Georges Chastellain (born c. 1405 or c. 1415, Aalst, Brabant died 1475, Valenciennes, Burgundian Hainaut),
BurgundianBurgundian can refer to any of the following:*Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now know as Burgundy ....
chronicler and poet, was a native of
AalstAalst is a city and municipality on the Dender River, 19 miles northwest from Brussels. It is located in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Aalst itself and the villages of Baardegem, Erembodegem, Gijzegem, Herdersem, Hofstade, Meldert, Moorsel, and...
in
FlandersFlanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands...
. In spite of excessive partiality to the Duke of Burgundy, Chastellain's historical works are valuable for the accurate information they contain. As a poet he was famous among his contemporaries. He was the great master of the school of
grands rhétoriqueursThe Grands Rhétoriqueurs or simply the "Rhétoriqueurs" is the name given to a group of poets from 1460 to 1520 working in Northern France, Flanders and the Duchy of Burgundy whose poetic production was dominated by an extremely rich rhyme scheme and experimentation with assonance and puns and ...
, whose principal characteristics were fondness for the most artificial forms and a profusion of Latinisms and graecisms.
Early life
Georges Chastellain derived his surname from the fact that his ancestors were
burgraveA burgrave is literally the count of a castle or fortified town. The English form is derived through the French from the German Burggraf and Dutch) burg- or burch-graeve .* The title is originally equivalent to that of castellan or châtelain, meaning keeper of a castle and/or fortified...
s or
châtelainChâtelain was originally merely the French equivalent of the English castellan, i.e. the commander of a castle....
s of the town; his parents, who belonged to illustrious Flemish families, were probably the Jean Chastellain and his wife Marie de Masmines mentioned in the town records in 1425 and 1432. A copy of an epitaph originally at
ValenciennesValenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
states that he died on the 20th of March 1474-5 aged seventy. But since he states that he was so young a child in 1430 that he could not recollect the details of events in that year, and since he was Ecolier at
LouvainLeuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium. It is located about 30 kilometers east of Brussels, with as other neighbouring cities Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre.The township comprises the historical city of Leuven and the former municipalities of...
in 1430, his birth may probably be placed nearer 1415 than 1405.
He saw active service in the Anglo-French wars and probably elsewhere, winning the surname of L'adventureux. In 1434 he received a gift from Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, for his military services, but on the conclusion of the peace of Arras in the next year he abandoned soldiering for diplomacy. The next ten years were spent in France, where he was connected with
Georges de la TrémoilleGeorges de la Trémoille was count of de Guînes from 1398 to 1446 and Grand Chamberlain of France to King Charles VII of France. He sought reconciliation between Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Charles VII during their estrangement in the latter part of the Hundred Years' War...
, and afterwards entered the household of
Pierre de BrézéPierre de Brézé was a French soldier and politician in the service of King Charles VII. He had made his name in the English wars when in 1433 he joined with Yolande, queen of Sicily, the constable Richmond and others, in chasing from power Charles VII's minister La Trémoille...
, at that time
seneschalA seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
of
PoitouPoitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
, by whom he was employed on missions to the duke of Burgundy, in an attempt to establish better relations between
Charles VIICharles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France from Paris.He was a member of the House of Valois, the son of Charles VI, but his...
and the duke.
During these years Chastellain had ample opportunity of obtaining an intimate knowledge of French affairs, but on the further breach between the two princes, Chastellain left the French service to enter Philip's household. He was at first pantler, then carver, titles which are misleading as to the nature of his services, which were those of a diplomatist; and in 1457 he became a member of the ducal council. He was continually employed on diplomatic errands until 1455, when, owing apparently to ill-health, he received apartments In the palace of the colfnts of Ilainaut at Salle-le-Comte, Valenciennes, with a considerable pension, on condition that the recipient should put in writing
choses nouvelles et morales, and a chronicle of notable events. That is to say, he was appointed Burgundian historiographer with a recommendation to write also on other subjects not strictly within the scope of a chronicler.
Mid-life
From this time he worked hard at his
Chronique, with occasional interruptions in his retreat to fulfil missions in France or to visit the Burgundian court. He was assisted, from about 1463 onwards, by his disciple and
continuatorA continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new work based on someone else's prior text, such as a novel or novel fragment. The new work may complete the older work , or may try to serve as a sequel or prequel to the older work A continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new...
,
Jean MolinetJean Molinet was a French poet, chronicler, and composer. He is best remembered for his prose translation of Roman de la rose.Born in Desvres, which is now part of France, he studied in Paris...
, whose rhetorical and redundant style may be fairly traced in some passages of the
Chronique. Charles the Bold maintained the traditions of his house as a patron of literature, and showed special favor to Chastellain, who, after being constituted indiciaire or chronicler of the
Order of the Golden FleeceNOT to be confused with the Golden Fleece Award.The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges in 1430 by Duke Philip III of Burgundy to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Isabel of Aviz.- Origin :...
, was himself made a
knightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
of the order on the 2nd of May 1473. He died at Valenciennes on the 13th of February (according to the treasury accounts), or on the 20th of March (according to his epitaph) 1475. He left an illegitimate son, to whom was paid in 1524 one hundred and twenty
livre Livré-la-Touche is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. Prior to October 6, 2008, it was known as Livré....
s for a copy of the
Chronique intended for
Charles VCharles V , called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death and a member of the House of Valois...
's sister Mary, queen of Hungary. Only about one third of the whole work, which extended from 1419 to 1474, is known to be in existence, but manuscripts carried by the
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
s to
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
or
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
may possibly yet be discovered.
Among his contemporaries Chastellain acquired a great reputation by his poems and occasional pieces now little considered. The unfinished state of his
Chronique at the time of his death, coupled with political considerations, may possibly account for the fact that it remained unprinted during the century that followed his death, and his historical work was only disinterred from the libraries of Arras, Paris and Brussels by the painstaking researches of M. Buchon in 1825. Chastellain was constantly engaged during the earlier part of his career in negotiations between the French and Burgundian courts, and thus had personal knowledge of the persons and events dealt with in his history. A partisan element in writing of French affairs was inevitable in a Burgundian chronicle. This defect appears most strongly in his treatment of
Joan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII...
; and the attack on
Agnès SorelAgnès Sorel , known by the sobriquet Dame de beauté, was a mistress of King Charles VII of France.- Life in the royal court :...
seems to have been dictated by the dauphin (afterwards
Louis XILouis XI , called the Prudent and the Universal Spider or the Spider King, was the King of France from 1461 to 1483...
), then a refugee in Burgundy, of whom he was afterwards to become a severe critic. He was not, however, misled, as his more picturesque predecessor
FroissartJean Froissart was one of the most important of the chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France...
had been, by feudal and chivalric tradition into misconception of the radical injustice of the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cause in France; and except in isolated instances where Burgundian interests were at stake, he did full justice to the patriotism of Frenchmen.
Legacy
Among his most sympathetic portraits are those of his friend Pierre de Brézé and of Jacques Coeur. His French style, based partly on his
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
reading, has, together with its undeniable vigour and picturesqueness, the characteristic redundance and rhetorical quality of the Burgundian school. Chastellain was no mere annalist, but proposed to fuse and shape his vast material to his own conclusions, in accordance with his political experience. The most interesting feature of his work is the skill with which he pictures the leading figures of his time. His characters are the fruit of acute and experienced observation, and abound in satirical traits, although the 42nd chapter of his second book, devoted expressly to portraiture, is headed
Comment Georges escrit et mentionne les louanges vertueuses des princes de son temps.
The known extant fragments of Chastellain's
Chroniques with his other works were edited by Kervyn de Lettenhove for the Brussels Academy in 1863-1866 (8 vols., Brussels) as
L'Euvres de Georges Chastellain. This edition includes all that had been already published by
BuchonJean Alexandre Buchon , French scholar, .Buchon was an ardent Liberal and took an active part in party struggles under the Restoration, while throwing himself into the historical regeneration then taking place..During 1822 and the succeeding years he travelled about Europe in search of materials...
in his
Collection de chrowiques and Choix de chroniques (material subsequently incorporated in the
Panthion littraire), and portions printed by Renard in his Trésor national, vol. i. and by
QuicheratJules Etienne Joseph Quicherat was a French historian and archaeologist.His father, a working cabinet-maker, came from Paray-le-Monial to Paris to support his large family; Quicherat was born there. He was fifteen years younger than his brother Louis, a great Latin scholar and lexicographer, who...
in the
Procs de la Pucelle vol. iv. Kervyn de Lettenhove's text includes the portions of the chronicle covering the periods September 1419, October 1422, January 1430 to December 1431, 1451-1452, July 1454 to October 1458, July 1461 to July 1463, and, with omissions, June 1467 to September 1470; and three volumes of minor pieces of considerable interest, especially
Le Temple de Boccace, dedicated to
Margaret of AnjouMargaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471 and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453....
, and the
Déprécation for Pierre de Brézé when imprisoned by Louis XI. In the case of these minor works the attribution to Chastellain is in some cases erroneous, notably in the case of the
Livre des fails de Jacques de Lalain, which is the work of Lefebvre de Saint-Remi, Herald of the Golden Fleece. In the allegorical
Oultr d'amour it has been thought a real romance between Pierre de Brézé and a lady of the royal house is concealed.
Works
- Chronique des choses de mon temps, a history of the years 1417-74, of which only fragments remain, continued after Chastellain's death, by his disciple, Jean Molinet. It was first edited by Buchon in Les chroniques nationales (1827) and re-edited by Kervyn de Lettenhove (8 vols., Brussels, 1863-67).
- Récollections des merveilles advenues en mon temps (Antwerp, 1505).
- Chronique de Messire Jean de Lalaing, a delightful biography.