Excerpt from Chronicles of England, France, Spain and the Adjoining Countries, Vol. 1: From the Latter Part of the Reign of Edward II to the Coronation of Henry IVJean Froissart was born at Valenciennes in the year 1337. Being destined for the Church, he received a liberal education, but soon displayed a passion for poetry and the charms of knightly society. At the age of twenty he began to write a history of the wars of his time, and made several journeys to examine the theatre of the events he was about relate. The composition of this work, which forms the first part of his chronicles, occupied him about three years (1357 On its completion he went over to England, where he was received with great favor by Philippa of Hainault, wife of Edward III. In 1362 she appointed him clerk of her chapel and secretary. Two years afterward he visited Scotland, where he became the guest of King David Bruce, and also of William, Earl of Douglas. Everywhere the gay, poetical, quick-witted, and shrewdly observant Frenchman was welcomed and honored. In 1366 he accompanied the Black Prince to Aquitaine and Bordeaux. He afterward went with the Duke of Clarence to Italy. Froissart, together with Chaucer and Petrarch, was present at the marriage of this prince, at Milan, with the daugh ter of Galeazzo Visconti, and directed the festivities given by Amadeus VI, of Savoy, in honor of the duke. On the death of his protectress Philippa, Froissart gave up all connection with England, and, after many adventures, entered the service of Wenceslaus, Duke of Brabant, as private secretary. The duke himself was a poet, and the chronicler made a collection of his master's verses, to which he added some of his own, and em titled the whole Meliador, or the Knight of the Golden Sun.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.