FIIOISSART, JEAN, was born at Valenciennes about 1337. He was the son, as is conjectured from a passage in his poems, of Thomas Froisaart, a herald-painter, no inconsiderable profession in the days of chivalry. The youth of Froissart, from twelve years upwards, as he himself informs us, was spent in every species of elegant indulgence. In the midst of his dissipation however, he early discovered the ardent and inquisitive spirit to which we owe so much ; and even at the age of twenty, at the command of his "dear lord and master, Sir Robert of Namur, lord of Beaufort," be began to write the history of the French wars. The period from 1326 to 1356 was chiefly filled up from the chronicles of Jean le Bel, canon of Liege, a confidant of John of Hainault, and celebrated by Froissart for his diligence and accu racy. It is reasonable to believe that this work was interrupted during a journey to England in the train of Philippa of Hsinault, the heroic wife of Edward III., and mother of the Black Prince. Froissart was for three or four years secretary, or clerk of her chamber, a situation which be would probably have retained but for a deep rooted passion for a lady of Flanders, which induced him to return to that country ; a circumstance equally favourable to the history of the Continent, and unfortunate for that of Britain. During his residence in England he visited the Scottish mountains, which he traversed ou a palfrey, carrying his own portmanteau, and attended only by a greyhound. His character of historian and poet introduced him to the court of David II., and to the hardly less honourable distinction of fifteen days abode at the castle of Dalkeith with William, earl of Douglas, where he learned personally to know the race of heroes whose deeds he has repeatedly celebrated.
Froissart was in France at Melon-our-Seine in April 1366 ; perhaps private reasons might have induced him to take that road to Bordeaux, where he was on All Saints' day of that year, when the Princess of Wales was brought to bed of a son, who was afterwards Richard II. The Prince of Wales setting out a few days afterwards for the war in Spain against Henry tho Bastard, Froissart accompanied him to Dax, where the prince resided some time. He had expected to attend him during the continuance of this great expedition, but the prince would not permit him to go farther ; and shortly after his arrival sent him back to the queen his mother. Froissart could not have made any long stay in England, since in the following year, 1368, he was at different Italian courts. It was this same year that Lionel, duke of Clarence, son of the king of England, espoused Joland, daughter of Galeas II., duke of Milan. Froissart, who probably was in his suite,
was present at the magnificent reception which Amadeus, count of Savoy, surnamed the Count Verd, gave him on his return : be describes the feasts on this occasion, and does not forget to tell us that they danced a virelay of his composition. From the court of Savoy he returned to 31ilan, where the same Count Amadeus gave him a good cotartlie, a sort of coat, with twenty florins of geld ; thence he went to Bologna and Ferrara, where he received forty ducats from the King of Cyprus, and thence to Rome. hatead of the modest equipage he travelled with into Scotland, ho was now like a man of importance, travelling on a handsome horse, attended by a hackney. It was about this time that Froissart experienced a loss which nothing could recompense—the death of Queen Philippa, which took place iu 1360. He composed a lay on this melancholy event, of which how over he was not a witness ; for he says, in another place, that in 1395 it was twenty-seven years since he had seen England. According to Vossius and Bullart, he wrote the life of Queen Philippa; but this assertion is not founded on any proofs.
Independently of the employment of clerk of the chamber to the Queen of England, which Froissart had hold, he had been also of the household of Edward IlI., and even of that of John, king of France. Having however lost his phtrouess, he did not return to England, but went into his own country, where ho obtained the living of Lestines. Of all that ho performed during the time he exercised this ministry, ho tells us nothing more than that the tavern-keepers of Lestines had 500 francs of his money in the short apace of time ho was their rector. It is mentioned in a manuscript journal of the Bishop of Chartres, chancellor to the Duke of Anjou, that, according to letters sealed December 12, 1381, this prince caused to be seized fifty-six quires of the Chronicle' of Froissart, rector of the parish of Lestines, which the historian had sent to be illuminated, and then to be forwarded to the King of England, the enemy of France. Frois sart attached himself afterwards to Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, duke of Brabant, perhaps in quality of secretary. This priuce, who had a taste for poetry, commissioned Froissart to make a collection of his songs, rondeans, and virelays; and Froissart, adding some of his own pieces to those of the prince, formed a sort of romance, under the title of 'Meliador; or, the Knight of the Sun ; ' but the duke did not live to see the completion of the work, for he died in 1384.