Appointed to one of the vacant posts of marshal, he held that office until shortly before
his death in early 1368.
Boucicaut was already advanced in years when his son, the younger Jean le Meingre
(1366–1421), was born at Tours. By the age of eighteen, the young Boucicaut had fought
in his first campaign and served as a chamberlain to the duke of Burgundy. In 1391, he
became a marshal of France, the post he held for twenty-seven years. He also served as
governor of Dauphiné (1399–1407) and of Genoa (1401–09). Although he was celebrated
in the annals of French chivalry (Livre des fais du bon messire Jehan le Maingre, dit
Bouciquaut, found in a single manuscript; 1406–09), historians remember him today for
his role in two French military disasters, the battles of Nicopolis (1396) and Agincourt
(1415), at both of which he was taken prisoner. He died a captive in England in 1421. His
younger brother Geoffroy le Meingre was known as “le petit Boucicaut.”
John Bell Henneman, Jr.
[See also: AGINCOURT; MARSHAL; NICOPOLIS]
Lalande, Denis, ed. Le livre des fais du bon messire Jehan le Maingre, dit Bouciquaut. Geneva:
Droz, 1985.
Bozzolo, Carla, and Hélène Loyau. La cour amoureuse dite de Charles VI. Paris: Leopard d’Or,
1982, Vol. 1: Étude et édition critique des sources manuscrites.
Lalande, Denis. Jean II le Meingre, dit Boucicaut (1366–1421): étude d’une biographie héroïque.
Geneva: Droz, 1988.
BOUCICAUT MASTER
. An anonymous manuscript illuminator active in Paris during the first two decades of the
15th century, named for the patron of his most elaborate work, a book of hours
illuminated for Jean le Meingre II, marshal of Boucicaut (Paris, Musée Jacquemart André
2). Sometimes associated with Jacques Cœur from Bourges, he is believed to have
headed a large and prolific atelier; his style dominated French manuscript illumination
into the 1420s.
Robert G.Calkins
[See also: BEDFORD MASTER; CŒUR, JACQUES; MANUSCRIPTS,
PRODUCTION AND ILLUMINATION]
Durrieu, Paul. “Le Maître des Heures du maréchal de Boucicaut.” Revue de l’art ancien et moderne
19(1906):401ff.
——. “Les Heures du maréchal de Boucicaut du Musée Jacquemart André.” Revue de l’art chrétien
63(1913):73–81, 145–64, 300–14; 64(1914):28–35.
Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Boucicaut Master. London:
Phaidon, 1968.
Panofsky, Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting. 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1953, Vol. 1, pp. 53–61.
The Encyclopedia 261