Chronicles

Froissart (1337-1410), sometimes described as the historian of the Hundred Years' War, was one of the first great journalists.

His Chronicles reveal the same curiosity about character and customs which underlies the works of his contemporary, Chaucer. This selection depicts a panorama of Europe during the great age of Anglo-French rivalry, from the deposition of Edward II to the downfall of Richard II, Froissart's famous descriptions of chivalry in action at Sluy's, Crecy, Calais and Poitiers are only part of a comprehensive court's-eye-view of society which embraces trading activities, diplomacy and the Peasants' Revolt.

Jean Froissart was born in Valenciennes (c.1337) and came to England in 1361 where he joined the entourage of Edward III's Queen. While in England he travelled to Scotland and the Welsh Marshes and to the Continent seveal times, finally settling in the Netherlands on the death of the Queen. He finally took holy orders, before returning to England in the court of Richard II, whose downfall he recorded in 1399. His first book of the Chroniques was published in three versions, the second book was completed by 1388 and the third in 1390. He was still working on the fourth when he died c.1410. Geoffrey Brereton edited and translated several modern dramatists including Claudel, Sartre and Adamov, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He died in 1979.