The Scandalous Chronicle forms so valuable a supplement to the Memoirs
of Commines, that I have determined to follow the example of previous
editors, and insert it in this place. In reliance on the opinion of
Petitot, I have ascribed its authorship to Jean de Troyes.
The literary history of this work is somewhat singular. The first known
edition was published under the following title,—_The Chronicle of the
very Christian and very victorious Louis of Valois (whom God absolve!),
eleventh of the name; with various other adventures which occurred in the
kingdom of France, as well as in neighbouring countries, from the year
1460 to the year 1483 inclusive_. It is a small folio volume, printed
in Gothic characters, and was probably published about the end of the
fifteenth century, though the title-page bears no date, and mentions
neither the author’s nor the printer’s name. The three following editions
are equally silent as to the authorship of the work; but the fifth
edition, published in 1529, ascribes it to a clerk in the Hotel de Ville
of Paris. In 1583, Gilles Corrozet, in his _Trésor des Histoires de
France_, quotes it as “The Chronicle of King Louis XI. otherwise called
the Scandalous Chronicle, by Jean de Troyes;” and in the following year,
La Croix du Maine, in his _Bibliothèque Française_, makes this statement:
“Jean de Troyes was a French historian of the time of Louis XI., king
of France; he wrote a chronicle of the said king, which is vulgarly
called the Scandalous Chronicle, because it makes mention of everything
done by the said king, and relates matters which are not greatly to his
advantage, but rather to his dishonour and scandal.”
Such is the authority for the name and authorship of the work; and
though slight, it has been deemed sufficient by most bibliographers,
notwithstanding the controversies raised by some eminent writers on the
subject. The Chronicle was first appended to the Memoirs of Commines, in
Jean Godefroy’s edition, published at Brussels in 1713. It will also be
found in Lenglet du Fresnoy’s edition, published in 1747.
The present translation is from the text in Petitot’s great collection of
memoirs relating to the history of France.
But although it has been agreed to attribute this Chronicle to Jean de
Troyes, no researches have succeeded in discovering any particulars
in relation to the author himself. It has not even been positively
established whether he can be identified with the clerk in the Hotel
de Ville of Paris, mentioned on the title-page of some of the earlier
editions. In fact, all is speculation regarding him: but it is
conjectured reasonably enough by Grosley that he was a son of a certain
Jean de Troyes mentioned by Juvenal des Ursins as having distinguished
himself in the disturbances at Paris during the reign of Charles VI.,
and who was appointed Grand Master of the Artillery by Charles VII., in
reward for his services.
It is hard to understand why this should have been called the Scandalous
Chronicle; unless, as Sorel suggests, the name was given to it by some
bookseller in order to pique the curiosity of the public. Far from
seeking to defame Louis XI., the author omits all mention of a vast
number of the actions most discreditable to his memory; and in regard
to his gallantries, he is almost as silent as Commines. The chief
characteristic of the work is its straightforward simplicity: it is
full of curious remarks on passing events, such as might be made by a
superficial observer, who took no pains to penetrate into the causes and
consequences of the occurrences he describes. It is this quality which
renders the perusal of the memoirs of Jean de Troyes most interesting,
after reading those of Commines. The latter unmasks the policy of his
sovereign, reveals all his intrigues, and indicates the secret springs of
his conduct; the former attempts nothing of the kind, but merely portrays
events in the light in which Louis XI. desired that they should be seen
by his subjects. Take, for instance, the narrative of the king’s visit
to Peronne, in 1468. No one would suppose, from the account given by
Jean de Troyes, that Louis, a dupe to his own artifices, had imprudently
placed himself in the power of the Duke of Burgundy, and been detained
a prisoner by him; the treaties concluded in the town appear to have
been signed freely by the French monarch, who thereupon voluntarily
consented to join Duke Charles in his expedition against the Liegeois.
After reading the true history of the whole affair in Commines, it is
curious to notice the colour which the king gave to it in the eyes of
his subjects, in order to keep them in ignorance of the dangers he had
incurred by his own fault, and of the excess of humiliation to which he
had been subjected by his less wily rival.
In many other respects, this Chronicle is no less valuable and
instructive. It is not only remarkable for many curious traits
characteristic of its individual author; but it contains interesting
details of the manners and customs, of the habits and domestic life, of
the Parisians, and of the view they took of contemporary events. Indeed,
no existing work supplies us with a better picture of Paris as it was
towards the end of the fifteenth century.
As Jean de Troyes for the most part relates only what he heard, and
was seldom an eyewitness of the occurrences which he chronicles, there
are many errors in his memoirs; but these may easily be rectified by
reference to the parallel passages in Commines, where they have not been
expressly corrected in the notes.