HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor

CONTEMPORARY AND ‘EYEWITNESS’ HISTORY 271both a precious fount of knowledge and a savoir-vivre. 57 In this respectFroissart may be compared to the secretaries of the monarchicalorders of chivalry whose task it was, at the close of each year, toenroll the distinguished feats of arms performed by their members.They were also obliged to report in writing any misdeeds or derogationsthat may have been committed, incurring reproche d’armes. Thisaspect of chivalric ideology is set forth in the Prologue to Book I,where the author of the Chroniques warns us that:esploit d’armes sont si clairement comparet et achetet, che scèvent chilqui y traveillent, que on n’en doit nullement mentir pour complaireà autrui et tollir le glore et renommée des bienfaisans, et donner àchiaus qui n’en sont mies digne.Later, when writing his third book, Froissart will defend himself inno uncertain terms against those who accuse him of bias:[Qu’on ne dise pas que je aye eu la noble histoire] corrompue par lafaveur que je aye eu au conte Gui de Blois qui le me fis faire et quibien m’en a payé tant que je m’en contempte, pour ce qu’il fut nepveuet si prouchains que filz au conte Loys de Blois, frère germain à saintCharles de Blois, qui, tant qu’il vesqui, fut duc de Bretagne. Nennilvrayement! Car je n’en vueil parler fors que de la verité et aler parmyle trenchant, sans coulourer l’un ne l’autre. Et aussi le gentil sire etconte, qui l’istoire me fist mettre sus et ediffier, ne le voulsist pointque je la feisse autrement que vraye. 58Strange as it may seem, this passage shows the importance to thechronicler of Valenciennes of oral testimony, given in good faith andobtained from people who had actually taken part in the combats,sieges, or raids of which Froissart is so anxious to preserve a vividmemory. He lived at a time when oral testimony given in good faithstill was deemed entirely dependable. Rather than criticize him forhis gullibility, we should commend him for having so scrupulouslyinterviewed the many people whom he met in royal courts or engagedin conversation in wayside inns. The picture Jean Froissart gives usof fourteenth-century society is dominated by an ideological climatethat is at one and the same time royal, aristocratic, and chivalric.57Ainsworth (1998).58Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Luce, Raynaud, Mirot, and Mirot, 13: 223–24.