Georges Chastellain
Georges Chastellain (c. 1405 or c. 1415 – 20 March 1475),
Biography
Early life
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Georges Chastellain derived his surname from the fact that his ancestors were burgraves or châtelains of the town; his parents, who belonged to illustrious Flemish families, were probably the Jean Chastellain and his wife Marie de Masmines mentioned in the town records in 1425 and 1432. A copy of an epitaph originally at Valenciennes states that he died on 20 March 1474-5 aged seventy. But since he states that he was so young a child in 1430 that he could not recollect the details of events in that year, and since he was an ecolier at Louvain in 1430, his birth may probably be placed nearer 1415 than 1405.[2]
He saw active service in the Anglo-French wars and probably elsewhere, winning the surname of L'adventureux. In 1434 he received a gift from
During these years Chastellain had ample opportunity of obtaining an intimate knowledge of French affairs, but on the further breach between the two princes, Chastellain left the French service to enter Philip's household. He was at first pantler, then carver, titles which are misleading as to the actual nature of his services, which were those of a diplomatist; and in 1457 he became a member of the ducal council. He was continually employed on diplomatic errands until 1455, when, owing apparently to ill-health, he received apartments in the palace of the counts of Hainaut at Salle-le-Comte, Valenciennes, with a considerable pension, on condition that the recipient should put in writing choses nouvelles et morales, and a chronicle of notable events. That is to say, he was appointed Burgundian historiographer with a recommendation to write also on other subjects not strictly within the scope of a chronicler.[2]
Mid-life
From this time he worked hard at his Chronique, with occasional interruptions in his retreat to fulfil missions in France or to visit the Burgundian court. He was assisted, from about 1463 onwards, by his disciple and
Among his contemporaries Chastellain acquired a great reputation by his poems and occasional pieces now little considered. The unfinished state of his Chronique at the time of his death, coupled with political considerations, may possibly account for the fact that it remained unprinted during the century that followed his death, before his historical work was disinterred from the libraries of Arras, Paris and Brussels by the painstaking researches of Jean Alexandre Buchon in 1825.[2]
Chastellain was constantly engaged during the earlier part of his career in negotiations between the French and Burgundian courts, and thus had personal knowledge of the persons and events dealt with in his history. A partisan element in writing of French affairs was inevitable in a Burgundian chronicle. This feature appears most strongly in his treatment of
Legacy
Among his most sympathetic portraits are those of his friend Pierre de Brézé and of
The known extant fragments of Chastellain's Chroniques with his other works were edited by
Works
- Chronique des choses de mon temps, a history of the years 1417–74, of which only fragments remain, continued after Chastellain's death, by his disciple, Jean Molinet. It was first edited by Buchon in Les chroniques nationales (1827) and re-edited by Kervyn de Lettenhove (8 vols., Brussels, 1863–67).
- "Louange à la tresglorieuse Vierge" (c. 1455). Ed. by Cynthia J. Brown as part of: "Variance and Late Medieval Mouvance: Reading an Edition of Georges Chastellain's 'Louange à la tresglorieuse Vierge,' in: Translation, Transformation, and Transubstantiation, ed. Carol Poster and Richard Utz (Evanston: IL: Northwestern University Press, 1998), pp. 123–75 (original text and English translation on pp. 136–75)
- Récollections des merveilles advenues en mon temps (Antwerp, 1505).
- Chronique de Messire Jean de Lalaing, a delightful biography.
References
- ^ Herbermann 1913.
- ^ a b c d e f g Chisholm 1911, p. 958.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 958–959.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chastellain, Georges". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 958–959. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Georges Chastellain". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Graeme Small, George Chastelain and the Shaping of Valois Burgundy: Political and Historical Culture at Court in the Fifteenth Century Royal Historical Society, 1997 (Studies in History); reprinted in paperback by ISBN 978-1-843-83634-6