User:Chantryjean/wavrin

Jehan (or Jean) de Waurin (or Wavrin) (Born near 1398, died near 1474) was a French soldier, chronicler and compiler. He belonged to a noble family of Artois, and witnessed the battle of Agincourt from the French side, but later fought on the Anglo-Burgundian side in the later stages of the Hundred Years' War. As a historian he put together the first chronicle intended as a complete history of England, very extensive but largely undigested and uncritical.

Life
He was illegitimate, the son of Robert, Count de Waurin and Michielle de Croix and took part in numerous military expeditions on the side of the Burgundians and their English allies,including the Battle of Verneuil. In 1435 he married a wealthy widow from Lille and was legitimised in 1437 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and knighted five years later. He occupied a high position at the court of Burgundy and, was sent as ambassador to Rome in 1463.

huge territories in the Southern Netherlands, was a political and cultural rival to France. Into the magnificent Burgundian court circle, Jean de Wavrin was born in around 1398, bastard son of Robert, Count of Wavrin, who is believed to be the ancestor of King Juan Carlos of Spain and HRH the Prince of Wales.

Jean made his military debut as a young squire at the battle of Agincourt, on the English side. He took part in numerous military expeditions for the Burgundians, and their English allies until 1435, when he married a wealthy widow from Lille, and was legitimised by the Duke of Burgundy. As Lord of Le Forestel, he performed numerous official duties for successive dukes, including embassies to the Pope and the English court.

© The British Library Board: Royal 15 E iv vol 1, f. 14

Image no: G70026-79 Discover more images from the Bl collections

In the last twenty-five years of his life Wavrin compiled his multi-volume chronicle of England from its legendary beginnings to 1471. Though his stated purpose was to please his nephew and to avoid idleness, his true motives will never be entirely clear. Wavrin was certainly an anglophile and probably met John of Lancaster, Anthony Woodville, brother-in-law of Edward IV and maybe the king himself during his temporary exile in Flanders. The later volumes provide a unique view from Europe of the Wars of the Roses, based on his personal knowledge of the events as they took place and on information he obtained from those involved on both sides. Edward IV owned a magnificent copy of the chronicle and two luxurious manuscripts to be displayed in the British Library’s Royal Manuscripts exhibition are part of his set. The first contains a picture of Wavrin presenting his work to the English king. However Wavrin died at about the age of 75, before the volume was completed in c.1475.

Works
Jehan compiled the Recueil des croniques et anchiennes istories de la Grant Bretaigne, a collection of the sources of English history from the earliest times to 1471. For this work he borrowed from Froissart, Monstrelet and others; but for the period between 1444 and 1471 the Recueil is original and valuable, although somewhat untrustworthy with regard to affairs in England itself. It also includes an off-topic contemporary chronicle relating to the Crusade of Varna. He gives a valuable account of the impulsive love marriage of Edward IV to Elizabeth Woodville, and the horrified reaction of the Privy Council who told the King with great frankness that " he must know she was no wife for a prince such as himself".

The text remained in manuscript. The only complete version was in the library of Louis de Gruuthuse. From the beginning to 688, and again from 1399 to 1471, the text was edited for the Rolls Series (5 vols, London, 1864–1891), by William Hardy and E. L. C. P. Hardy, who also translated most of it into English. The section from 1325 to 1471 was edited by L. M. E. Dupont (Paris, 1858–1863).