Jean de Joinville (, c. 1 May 1224 – 24 December 1317) was one of the great
chroniclers of
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. He is most famous for writing the ''Life of Saint Louis'', a biography of
Louis IX of France that chronicled the
Seventh Crusade.''
[Villehardouin, G. de., Joinville, J. (1955–1908)]
Memoirs of the Crusades
London: J.M. Dent. p. 184 (known as Scecedin)''
Biography
Son of
Simon of Joinville
}; la, Symon de Jovisvillæ) was a French knight, who became the Lord of Joinville from 1204 until his death in 1233. He was also the hereditary seneschal of the County of Champagne.
Biography
Simon was the fourth son of Geoffrey IV of Joinvill ...
and Beatrice d'Auxonne, and brother of
Geoffrey de Geneville
Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville (c. 1226 – 21 October 1314) also known as Geoffrey de Joinville, was an Anglo-French noble, supporter of Henry III, who appointed him Baron of Trim, County Meath, and, subsequently, a staunch supporte ...
, Jean belonged to a noble family from
Champagne
Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, ...
. He received an education befitting a young noble at the court of
Theobald IV of Champagne
Theobald I (french: Thibaut, es, Teobaldo; 30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), also called the Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous ...
, including reading, writing, and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. On the death of his father in 1233, he became
lord of Joinville and
seneschal of Champagne (and was therefore personally connected to Theobald IV). He was a very pious man and was concerned with the proper administration of the region.
In 1241, he accompanied Theobald to the court of
Louis IX of France (the future Saint Louis). In 1244, when Louis organized the
Seventh Crusade, Joinville decided to join with the Christian knights just as his father had done 35 years earlier against the
Albigensians. At the time of the crusade, Joinville placed himself in the service of the king and became his counsellor and confidant. In 1250, when the king and his troops were captured by the
Mameluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
s in the
Battle of Al Mansurah, Joinville, among the captives, participated in the negotiations and the collection of the
ransom. Joinville probably brought himself even closer to the king in the difficult times that followed the failure of the crusade (including the death of his brother
Robert, Count of Artois). It was Joinville who advised the king to stay in the Holy Land instead of returning immediately to France as the other lords had wanted; the king followed Joinville's advice. During the following four years spent in the Holy Land Joinville was the constant advisor to the king, who knew that he could count on Joinville's frankness and absolute devotion.
In 1270, Louis IX, although very weakened physically, undertook
a new crusade with his three sons. Any enthusiasm Joinville had for the previous crusade had been knocked out of him, and he refused to follow Louis, recognizing the uselessness of the enterprise and convinced that the duty of the king was not to leave the kingdom that needed him. In fact, the expedition was a worse disaster than its predecessor and the king died of
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
outside
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
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on August 25, 1270.
From 1271, the papacy carried out a long inquest on the subject of Louis IX, which ended with his
canonization, announced in 1297 by
Pope Boniface VIII. As Joinville had been a close friend of the king, his counselor and his confidant, his testimony was invaluable to the inquest, where he appeared as a witness in 1282.
At the request of
Jeanne of Navarre, the queen, he began work on the ''Histoire de Saint Louis'', which he completed in 1309. Joinville died on 24 December 1317, over 93 years old, nearly fifty years after the death of Louis.
''Life of Saint Louis''
Commissioning of the work
Jeanne of Navarre, wife of
Philip IV of France (and granddaughter of Count Theobald IV), asked Joinville to write Louis' biography. He then put himself to the task of writing ''livre des saintes paroles et des bons faiz de nostre saint roy Looÿs'' (as he himself called it), today known as the ''Life of Saint Louis''. Jeanne of Navarre died on 2 April 1305, while the work was not yet completed. Joinville dedicated it in 1309 to her son, Louis,
king of Navarre
This is a list of the kings and queens of Pamplona, later Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial designation Navarre came into use as an alternative name in the ...
and count of Champagne, the future
Louis X of France
Louis X (4 October 1289 – 5 June 1316), known as the Quarrelsome (french: le Hutin), was King of France from 1314 and King of Navarre as Louis I from 1305 until his death. He emancipated serfs who could buy their freedom and readmitted Jews in ...
.
Composition and date
As noted, the book was not completed when Jeanne of Navarre died in 1305. In addition, the oldest existing
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...
ends with this note: " ''Ce fu escript en l'an de grace mil .CCC. et .IX. ''
309
__NOTOC__
Year 309 ( CCCIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Licinianus and Constantius (or, less frequentl ...
', ou moys d'octovre'' ". This is not precisely the date of the writing of the manuscript, because it was obviously written later. Therefore, it is either the date of the completion of the work by Joinville, or the date of the manuscript which served as the model to the surviving copies. The work was therefore written between 1305 and 1309. By other evidence, one can equally argue that a passage at the very end of the book, relating a dream of Joinville, could not have been written before 1308. Joinville therefore finished his work a short time before giving it to Louis.
Tradition of the text
The surviving manuscripts consist of one old copy of the text and two later copies. The manuscript that was given to Louis has not survived.
The oldest manuscript is obviously very close to the original. It is found in the inventory of 1373 of the library of
Charles V of France
Charles V (21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380), called the Wise (french: le Sage; la, Sapiens), was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380. His reign marked an early high point for France during the Hundred Years' War, with his armi ...
. Furthermore, according to the
illuminations
Illuminations may refer to:
Shows and festivals
* IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, a nightly fireworks show currently at Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort
*'' IllumiNations'', original nightly firework show at Epcot at Walt Disney World Resor ...
, it can be dated to the years 1330–1340, about 20 years after the original manuscript. This copy remained in the royal library and then passed to
Philip the Good,
Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...
, before reaching
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, where it was lost. It was rediscovered only in 1746, when Brussels was taken by French troops. This Brussels manuscript is now located in the
Bibliothèque nationale de France. It is one volume of 391 pages in two columns. The first page is decorated with gold and illuminations, and with a painting representing Joinville presenting his book to Louis. The text is divided into paragraphs, each beginning with a gilded letter.
Two editions have been created from one translation of Joinville's text (which does not survive itself), created by Antoine Pierre in 1547 and by Claude Ménard in 1617 respectively. Pierre's text is corrupted from the modifications of the original text and from fanciful additions, while Ménard's is an excellent scholarly work.
Finally, a third copy of the text comes from two manuscripts which appear to date from the second quarter of the 16th century. These are modernized transcriptions with systematic renovation of the language, from one older manuscript and the Brussels manuscript.
General perspectives on the work
Joinville was a knight. He was neither a cleric skilled in composing books, nor a chronicler informed by researching written or oral information. Nevertheless, his writing is sincere and neutral. He wrote about everything he personally experienced during the reign of Saint Louis, essentially the crusade in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and their stay in the Holy Land. His narrative is full of life, anecdotes and even humour. It is more of a personal testimony about the king than a history of his reign.
The freshness and precision of his memories are impressive, especially since he wrote his work some decades after the fact. Certain medievalists explain this by supposing that Joinville had often recounted his past orally or that he had previously committed it to writing before beginning his work.
Joinville speaks almost as much about himself as he does about the king, the subject of his book, but he does it in such a natural manner that he never gives the impression that he wants to place himself above the king. Thus we have an incomparable clarity about the ways of thinking of a 13th-century man. For this reason, modern editors have sometimes said the work is more of a memoir than a history or a biography of Saint Louis.
The ''holy words''
The first part of Joinville's work is dedicated to the holy words of the king. Joinville writes about the edifying words of the king and his Christian virtues.
Speeches are very important among Louis' court. His speech is moral and didactic, reflecting the speech of the preachers (
Dominicans and
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
s) who surround him. It transmits a moral and religious teaching and often aims to strengthen the faith of the recipient. An intimacy exists between the king and his followers (his family, confidants, and counselors, among whom are Joinville and
Robert de Sorbon
Robert de Sorbon (; 9 October 1201 – 15 August 1274) was a French theologian, the chaplain of Louis IX of France, and founder of the Sorbonne college in Paris.
Biography
Born into a poor family in Sorbon, in what is now the Ardennes ''dépar ...
) who express themselves particularly in the conversation: the king invites his audience to respond to his questions, often with the aim of instructing them with moral and religious plans. This importance of the royal speech is particularly well rendered by Joinville, who often has his characters speak. He is one of the first memoirists to integrate reconstructed dialogue into a tale. He most often uses a direct style and marks the interventions of his characters with "he said" or "he did." And Joinville never has his characters speak in long monologues: the lessons are always shown from dialogue.
In addition, it is through the words of the king that his profound faith and sanctity are shown. For Joinville, Louis IX embodies the ideal ''prud'homme'' - pious, courageous, kind, intelligent and wise, a man who defends the Christian faith by his courage. And in fact, in Joinville's work he shows the king to have an ardent love of God, benevolent to his people, humble, moderate and courteous, wise and just, peaceful, loyal and generous. In some respects Joinville is sometimes not far from writing a
hagiography.
![Seventh crusade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Seventh_crusade.jpg)
Joinville, like his king, was obviously very attached to the Christian religion, to its doctrines, its morality and its practices. For proof of this there is a small work of edification, composed in 1250, titled ''li romans as ymages des poinz de nostre foi'', where Joinville makes a brief commentary on the
Credo
In Christian liturgy, the credo (; Latin for "I believe") is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – or its shorter version, the Apostles' Creed – in the Mass, either as a prayer, a spoken text, or sung as Gregorian chant or other musical sett ...
. But his deep and sincere faith contrasts with the almost exalted Christian heroism of the king. The Christianity of Joinville is closer to that of the common people.
The crusade
Joinville recounts equally the high deeds of Saint Louis, in particular the unfolding of the Seventh Crusade and the following stay in the Holy Land, which occupies most of the book.
Bibliography
* Cristian Bratu, « Je, auteur de ce livre »: L’affirmation de soi chez les historiens, de l’Antiquité à la fin du Moyen Âge. Later Medieval Europe Series (vol. 20). Leiden: Brill, 2019 ().
* Cristian Bratu, "''Je, aucteur de ce livre'': Authorial Persona and Authority in French Medieval Histories and Chronicles." In ''Authorities in the Middle Ages. Influence, Legitimacy and Power in Medieval Society''. Sini Kangas, Mia Korpiola, and Tuija Ainonen, eds. (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2013): 183–204.
* Cristian Bratu, "''Clerc, Chevalier, Aucteur'': The Authorial Personae of French Medieval Historians from the 12th to the 15th centuries." In ''Authority and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles''. Juliana Dresvina and Nicholas Sparks, eds. (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012): 231–259.
References
External links
*
''The Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville'', translated by Ethel Wedgwood (1906)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joinville, Jean De
1224 births
1317 deaths
Crusade literature
French chroniclers
13th-century French historians
French male non-fiction writers
Louis IX of France
Christians of the Sixth Crusade
French memoirists