280 Froissart, Jean
and trade between western Europe and the Baltic Sea.
They carried there not just the products of their region
but the first Christian missionaries to Scandinavia. The
lure of their rich cargoes probably motivated the explo-
sion of VIKING piracy in the late ninth century. The
Frisians were their first victims.
Because of destructive piracy, the pillaging and par-
tial occupation of Frisia by the Danish Vikings, and the
neglect of dikes and barriers to the sea, Frisia by the end
of the ninth century had lost its central place in the com-
munication and trading system of northern Europe. Inte-
grated in 843 into Lower Lotharingia, then in 870 into
the kingdom of Germany, Frisia was split among several
small principalities, including those of the bishopric of
Utrecht and the county of HOLLAND. The initiatives and
oppressive demands of local lords turned the population
away from trade and forced them, from the late 10th cen-
tury, to work in the draining of coastal swamps. The suc-
cess of these clearings enabled the communities and
inhabitants of Frisia to demand freedom from the old
seigniorial powers and attain local autonomy that lasted
into the 16th century.
Further reading:J. C. Besteman, et al., The Excava-
tions at Wijnaldum: Reports on Frisia in Roman and
Medieval Times (Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema, 1999); A
Russchen, New Light on Dark-Age Frisia(Drachten: Lav-
ernman, 1967).
Froissart, Jean (Jehan) (ca. 1337–ca. 1404) French
priest, poet, itinerant writer
Jean Froissart was born to a humble family in Valenciennes
about 1337. Well educated for service in the church, he
was later received into the priesthood. He was little suited
to the austerity of religious life, even though he was canon
of the collegial church of Chimay and chaplain to the
count of Blois. After his arrival in ENGLANDin 1361, he
entered the service of Queen Philippa (ca. 1314–69), wife
of EDWARDIII. His early poems and his heroic stories
pleased the English court, but after her death in 1369 he
returned to Valenciennes. Four years later Froissart was
received by Wenceslas IV of Luxembourg (r. 1378–1419),
then the duke of BRABANT, who was his patron until 1384.
From 1389 he was generally at Valenciennes or Chimay
until he again left in 1394 for England, where he was well
received by King RICHARDII. Froissart was still alive in
1404, but the date of his death is unknown. He may have
died in Chimay in Modern Belgium.
His three large volumes of poetry ranged from pas-
toral poems, to narrative and didactic poems and to
courtly poetry. Froissart’s Chroniclesbegan in 1327 and
ended in 1400. Unlike Geoffroi de VILLEHARDOUINand
Jean de JOINVILLE, Froissart was never involved person-
ally in public affairs or military action; he traveled and
talked to many of the participants in the great affairs of
his time. He had an ability to induce people to tell him
what they knew and became acquainted with many peo-
ple. He was at his best in describing the coronation of
John II (r. 1350–64) and the visit of Philip VI (r.
1328–50) of FRANCEto Pope Benedict XII (r. 1334–42) at
AVIGNON. He remained an important source for the
everyday life and manners of the 14th-century nobility.
See alsoCHIVALRY;HUNDREDYEARS’WAR.
Further reading:Jean Froissart, Froissart’s Chronicles,
trans. and ed. John Jolliffe (New York: Modern Library,
1967); Jean Froissart, Jean Froissart: An Anthology of Nar-
rative and Lyric Poetry,ed. and trans. Kristen M. Figg with
R. Barton Palmer (New York: Routledge, 2001); Kristen
M. Figg, The Short Lyric Poems of Jean Froissart: Fixed
Forms and the Expression of the Courtly Idea(New York:
Garland, 1994); Peter F. Ainsworth, Jean Froissart and the
Fabric of History: Truth, Myth, and Fiction in the
Chroniques (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990); Donald
Maddox and Sara Sturm-Maddox, eds., Froissart across
the Genres (Gainesville: University Press of Florida,
1998); J. J. N. Palmer, ed., Froissart Historian(Wood-
bridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1981).fruits and nuts SeeFOOD, DRINK, AND NUTRITION.Fulbert, Saint, bishop of Chartres(ca. 950–1028)
builder, teacher, principal of the School of Chartres,
statesman, theologian
Born about 960 in Rome, Fulbert studied at RHEIMSunder
GERBERTof Aurillac, the future Pope SYLVESTERII, then at
what became the famous school of CHARTRES, where, after
also working for a time as a physician, he became bishop
in 1006. A well-known scholar and diplomat, he played
important roles in contemporary politics and theological
debates; taught numerous students, including BERENGAR
of Tours; and wrote a letter describing the ideology of FEU-
DALISM, emphasizing its mutuality. Almost immediately
from his death in 1028 he was honored as a saint by many.
An image of him has survived, dated 1028, in an illumina-
tion in a manuscript at Chartres showing him preaching
in front of the earlier cathedral he had built. He died on
April 10, 1028, in Chartres. He was never formally canon-
ized as an officially recognized saint.
Further reading:Fulbert of Chartres, The Letters and
Poems of Fulbert of Chartres, ed. and trans. Frederick
Behrends (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976); Loren Carey
MacKinney, Bishop Fulbert and Education at the School of
Chartres(Notre Dame, Ind.; Mediaeval Institute, Univer-
sity of Notre Dame, 1957).Fulcher of Chartres(ca. 1059–ca. 1127)clerical
chronicler of the First Crusade
Born in the county around CHARTRES, he studied at the
cathedral school there, where he became a cleric. In 1095
he attended the Council of CLERMONTand served in the