Tmies Aim OBJECTIVES in FEENCH M'itart LITERATURE of THE
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TmiES Aim OBJECTIVES IN FEENCH m'iTART LITERATURE OF THE XVIth, CENTURY ROBERT STEVEN WARBLE ProQuest Number: 10107239 All rights reserved INF0RMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10107239 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 This study of French Military Literature in the XVIth, century concentrates upon a restricted number of writers whose works all present different facets of the same theme, that of warfare. All the writers in this study were themselves soldiers. At this period, the French militia was run, though not actually controlled, by members of the lesser nobility, under Royal jurisdiction, though they often had little influence at Court. Generally, it was the less exalted who took up their pens. It is an object of this study to discover why the members of a class normally illiterate and considering itself above the mechanical art of writing took to literature in these years. In view of their similar background, is it possible to discern the germination of a military school of literature? The frequent recurrence of basic themes and the manner of their handling by these writers justify the attempt at a literary assessment of their work, French Military Literature of this period was affected by external factors; the changes in warfare, the civil wars in France, and the uncertain state of recorded history. These writers had to adjust their code of ethics vihen coming to terms with the spreading use of fire-arms, the employment of force in settling matters of conscience. They had to decide for themselves what it was legitimate to include in their own version of history. The examination of their work has been divided into two sections; the first traces the development of military literature through medieval and renaissance works, placing XVIth, century French works in their own context; the second is devoted to a comparison of objectives and thematic material in than. There follows a tentative evaluation of military literature as it emerges from a study of representative works. INDEX page I Military history to the end of the XVth. century 1 II Le Jouvencel and the Histoire de Bayart 13 III Classical and Foreign Influences up to Fourquevaux's Instructions sur le faiet de la guerre 34 IV Raymond de Beccarie de Pavie, sieur de Fourquevaux 45 V Popular history and the Du Bellay memoirs 53 VI Blaise de Monluc and the Commentaires 62 VII The Vie de Gaspard de Saulx. Seigneur de Tavannes and its composition 77 VIII The Duc de Bouillon: a writer in disgrace 89 IX François de la Noue and the Discours Politiques et Militaires 98 X D'Aubignë, military writer and historian 109 XI The Soldier’s view of contemporary warfare 124 XII The Development of Warfare 133 XIII The Solder’s view of History and Memoirs 144 XIV The Soldier’s prejudice against literature 156 XV The defence and object of military literature 167 XVI The advocacy of education for the nobility 181 XVII Propaganda for the military nobility 190 XVIII The survival of the Crusading Spirit in military literature 196 XIX Military writers and reform 205 XX Towards an evaluation of military literature 214 Appendix I XVIth. century military writers listed by Hauser 227 Appendix II Tavannes*s borrowings 229 Appendix III The Du Bellay Family 231 Appendix IV Biographies ^ 2 Bibliography ^7 I Military History to the end of the XVth. century In early times, whenever a great person died, his illiterate relatives would enlist the services of a biographer to record his life and deeds. Such was the case at the death of Charlemagne who had done much to foster the extension of education at his court. The scholar who set about recording Charlemagne*s life for posterity was Einhard, and in his Vita Karoli he followed the example of Suetonius, a latin biographer studied in the library at Aix. This * approved* biography was merely a eulogy of the emperor; throughout, events and persons were classified according to whether they were good or bad, and the historical matter was presented as a chain of cause and effect. The work was therefore unindividual, and we know nothing of Charlemagne*s private motives nor of the true nature of life under his rule. As history, such a work is highly suspect: it propounded the thesis that Charlemagne was a hero; it was written at the request of Charlemagne*s court and was thus biased in order to draw a flattering portrait; and it ended with an enconium in which all Charlemagne* s heroic qualities were proclaimed. Yet this IXth. century work was at the head of a torrent of encomiastic literature which flowed throughout the Middle Ages(l); a very similar work, the Histoire de Bayart of 1527, is considered in Chapter II. It is unfortunate that the prospect of material reward for favourable biographies should have so coloured historical productions of the early Middle Ages, but it is natural enough: from the first half of the Xllth. century onwards....the historian...moves from the monastery to the Court... The age of (l) See Blanchard W. Bates: Literary Portraiture in the Historical Narrative of the French Renaissance. New York, 1945. 2 patrons has arrived... It was, perhaps, easier for the chronicler, for kings and great men not unnaturally wish their deeds and conquests to be handed down to posterity and for this they would be willing to pay.” (l) Rhymed chronicles, such as Gaimar*s Estoire des Enqleis. were written to command and sometimes reached enormous proportions (2), Henry II commissioned Wace to write up the histories of his pre decessors, the Dukes of Normandy, with consequent bias against all who had stood in the way of their progress. Perhaps it is not unreasonable to see in these works a propagandist intention and reminiscences of the heroic literature of the "chansons de geste*, in which the characters were half-historical and half-legendary. History and legend were never far apart in any case, and we recall that it is to Geoffrey of Monmouth*s Historia that we principally owe the legend of King Arthur: Wace, a professional historian, be it noted, added many details to this legend in his translation, of which that of the Round Table itself is not the least. More scrupulous in its treatment of the mental attitude of the Teutonic knights towards the Fourth Crusade is the Conquête de Constantinople by Geoffroy de Villehardouin (c.ll60 - c.1213). It marks a departure from previous practice not only in its under standing of attitudes and the motivation lurking beneath the surface of events, but also in its abandonment of octosyllabic couplets for the narration of history. It is considered to be the first work in good French prose. Villehardouin was both a historian and a (1) J. Crosland: Medieval French Literature. Oxford, 1956, p.l95. Chapter VIII is a general review of medieval chroniclers and historians. (2) La Vie de Guillaume le Maréchal, one of the last, ran to 19,000 lines; see ibid., p.201 3 participant in the events he described: thus, his claim to competence in this field must be rated highly, Froissart, on the other hand, seems to have been a minor person with no influence on affairs, though it is certain that he knew the central figures of his tales. His work was international in reflecting events and characters on both sides of the Channel during the XlVth. century. He was strongest in his descriptions of battles and pageantry, but there was a lack of comment on the motives behind each military action. Yet he was noteworthy in advancing the narration by the inclusion of dialogue; his Chroniques are colourful and entertaining, and resemble the work of Brantôme in their story-book presentation of history. But there was another aspect of his work: he set out to record “deeds of heroism and nobility, so many examples of courtesy and fair-dealing in war."(l), in order to incite the hearts of young knights to deeds of prowess. Thus a didactic motive crept in. One may also detect the snobbery of the 'parvenu* who aped the nobility in their contempt of the common man, Froissart embraced the already decadent concept of chivalry and forgot all other standards of conduct (2), He rarely raised the voice of criticism except to protest at the cruelty of a slaughter at Limoges after the Battle of Poitiers (1356) and to note a sense of decay at the court of Richard II, Criticism was more to the fore in the Arbre des Batailles of Honoré Bonet which, it is assumed, was written about the year 1386 (3). (1) R. L. Kilgour: The Decline of Chivalry. Harvard, 1937, p.66 (2) ibid., p.58. (3) M.J.D. Cockle (in A Bibliography of English military books up to 1642 and of Contemporary foreign works. London. 1900) assigns Bonet*s book a place as one of the very first works on the Art Military to be printed at Paris, in 1493, ref.504. Dr.G .Dickinson appears to have found a copy printed at Lyon in 1477: see her edition of Fourquevaux*s Instructions.