Philippe Mouskes (before 1220 – 24 February 1282) was the author of a rhymed chronicle that draws on the history of the Franks and France, from the origins until 1242.

Biography

According to Barthelemy-Charles Dumortier, Philippe Mouskes belonged to a family of French aristocrats and was born in the city of Tournai around the end of the 12th century. He is often confused for Philippe le Gande, bishop of Tournai from 1274, who was also called ''Muus''.

Work: the ''Chronique rimée''

Philippe Mouskes is known for his ''Chronique rimée'' (rhymed chronicle) of 31,150 verses, first complete versified chronicle of the kings of France, from the beginnings until Mouskes's time, probably composed between 1242 and 1272. The ''Chronique'' starts with the legend that, following the model of the

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

, makes the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

siblings of Trojan exiled after the fall of Troy. The most important part (a third) is devoted to the reign of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. It ends with the reign of

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), also known as Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. He is widely recognized as the most distinguished of the Direct Capetians. Following the death of his father, Louis ...

, in 1242. Imitating versified chronicles like

Wace Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his car ...

's chronicle of the dukes of Normandy (12th s.), Mouskes reworks materials from the

abbey of Saint-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building is of singular importance historically and archite ...

. The direct historic value and the literary value of the work appear rather weak and it seems that the ''Chronique'', judging from the number of remaining manuscripts, was "coldly received". It is known essentially by the extracts that

du Cange Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77), also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium. Life Educate ...

gives in his ''Glossarium mediae and infimae latinitatis'' and in his edition of the ''

Conquest of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-day siege which ha ...

'' by

Geoffrey of Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for wr ...

. On the other hand, it presents a certain value as a testimony of the ideology of the French leading classes in the years following the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade (), also known as the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229), was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted pri ...

Extract

Quar quant li buens rois Charlemaine
Ot toute mise à son demaine
Provence qui mult iert plentive
De vins, de bois, d'aigue, de rive
As leceours, as menestreux,
Qui sunt auques luxurieus
Le donna toute & departi.

where Philippe Mouskes bitterly regrets that Charlemagne, after conquering

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

, gave it to his clowns and minstrels (''leceours'' = ''lècheurs'', "gluttons", "parasites").

References

Sources

Histoire Littéraire de la France
1838

1678

Bibliography

*''Chronique rimée'', edited by

Frédéric Auguste Ferdinand Thomas de Reiffenberg Frédéric and Frédérick are the French versions of the common male given name Frederick. They may refer to: In artistry: * Frédéric Back, Canadian award-winning animator * Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor * Frédéric Bazille, Impress ...

, 1836. * Exhaustive list of editions and references, in: M. De Reu, 'Philippe Mousket, Chronique rimée; Historia regum francorum', in The Narrative Sources from the Medieval Low Countries. De verhalende bronnen uit de Zuidelijke Nederlanden (Brussels: Koninklijke Commissie voor Geschiedenis, since 2009), ID S050
Narrative Sources
(consulted on 21 March 2011). {{DEFAULTSORT:Mouskes, Philippe 1282 deaths 13th-century French historians Bishops of Tournai Year of birth uncertain French male writers