Help us create a biggest collection of medieval chronicles and manuscripts on line.
#   A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z 
Medieval chronicles, historical sources, history of middle ages, texts and studies

THOMAS JOHNES, ESQ. Memoirs of the life of Sir John Froissart

DOWNLOAD THE FULL BOOK

DOWNLOAD THE ONLY FULL EDITIONS of

Sir John Froissart's Chronicles of England, France, Spain and the Ajoining Countries from the latter part of the reign of Edward II to the coronation of Henry IV in 12 volumes 

Chronicles of Enguerrand De Monstrelet (Sir John Froissart's Chronicles continuation) in 13 volumes 

 
 
 
  Previousall pages

Next  

THOMAS JOHNES, ESQ.
Memoirs of the life of Sir John Froissart
page 57



'Some genealogies, which regard perfons of whom Froiflart fpeaks, as Tvell as fome remarks on divers places, the pofition of which he attempts to •fix, by relating the diffèrent names they are called by, fhew that the editor liad not abfolutely negleéked thefe two objets. We muft not be furprifed that fo many foreign names fhould not always be exactly correct : befides their having been changed fince that time, we fhould not impute as blame, either to the author or editor, the faults of copyifts who have incorre&ly read them, and who have written them according to the pronunciation or orthography of their language and age; for not only are the names read in as many different ways as there are manufcripts, but they continually vary ki the fame manufcript as often as they are met with. The only method of remedying this, is to clear up Froiflart by himfelf, in collating the various paflages where the fame name is found, and this is what Sauvage has done; and for greater fecurity, he has read over five times the text of his author : however, when he could not draw any advantage from this repeated reading he has made ufe of afliftance wherever it could be found! He appears, in fa£t, to have ftudied very carefully the maps and defcriptions of thofe countries the hiftorian.fpeaks of, and alfo to have confulted their inhabitants. We obferve, that when he retired to Lyons to give himfelf up more freely to ftudy, he went to reconnoitre in that neighbourhood the field of battle of Brinay, or Brinais, where the duke of Bourbon had been defeated in 1360 hy the free companies. The defcription ,he gives of it is very inftrudtive, • and fèrves to clear up the circumftances of that event. An epitaph which he had read in a church at Lyons ferves at another time to prove the falfity of a date in Froiflart. In fhort, there is fcarcely any hiftorian of importance, of whatever country he might be, whom Sauvage had not feen, in order the better to underftand him on whom he was employed, and to make him better underftood by others, and to confirm or to rectify his teftimony. We may count nearly forty authors whom he cites in his margins, as well relative to the hiftory of France as to that of England, Scotland, Flanders, Germany, Spain, Italy, Hungary and Turkey. I add, that he confulted the original aâs, fince he has inferted In his annotations the ratification of the treaty of Jîretigny, figned by the prince of Wales at Calais, after having tranferibed 51


  Previous First Next  
 
 
 
 

"Medievalist" is an educational project designed as a digital collection of chronicles, documents and studies related to the middle age history. All materials from this site are permitted for non commersial use unless otherwise indicated. If you reduplicate documents from here you have to indicate "Medievalist" as a source and place link to us.