CHAPTER III

HISTORY

In the fifteenth century history was less cultivated than it had been in the fourteenth, and had fewer famous men as its exponents. Yet it must be remembered that the "Grandes Chroniques de France" were continued up to the accession of Louis XI.—that is, up to the middle of the century and beyond. It was in 1476 that they were printed for the first time, under the title of "Chroniques de France," or "Chroniques de Saint-Denis depuis les Troiens jusqu'à la mort de Charles VII.," and though these chronicles may be worthy of little faith as far as the history of the French people in the time of the Trojans is concerned, they become more and more reliable, precise, and circumstantial as they approach their termination-that is to say, for the fifteenth century. It is known that from the reign of Charles V. to the reign of Louis XI. they were edited by laymen under royal superintendence, and constituted in a sense a journal officiel of the kingdom.

There were besides in the fitteenth century other and provincial chronicles of great interest and value: the "Chroniques de Normandie," collected and printed in Rouen in 1747; the "Chroniques des Rois, Ducs et Comtes de Bourgogne," collected and printed at Lyons in 1476. And among the historical documents written by a single hand we have the "Chronique " of Alain Chartier on the "Règne de Charles VII.,” and the Chronique Scandaleuse," by Jean de Troyes. This "Chronique Scandaleuse" is in no degree scandalous, and, indeed, that was not its real title; it was simply a "Histoire

de Louis XI.," borrowed a good deal from the various chronicles of the time, and notably from the "Grandes Chroniques de Saint-Denis" (which tell of Louis XI. up to the time of his accession). As the author included some rather vivacious anecdotes concerning the youth of Louis XI., the deceptive title above mentioned was given it by the editors and retained by the public. As a comment on the manners of the time the document is very interesting. It covers the period from 1460 to 1482, and was printed at the end of the fifteenth century.

We also possess the "Histoire du Règne de Charles VI., depuis 1380 jusqu'à 1422," by Jean Juvenal des Ursins, the "Relation de l'Expédition de Charles VIII. en Italie," by Guillaume de Villeneuve, happily completed by Commines, who deals far too briefly, as we know, with the campaign in Italy, of which he only saw the beginning and the end, but of which he disapproved too thoroughly to enlarge on the subject. About 1430 the "Livre des Faits et Gestes du Maréchal Boucicaut " made its appearance. The book is better known under the name of the "Chronique de Boucicaut," or the "Mémoires de Boucicaut." It is very improbable that it was the illustrious captain himself who wrote this narrative. It is supposed to have been written under his inspiration when he was an exile in England, between the time of his capture at Agincourt and his death (1415–21), or else edited after his death from the papers he had left. It is considered a fairly trustworthy record, and is as interesting as a novel, which is not surprising when one recollects the adventurous life of which it treats. In addition, we may specify Charles de Saint-Gelais, brother of the poet Octavien de Saint-Gelais. He has written a chronicle covering the years from 1270 to 1510, and the accuracy of this is esteemed by historians. But the principal historian of the fifteenth century was Commines: only, as he wrote and published early in the sixteenth century, it will be more convenient to speak of him when we come to that time.

CHAPTER IV

THE ROMANCES

THE novel of manners was born in the fifteenth century. These cut-and-dry statements are always untrue, but, as a matter of fact, this is as exact as a literary formula can be. Antoine de la Salle, together with the group of lettered noblemen to whom he seems to have acted as secretary, are the founders of this class of fiction, which was to enjoy so great a success. Antoine de la Salle was a native of Burgundy, born about 1398, and died between 1460 and 1465. He went in his youth to Rome, where he made the acquaintance of the "facétieux" Pogge (Poggio Bracciolini), who exercised a great influence over him. He was clerk to the royal provost of the Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence, King of Naples and Sicily; and afterwards he occupied the post of tutor to the children of the Count of St. Paul in Flanders. He then became the secretary and the friend of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and father of Charles the Bold. Antoine de la Salle composed his works at the Court of Philip the Good-a pleasant Court, witty, ostentatious, and a little effeminate, which has been so well characterised by Commines in a few apposite lines. His stories are no longer the old tales, and have not yet reached the stage of the psychological romance; they are veritable novels of manners. First of all there is the "Quinze joies du Mariage" (Antoine de la Salle's authorship is disputed), a series of little satirical dissertations, mingled with anecdote, extremely spirited, very neatly turned, easily read, and not without depth. The "Quinze joies du Mariage," which is still read, and not only by scholars, may be

assigned to about 1450. The oldest printed copy belongs to about 1480.

The "Chronique du Petit Jehan de Saintré" is still more amusing and well-known. It is a story written round the theme of education, but very peculiar. It is a kind of "Télémaque" in which the high ideal of virtue described and advocated in the body of the work is at the end made game of and turned into ridicule. In other words, the whole work is ironic, and the author begins in the most serious tone, so as to take in the reader, and to lead him gradually towards the shock of surprise which the change of tone at the end ought to produce. This is the method of all skilful skits. It is possible, too, that the author is himself at first carried away by the knightly ideal which he describes, but that gradually he tires of it, and his fundamental philosophy, which is pessimistic and misanthropic, regaining the upper hand, avenges itself by vilifying the knightly virtues which had previously been lauded. In any case we find in this chronicle a "Gil Blas" of the fifteenth century, a work of varied interest, full of imagination and wit, where exciting adventures are to be found, and, besides all this, we have a realistic romance, and usually, but not always, a delicate and subtle satire-in a word, a hundred and one reasons for enjoyment. This little book has had an extraordinary success. It has been read continuously up to the present time, except perhaps for a partial neglect of it in the seventeenth century. De Tressan in the eighteenth century transformed this delightful tale into a sentimental novel to suit the taste of his time, but all its point and flavour are to be sought in the original, where it ought to be read.

Finally Antoine de la Salle is the author of the "Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles." These celebrated stories were written at Genape, in Brabant, about 1450, for a very renowned company of men. There Charles de Charolais (afterwards Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy) held his brilliant and voluptuous Court as heir-presumptive. He had round him Louis the Dauphin (afterwards Louis XI.), Louis de Luxembourg, Philippe Pot, Antoine de la Salle, and many others, all men of letters, men of fashion, wits liking to write, to

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read, and to hear tales skilfully told. Antoine de la Salle was, so to speak, the permanent secretary to this academy. He was most probably sole author of the "Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles," although he signed some of them with illustrious names to gain credit for the work. Although unequal, they are very pleasant pieces of writing. Some are imitated from Boccaccio with that ease and that French lightness of touch which, according to different opinions, improves or alters into something else the sobriety, graceful if a little dry, of the original. Others are imitated from Pogge, and others seem to be true anecdotes, manipulated and arranged in the form of tales. His art of story-telling is remarkable, and indeed exceptional; his picture of manners-always a satirical picture—is that of a man who has observed carefully, who knows how to discern the characteristic, and therefore the interesting trait, and who, in spite of all the liberty enjoyed by his bold pen, has a very delicate sense of balance and the appropriate word. Most of these stories have passed into the tales of La Fontaine, who, while he endowed them with the charm of his mind and the delightful flow of his verse, certainly did not hesitate here and there to water them down.

We must point out that in the fifteenth century the romances of chivalry, forsaken a long while, are returning to France from Spain. The "Amadis de Gaule," probably of Spanish origin, which dates from the fourteenth century, and was re-shaped at the end of the fifteenth century by Ordoñez de Montalvo, was quickly translated into French, and had an extraordinary vogue in France, as well as in the rest of Europe, until "Don Quixote " came to supersede it. It is a brilliant imitation, full of fantastic imagination, of the old tales of the Arthurian cycle.