\ îv hys he, filali ih the end be related ; for the earl, who was nearly related to feveral kings,1! had aâed a principal pan in many of thefe tranfaâions. Froiflart, in thefe thirty years, which are anterior to the battle of Poitiers, in 1356, enters more into the detail of the hiftory of the Engliih than of the French, perhaps from having followed, in .this refpeft, his original author, who had taken a much greater intereft in the hiftory of England, from its connexions with the count de Hainault. This certainly is the caufe why thofe manufcripts, which only contain the firft years of the Chronicle of Froiflart, are called Chronicles of England ; it alfo has given rife to the reproach which has been made againft him of being the partizan'of England, and difaffe&ed towards France; an accufation which Lfliall examine at the end of this criticifm. I do not think Froiflart could have chofen a better guide for the hiftory of the thirty years, than the author he fays he followed. To judge of the in* formation which this hiftorian might have drawn from his intimacy with John of Hainault, we muft recolleffc/ the fituation of this earl at the time in queftion. The queen of England, Ifabella of France, had fled from England with thç young prince of Wales, her fon, afterwards Edward III. to free her? felf from the perfections of the Spenfers, and the pther favouritps of her huiband, Edward IJ, Charles le Bel, king of France, brother to this queen, was forced to order her to quit his kingdom, after he had afforded her an afylum for fome {ime. The court of the count de Hai^aul^ pf d 4 whom