CO3IINES, PHILIPPE DE, Lord of Argenton, was born at the château of Cominea, near Menin in Flanders, about 1445. His father was in the service of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, who was also sovereign of Flanders, and Philip himself was early iutroduced into the court of Charles le Tdmdraire, Philip's son, whose councillor and favourite he became for a time. When Charles made Louis XI. prisouer at P6ronne in 1463, Comines exerted all his influence to calm his master's violent temper ; he acted tho part of a conciliator between the two princes, and succeeded in bringing about a. treaty of peace between them. This timely service was not forgotten by Louis. In 1472 Comines all at once left the service of the Duke of Burgundy, and passed into that of Louis XL, who received him moat graciously, and made him his chamberlain and seueschal of Poitou. The reasons for this step on the part of Comities have remained a secret; probably he was tired of Charles's violent temper, and foresaw his impending ruin. Comines married Helene, of the family of the counts of Monaoreau in Anjou, who brought him as her marriage portion the fiefs of Argcnton, Coppoux, Brisson, and others. Comines was employed by Louis XI. in several diplomatic missions to Savoy and other places. After the death of Louis, Cominea having joiued the party of the Duke of Orleans (afterwards Louis XII.), who aspired to be regent during the minority of Charles VIII., was arrested in 1486 on a charge of treason; and shut up for several months in an iron cage at Loches, when he was transferred to Paris. He was at last tried and condemned to banishment, and his property was confiscated, but the sentence was not executed, and the fame of his abilities induced Charles VIIL to employ him in several important negotiations. He accompanied Charles in his Italian campaign, of which he gives a good account in his memoirs. Previous to the return of the king through North Italy, in the midst of the hostile armies of the Italian princes, Comines was sent to Venice to endeavour to detach that state from the league, but he did not succeed. The battle of Fornovo (July, 1495) secured the
retreat of the Freuch across the Alps. After his return from Italy, Comities retired to his estates, where he began to write hie memoirs. When Louis XII. succeeded to the crown in 1498, Comines repaired to court to pay homage to the new sovereign, for whom ho had at one time suffered severe imprisonment and risked his life ; but Louis does not seem to have noticed him by any marks of favour. Comines returned into the country, and he died at Argenton in Poitou, October 1509, at the age of 69. His body was transferred to Paris, and buried in the church Des Grande Augustins, where Comines bad built himself a chapel. His monument has been transferred to the Musk des Monumens Francais. He left one daughter, who married a count of Penthiev re.
The memoirs of Comines contain the history of his own times from the year 1464 to the death of Charles VIII. in 1498. lie gives a faithful picture of that singular character Louis XL, whom be greatly extols for his political art. He is also a great admirer of the Venetian government. He was a cool and sagacious observer, and seems to have fully understood the crooked policy of those times. The great value of Comines's ' Memoirs' consists in his fraukuesa and sincerity. He is a matter-of-fact historian ; like his contemporary Machiavelli, he paints men and politics such as he found them to be, with all their selfishriese, craft, and evil doings, which he relates with great imper turbability. Those historians are the mirror of their age, and what that age was may be conceived by reflecting that Louis XI., Ferdinand of Aragon, the Borgias, Ludovico it Moro, and others of the same stamp, were the contemporaries of Cominea. The 'Memoirs' of Comines have been often reprinted, and translated into various languages. The edition by Godefroy and Lenglet du Fresnoy, London, 1747, consists of 4 vole. 4to, of which however the first volume only is occupied by the 'Memoirs,' the other three being filled with numerous historical documents and additions.