Book Description

This French medieval text is now published in its entirety, accompanied by an introduction and extensive synopses in English. Philippe de Mezieres (1327-1405) was a French soldier, publicist and statesman who travelled widely through much of the Christian world and served a number of rulers, particularly the King of Cyprus and Charles V and VI of France. Throughout his life Philippe de Mezieres was obsessed by the ideal that the West must reform itself in the light of the Christian view of the good life and he urged all Christian rulers to join together in a final crusade to liberate the Holy Land and the eastern Christian empires. This is the underlying theme of Le Songe du Vieil Pelerin, Philippe de Mezieres' major work. It is divided into three parts: the first is a wide-ranging survey of the Christian world, the second an examination of the state of France and the third a study of the duties and requirements of authority. The style is highly allegorical but contains much personal observation and historical fact.