Jean Froissart

Pauline Souleau (University of St Andrews)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.01: French Writing and Culture: Old French to the Middle Ages , 500-1400.
Vol. editors: Marianne Ailes (University of Bristol), Matthew Siôn Lampitt (University of Bristol), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born c. 1337
Died c. 1404
Activity c. 1359-c. 1400

Places

Born in Belgium
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Historian / Chronicler
Poet

Resources

Froissart's Works

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Jean Froissart was born at Valenciennes, in the Province of Hainaut which would today roughly comprise parts of Belgium and of the French department

Nord

. 1337 is usually retained as his year of birth. The date was hinted by Jean Froissart himself in his work: he informs us that his chronicler’s career started when he was twenty years old, after the battle of Poitiers in 1358 (Froissart 1867: XIV, p. 2), and also that he was twenty-four years old when he came to England in 1361 (Froissart 1867: XIV, pp. 143, 235). Froissart’s year of birth is all the more significant in that 1337 is the very year when Edward III pressed his claims to the throne of France and declared war on King Philip VI. The interweaving of history and Froissart’s personal life is manifest: the outbreak of the…

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1742 words

Citation: Souleau, Pauline. "Jean Froissart". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1642, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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