehan Froissart (?1337- ?1404). Poet and chronicler from Valenciennes in the county of Hainault. Author of four Books of Chroniques, of an Arthurian romance (Meliador), and of a considerable body of lyric and crypto-autobiographical and dream poetry inspired in part by the Roman de la Rose and the works of Guillaume de Machaut.

Paris

Isabeau of Bavaria, queen of France (d. 1435)

Isabeau de Bavière (1371? - 1435), daughter of Etienne or Stephen II, duke of Bavaria, and Thadea Visconti. She married Charles VI in Amiens cathedral only two days after their engagement in 1385. Her official entry to Paris in 1389 opens Book IV of the Chroniques, and Froissart describes these festivities in great detail.

Parisians

Waleran III de Luxemburg, count of Saint-Pol (d. 1415)

Waleran III de Luxemburg (1355 - 1415; killed at Agincourt), count of Saint Pol; son of Guy de Luxemburg, count of Ligny, and Mahaut de Châtillon, countess of Saint Pol. He married firstly Maud Holland, daughter of Thomas Holland, earl of Kent, and half-sister of king Richard II. After her death he married Bonne, daughter of Duke Robert of Bar.

England

Island kingdom bounded to the west by the Marcher lordships and the (still contested) principality of Wales conquered by Edward I; English lordships included parts of modern south Wales (from southern Pembrokeshire through Swansea, Cardiff and on towards Gloucester in England); bounded to the north by the kingdom of Scotland, to the east by the North Sea and to the south by the Channel; included Somerset, Devon and Cornwall to the south-west. Population up to the Black Death of 1348-9 approximately 4 million souls.

France

The kingdom of France, populated up until the Black Death of 1348-9 by 12-16 millions souls and including up to the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Ile-de-France together with the apanages of Normandy, Anjou, Bourbon, Champagne, Valois, Auvergne and Languedoc, plus a number of important fiefs such as the counties of Blois, Nevers and Foix, and (from 1349) Montpellier and the Dauphiné; diminished from 1354 by the growing activity and influence in the Cotentin and other parts of Normandy of the king of Navarre, Charles of Evreux, and by English conquests resulting in an enlarged duchy of Guyenne (essentially Gascony; will become the principality of Aquitaine) stretching from the borders of the great and at times pro-English duchy of Brittany to the Pyrenees (save for the neutral county of Béarn) and eastwards to embrace the Poitou, Limousin and Rouergue (on the border with the Languedoc); Ponthieu and Guines are also in English hands. The French re-conquest under Charles V and Du Guesclin progressively drives the English from the realm, leaving them (by 1370-80) the ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, and a much-reduced Aquitaine. Brittany returns to French allegiance from 1365 onwards (Treaty of Guérande).

King Charles VI of France (d. 1422)

King Charles VI of France (1368 - 1422); son of king Charles V of France and Jeanne de Bourbon. He married Isabeau de Bavière in 1385.

Royal council of France

King Richard II of England (d. 1400)

Richard was born on 6 January 1367 in Bordeaux. Froissart called him Richard of Bordeaux after his place of birth. He was the second son of Edward, the Black Prince, prince of Wales and Aquitaine, and Joan of Kent. After the death of his elder brother Edward in 1372, and of his father, in 1376, Richard was created prince of Wales, duke of Cornwall and earl of Chester on 20 November 1376. He succeeded to his grandfather, King Edward III the following year, and became king on 22 June 1377. He reigned as king of England until 1399, when he was forced to abdicate by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke. Richard married his first wife, Anne of Bohemia, on 14 January 1382. In 1396, two years after the death of his first wife, he married Isabella, daughter of the French king, Charles VI.

Louis II of Anjou (d. 1417)

Marie de Blois, duchess of Anjou

Froissart is referring here to Marie de Blois, daughter of Charles, duke of Brittany, and wife of Louis I of Anjou who died in 1384. Louis was brother to king Charles V of France, and pretender to the throne of Naples. Marie died in 1404.

Avignon

Avignon, on the river Rhône, administrative centre of the Vaucluse département. Seat of the Avignon papacy from 1309 until 1378 and, subsequent to that, seat of the first two 'clementine' popes: Clement VII and Benedict XIII.

Antipope Clement VII

Antipope Clement VII; born Robert of Geneva (1342 - 1394), son of Amadeus III, count of Geneva and of Matilda, daughter of Robert VII, count of Boulogne and Auvergne, grandparent of King John II of France. He became bishop of Thérouanne in 1361, archbishop of Cambrai in 1368, and cardinal in 1371. He was elected at Fondi in 1378 by the French cardinals in opposition to Urban VI as pope Clement VII, and became the first antipope of the Great Schism. Eventually it was determined that he would be recorded as an antipope rather than enumerated as a pope, and the name Clement VII was used by a 'legitimate’ 16th-century pope. Clement resided at Avignon. Froissart speaks of him as the 'true’ pope and of his enjoying the support of the king of France amongst others. He died in 1394.

King Charles VI of France (d. 1422)

King Charles VI of France (1368 - 1422); son of king Charles V of France and Jeanne de Bourbon. He married Isabeau de Bavière in 1385.

France

The kingdom of France, populated up until the Black Death of 1348-9 by 12-16 millions souls and including up to the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Ile-de-France together with the apanages of Normandy, Anjou, Bourbon, Champagne, Valois, Auvergne and Languedoc, plus a number of important fiefs such as the counties of Blois, Nevers and Foix, and (from 1349) Montpellier and the Dauphiné; diminished from 1354 by the growing activity and influence in the Cotentin and other parts of Normandy of the king of Navarre, Charles of Evreux, and by English conquests resulting in an enlarged duchy of Guyenne (essentially Gascony; will become the principality of Aquitaine) stretching from the borders of the great and at times pro-English duchy of Brittany to the Pyrenees (save for the neutral county of Béarn) and eastwards to embrace the Poitou, Limousin and Rouergue (on the border with the Languedoc); Ponthieu and Guines are also in English hands. The French re-conquest under Charles V and Du Guesclin progressively drives the English from the realm, leaving them (by 1370-80) the ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, and a much-reduced Aquitaine. Brittany returns to French allegiance from 1365 onwards (Treaty of Guérande).

Duchy of Burgundy

Burgundy, a region in the east of France whose unity was based more upon historical than geographical factors.

Avignon

Avignon, on the river Rhône, administrative centre of the Vaucluse département. Seat of the Avignon papacy from 1309 until 1378 and, subsequent to that, seat of the first two 'clementine' popes: Clement VII and Benedict XIII.

Antipope Clement VII

Antipope Clement VII; born Robert of Geneva (1342 - 1394), son of Amadeus III, count of Geneva and of Matilda, daughter of Robert VII, count of Boulogne and Auvergne, grandparent of King John II of France. He became bishop of Thérouanne in 1361, archbishop of Cambrai in 1368, and cardinal in 1371. He was elected at Fondi in 1378 by the French cardinals in opposition to Urban VI as pope Clement VII, and became the first antipope of the Great Schism. Eventually it was determined that he would be recorded as an antipope rather than enumerated as a pope, and the name Clement VII was used by a 'legitimate’ 16th-century pope. Clement resided at Avignon. Froissart speaks of him as the 'true’ pope and of his enjoying the support of the king of France amongst others. He died in 1394.

Peter Courtenay

Brother of Edward Courtenay.

France

The kingdom of France, populated up until the Black Death of 1348-9 by 12-16 millions souls and including up to the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) the Ile-de-France together with the apanages of Normandy, Anjou, Bourbon, Champagne, Valois, Auvergne and Languedoc, plus a number of important fiefs such as the counties of Blois, Nevers and Foix, and (from 1349) Montpellier and the Dauphiné; diminished from 1354 by the growing activity and influence in the Cotentin and other parts of Normandy of the king of Navarre, Charles of Evreux, and by English conquests resulting in an enlarged duchy of Guyenne (essentially Gascony; will become the principality of Aquitaine) stretching from the borders of the great and at times pro-English duchy of Brittany to the Pyrenees (save for the neutral county of Béarn) and eastwards to embrace the Poitou, Limousin and Rouergue (on the border with the Languedoc); Ponthieu and Guines are also in English hands. The French re-conquest under Charles V and Du Guesclin progressively drives the English from the realm, leaving them (by 1370-80) the ports of Calais, Cherbourg, Brest, Bordeaux and Bayonne, and a much-reduced Aquitaine. Brittany returns to French allegiance from 1365 onwards (Treaty of Guérande).

Guy VI de la Trémoille (d. 1397)

Guy de la Trémoille (1346 - 1397), a chamberlain of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy; later councillor and chamberlain of king Charles VI of France. Son of Guy de la Trémoille and Radegonde de Guérand. He married Marie de Sully and gained the title of lord of Sully. She was daughter and heir of Louis I, lord of Sully, and Isabelle de Craon. John Bell Henneman has noted that Marie brought with her to this marriage such a large inheritance that it made the fortune of her husband's family.

Calais

Saint-Inglevert

Renaud de Roye

Jean II le Meingre, called ‘Boucicaut’ the younger (d. 1421)

King Charles VI of France (d. 1422)

King Charles VI of France (1368 - 1422); son of king Charles V of France and Jeanne de Bourbon. He married Isabeau de Bavière in 1385.

Languedociens

Béziers

Béziers, administrative centre of the area, Hérault.

Bétisac

Languedociens

Béziers

Béziers, administrative centre of the area, Hérault.

King Charles VI of France (d. 1422)

King Charles VI of France (1368 - 1422); son of king Charles V of France and Jeanne de Bourbon. He married Isabeau de Bavière in 1385.

Toulouse

Toulouse, on the river Garonne, administrative centre of the Haute-Garonne département; the old capital of the Languedoc.

Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix (d. 1391)

Gaston III, count of Foix, known as Fébus (1331 - 1391), son of Gaston II of Foix and Aliénor de Comminges, whose court the chronicler visited in 1388. Gaston was born in 1331 and succeeded his father in 1343. On 4th August 1348 he married Agnès de Navarre, the daughter of Philippe, count of Évreux and of Jeanne, queen of Navarre, who herself was the daughter of Louis X of France known as the Quarreller, the Headstrong or the Stubborn. Gaston died in 1391. He was the author of a celebrated treatise on hunting entitled Livre de chasse, or the Book of the hunt.

Gaston III ‘Fébus’, count of Foix (d. 1391)

Gaston III, count of Foix, known as Fébus (1331 - 1391), son of Gaston II of Foix and Aliénor de Comminges, whose court the chronicler visited in 1388. Gaston was born in 1331 and succeeded his father in 1343. On 4th August 1348 he married Agnès de Navarre, the daughter of Philippe, count of Évreux and of Jeanne, queen of Navarre, who herself was the daughter of Louis X of France known as the Quarreller, the Headstrong or the Stubborn. Gaston died in 1391. He was the author of a celebrated treatise on hunting entitled Livre de chasse, or the Book of the hunt.

King Charles VI of France (d. 1422)

King Charles VI of France (1368 - 1422); son of king Charles V of France and Jeanne de Bourbon. He married Isabeau de Bavière in 1385.

Manuscript reading: commenent

Emended reading: comment