from personal contact with those who were making history. His narrative begins with the
murder of John the Fearless at Montereau in 1419 and ends, uncompleted, in 1474.
Chastellain’s official successor was Jean Molinet (1433–1507), who assumed the title of
official historiographer in 1475, having worked with Chastellain for many years. In his
chronicle, which covers the years 1474–1506, he also attempts objectivity but obviously
favors his patron.
Although Olivier de La Marche (1425–1502), friend and colleague of Georges
Chastellain, was never appointed official historiographer, his memoirs cover the years
1435–88. He witnessed both the grandeur and dismemberment of the empire acquired by
the dukes. He organized many entertainments at court, including the Pheasant Banquet.
He was particularly talented at describing feasts, tournaments, customs, and clothing.
Among the other chroniclers of the house of Burgundy are Edmundus de Dynter, Le
Fèvre de Saint-Remy, Jacques du Clercq, Jean de Wavrin, Jean de Haynin, Hugues de
Tolins, and Philippe Wielant.
Deborah H.Nelson
[See also: CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES; DU CLERQ, JACQUES; FROISSART,
JEAN; HISTORIOGRAPHY; LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE; MOLINET, JEAN; VOW
CYCLE]
Doutrepont, Georges. La littérature française à la cour des ducs de Bourgogne. Paris: Champion,
1909.
BURGUNDY
. The region that medievalists today generally call Burgundy is the duchy of Burgundy:
the area located between the Saône and the Loire, stretching from a little south of Sens
and Troyes to north of Lyon. The duchy’s major cities were Dijon and Autun; its
bishoprics were Autun, Auxerre, Chalon-sur-Saône, Langres, Mâcon, and Nevers. (Dijon
became a bishopric only in the early 18th century.) Located halfway between Paris and
the Mediterranean, the duchy of Burgundy is often considered the cultural and religious
heart of France.
Burgundy is a watershed where waters divide for the Atlantic (via the Loire), the
English Channel (via the Seine), and the Mediterranean (via the Rhône). In the center of
the duchy rises the Morvan, a wild area, even today, of granite mountains. On the eastern
edge, the floodplain of the Saône has worn away the limestone deposited over the granite,
making an abrupt drop, the Côte. Here, the good drainage and the morning sun falling on
the grapes have produced superb wines, which have been traded throughout Europe since
Roman times. In the economic expansion of the high Middle Ages, Burgundy became
especially noted as a wine-growing region. Because the rivers of northern Burgundy
drain into the Seine, it was easy for growers to load their barrels on barges and float them
downstream to the profitable markets at Paris. A chronicler of the late 13th century
commented that in the region around Auxerre no one grew grain, only grapes.
Burgundia was also used in the Middle Ages to describe regions other than the duchy
of Burgundy. The name derives from the Burgundians, one of the Germanic tribes that
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 292