Volume 1

Chronicles of England, France, Spain, and the adjoining countries : from the latter part of the reign of Edward II. to the coronation of Henry IV / by Sir John Froissart. Tr. from the French editions ; with variations and additions from many celebrated mss. by Thomas Johnes, esq. To which are prefixed, a life of the author, an essay on his works, and a criticism on his history.

  • Jean Froissart
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chronicles of England, France, Spain, and the adjoining countries : from the latter part of the reign of Edward II. to the coronation of Henry IV / by Sir John Froissart. Tr. from the French editions ; with variations and additions from many celebrated mss. by Thomas Johnes, esq. To which are prefixed, a life of the author, an essay on his works, and a criticism on his history. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/968
    an essay ON THE WORKS OF FROISSART. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF M. DE LA CURNE DE ST. PALAYE. BY THOMAS JOHNES. The life of Froissart has been the subject of the preceding pages. I will now give you the history of his works, as well printed as manuscript, in vexse and in prose; and I will, as faithfully as I am able, detail their contents. It may, perhaps, be thought I have pushed these details too far; but, I feel I owe a particular attention to an historian who alone is worth a number of others, by the importance of the subjects he treats of, and from the length of time his history continues. I have besides observed that the author has expanded, in the course of his work, many facts which serve to clear up many preceding facts ; and that, for want of this informaticn, it has often happened that I have been stopped in my reading, and haye not ])rofited so much by it as T otherwise should have done. It is this which has made me sensible of the want those who read Froissart would have of such an explanation. To smooth all difficulties, and to lay down such rules as may conduct them, I have attempted to do that, which I should have been glad to have found done, when I began to read this author: for, I do not simply propose to give an idea of our Historian, that may satisfy those whom curiosity alone may induce to peruse ; my object is, that these Memoirs should serve as an introduction to those who may be induced to read him ; and that they should render him, as much as may be possible, more easy, more interesting, and more instructive. I. General Plan of his History.—The History which Froissart has left us extends from 1326 until 1400. It is not confined to the events which were passing in France during this long period ; it comprehends, with almost as much detail, every considerable affair which happened in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and in Flanders. It includes also an infinite number of particulars relative to the affairs of the popes of Rome and of Avignon ; of Spain, Germany, Italy; sometimes even of Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Africa, and other places beyond sea; in short, of almost the whole known world. But this immense multitude of facts, so different from each other; whose chronological order is not very clearly made out, frequently presents to the reader but a confused mixture of events, passed at different times, and in different places, of which he cannot form any distinct idea, and whose memory cannot unite so many scattered objects, which have a necessary connexion between each other. II. J more detailed Plan of Froissart’s History.—The History of Froissart is divided into four books, or volumes, as well in all the manuscripts, as in all the printed editions. The first begins with the coronation of Edward III. king of England, in 1326, and with the accession of Philip de Valois to the crown of France in 1328 : and closes with the year 1379 inclusively. Froissart begins his second volume with the last three years of the preceding volume, and with more detail, having gained fuller information than when he first wrote it. He continues it until the peace of the men of Ghent with the duke of Burgundy, the treaty of which is in tlie last chapter but one of this volume, dated the 18th December, 1385.