Overview

First English translation of the chivalric biography of one of France's leading figures of the middle ages. Jean le Meingre, Marechal Boucicaut (1364-1421), was the very flower of chivalry. From his earliest years at the royal court in Paris, he distinguished himself in knightly pursuits: sorties against seditious French nobles, ceremonial jousts against the English enemy, crusading in Tunisia and Prussia, the composition of courtly verses, and the establishment of a chivalric order for the defence of ladies, the Order of the Enterprise of the White Lady of the Green Shield. He was named Marshal of France at the age of only 27. His chivalric biography, finished in 1409, is one of the most important accounts of the life of a knight from the Middle Ages. Whilst full of praise, it is also highly partisan and carefully selective; it glosses over the darker, much less successful, side of his career - in particular his participation in the catastrophic Nicopolis crusade (1396) and his governorship of Genoa, which came to an end shortly after the completion of the biography, when a rebellion forced him to leave the city, five years before his capture at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 and death in England in 1421. This first English translation makes available to a wider audience a text that sheds light on the history of France, on crusading in Prussia and the Mediterranean, and on the complicated politics of Italy and the papacy during the Great Schism. It is a highly important contribution to our understanding of chivalric mentalities and attitudes in late-medieval France. It is presented with an introduction and notes.

Full Product Details

9781783274642

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Reviews

This is an accessible . . . translation, with informative introduction and notes, which will be of great interest to anyone who wishes to study or teach medieval chivalry, tournaments or the crusades. FRENCH HISTORY [C]aptures the spirit of the Middle French original and presents it in an agreeable way for a present-day reader. SPECULUM A welcome addition to the available in-translation literature of the European Middle Ages, not only for what it offers English readers about the life and times of its continental subject, but also by serving as a pointed reminder that the ideology of chivalry went beyond fantasy and ideal..It makes for fascinating reading, and is to be recommended for personal edification or educational deployment. PARERGON Clear, lively and deeply engaging..An important addition to the growing range of later medieval chivalric texts available to Anglophone students and scholars and which, because of its extensive supplementary material, will also provide an ideal teaching resource. FRANCIA

Author Information

CRAIG TAYLOR is a Professor of Medieval History at the University of York. JANE TAYLOR is Emeritus Professor of Medieval French at the University of Durham.

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