FROISSART, Jean. — Chronicler and poet, b. at Valenciennes in 1337 (?), d. in Hainaut after 1404.
He is famous for his *Chroniques*, a vivid fresco of the wars in Europe from 1327 (which, among other things, provides many details about the popes), chronicles that are historically shallow, not always reliable, often partial either for the English or the French, but always sustained by a splendid narrative gift born of a conscious love for the world of chivalry. Religious and devout, though worldly, F. bows to the threats, which, according to Sainte-Beuve, remain in him as vestiges of the Fabian duties of Joinville. — See pl. CXX.
Bibl.: C. A. Sainte-Beuve, *Causeries du lundi*, IX, Paris 1854, pp. 61-96; F. Chabod, s.V. ENOCH. Ital., XVI (1932), pp. 104-105 and bibliography cited there, to which he adds: F. S. Schurhammer, *Chronicler and poet*, London 1930.