poet, addressing a nightingale, extolls the beauty of his ladylove. Purely lyrical also is the
Dit de la margueritte (192 lines): the poet sings the praise of his flower-ladylove. The
Plaidoirie de la rose et de la violette (342 lines) is a perfect example of Froissart’s ability
to flatter: these two flowers ask the court of France to decide which of them is more
worthy of praise. The court, presided over by “noble et haulte Flour de Lys” (l. 308) and
seconded not only by the usual allegorical figures of Prowess, Youth, Sense, Gernerosity,
and others, but also by the dukes of Berry, Burgundy, Eu, and La Marche, will some day
pronounce a judgment on all flowers, even on Froissart’s flower, the daisy.
More apparently autobiographical are the last two dits presented without inserted
lyrics or mythological allusions. The Débat dou cheval et dou levrier (92 lines) shows
Froissart returning from Scotland and overhearing a discussion between his horse and his
greyhound on the joys and sorrows of their respective existences. The Dit dou florin (490
lines) is a debate between Froissart and the last of his coins left from a dissipated fortune.
The poet tells us about the eighty florins that he received from the count of Foix and,
more importantly, informs us that during his stay in Orthez, Froissart read each night, for
eleven weeks, a passage of his Méliador to the count.
If in his lyric and lyrico-narrative poetry Froissart adheres closely to the literary
canons established by Machaut, his verse romance Méliador is perhaps more “original,”
for it is a conscious return to a much earlier tradition. Its other claim to originality lies in
Froissart’s insertion of seventy-nine lyric poems from the pen of his patron Wenceslas of
Luxembourg. While most 14th-century romances are recastings or continuations, usually
in prose, Méliador’s subject is new, though it is composed in the traditional octosyllabic
couplets. The romance of more than 30,000 lines (unfinished and with two lacunae) is set
in a youthful Arthurian court and could be called the “enfances de la Table Ronde.” It
depicts the innumerable adventures, chiefly jousting and chance armed encounters, of
innumerable knights-errant, but the main plot is easily discernible: Hermione, princess of
Scotland, is promised to the knight who proves himself most valiant in a series of
tournaments organized by the ladies. Méliador, son of the duke of Cornwell, is an ideal
knight-errant. At the end, he wins not only Hermione but also the Scottish kingdom,
while his companions win lesser princesses. Méliador, begun in the early 1360s and
completed only after the death of Wenceslas in 1383, reflects the geography and ideology
of Froissart’s early service in Great Britain. As a frank glorification of chivalry, with its
implied desire to revive it in Froissart’s own time, Méliador is a powerful link between
his poetry and the greatest accomplishment of his life, his idealizing, and “restoratory”
Chroniques.
Peter F.Dembowski
[See also: DIT; GASTON PHOEBUS; MACHAUT, GUILLAUME DE;
PASTOURELLE/PASTORELA]
Froissart, Jean. Les œuvres de Froissart—Chroniques, ed. Joseph M.B.C.Kervyn de Lettenhove. 25
vols. in 26. Vols. 1–17, Brussels: Devaux, 1867–73; Vols. 18–25, Brussels: Closson, 1874–77.
[The only complete, but idiosyncratic, edition of the chronicles.]
——. Chroniques de Jean Froissart. 15 vols. Vols. 1–8, part 1, ed. Siméon Luce. Vol. 8, parts 2–
11, ed. Gaston Raynaud. Vol. 12, ed. Léon Mirot. Vol. 13, ed. Léon Mirot and Albert Mirot.
Vols. 14 and 15, ed. Albert Mirot. Vols. 1–4, Paris: Renouard, 1869–73. Vols. 5–7, Paris:
Renouard, H.Loones, successeur, 1874–78. Vols. 8–11, Paris: Renouard, H. Laurens,
successeur, 1888–99. Vol. 12, Paris: Champion, 1931. Vols. 13–15. Paris: Klincksieck, 1957–
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