The Chronicles of Froissart


Book Description




Froissart's Chronicles


Book Description

The Chronicles of Jean Froissart (1337-1410) are universally acknowledged as the most vivid and faithful account of 14th century events and ideas. This medieval collector of intelligence travelled widely from Scotland and Wales to France, Italy and the Netherlands, conversing with gentlemen of rank everywhere and developing a tremendous skill for persuading those about him to divulge their secrets. These Chronicles offer an unrivalled picture of the age of chivalry, drawn by a contemporary, with a verve that recalls Chaucer. Fresh, vivid, immediate and laced with a certain disrespect for the Establishment, they tell of acts of gallantry, tournaments, feasts and wars that make for fascinating reading, abetted by John Jolliffe's translation that renders Froissart into highly accessible modem English.




Chronicles


Book Description

The Chronicles of Froissart (1337-1410) are one of the greatest contemporary records of fourteenth-century England and France. Depicting the great age of Anglo-French rivalry from the deposition of Edward II to the downfall of Richard II, Froissart powerfully portrays the deeds of knights in battle at Sluys, Crecy, Calais and Poitiers during the Hundred Years War. Yet they are only part of this vigorous portrait of medieval life, which also vividly describes the Peasants' Revolt, trading activities and diplomacy against a backdrop of degenerate nobility. Written with the same sense of curiosity about character and customs that underlies the works of Froissart's contemporary, Chaucer, the Chronicles are a magnificent evocation of the age of chivalry.






















Chronicles of the First Crusade


Book Description

The story of the First Crusade, as witnessed by contemporary writers 'O day so ardently desired! O time of times the most memorable! O deed before all other deeds!' The fall of Jerusalem in the summer of 1099 to an exhausted and starving army of western European soldiers was one of the most extraordinary events of the Middle Ages. It was both the climax of a great wave of visionary Christian fervour and the beginning of what proved to be a futile and abortive attempt to implant a new European kingdom of heaven in an overwhelmingly Muslim world. This remarkable collection brings together a wide variety of contemporary accounts of the First Crusade, including Pope Urban II's initial call to arms of 1095, as well as the first-hand writings of priests, knights, a Jewish pilgrim, a destitute noblewoman, an Iraqi poet and the historian Anna Comnena. Together they provide a vivid and nuanced picture of the First Crusade and the people who were swept up in it. Edited with an introduction and notes by Christopher Tyerman