Making History in the Renaissance with Medieval Manuscripts: Jean Le Féron and the Grandes chroniques de France
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Antoine Brix
Abstract
This article examines the annotations of Jean Le Féron (ca. 1490-ca. 1565)- an antiquarian, historian, genealogist, and heraldist-in a manuscript of the Grandes chroniques de France (Vatican, BAV, Reg. lat. 921; Paris, BnF, MS fr. 4956). Using one of the most widely circulated French texts in the Middle Ages as a foundation for his research and publications during the reign of King Henry II, Le Féron rooted his scholarship in a historiographical work already criticized for its shortcomings. Yet his meticulous annotation work reveals that Le Féron valued the Grandes chroniques and projected his own era’s ideas and interpretations onto earlier centuries of the French monarchy, court, and government, filling in the gaps of his source material. This is particularly evident in his attribution of heraldic blazons to historical figures predating the emergence of heraldry-a practice that emphasized genealogical manuscript continuity and institutional permanence in the kingdom of France. Le Féron’s approach reflects an understanding of the past as cyclical and repetitive rather than linear and progressive, portraying the Merovingian kingdom and Carolingian empire as mirrors of his contemporary France.
Abstract
This article examines the annotations of Jean Le Féron (ca. 1490-ca. 1565)- an antiquarian, historian, genealogist, and heraldist-in a manuscript of the Grandes chroniques de France (Vatican, BAV, Reg. lat. 921; Paris, BnF, MS fr. 4956). Using one of the most widely circulated French texts in the Middle Ages as a foundation for his research and publications during the reign of King Henry II, Le Féron rooted his scholarship in a historiographical work already criticized for its shortcomings. Yet his meticulous annotation work reveals that Le Féron valued the Grandes chroniques and projected his own era’s ideas and interpretations onto earlier centuries of the French monarchy, court, and government, filling in the gaps of his source material. This is particularly evident in his attribution of heraldic blazons to historical figures predating the emergence of heraldry-a practice that emphasized genealogical manuscript continuity and institutional permanence in the kingdom of France. Le Féron’s approach reflects an understanding of the past as cyclical and repetitive rather than linear and progressive, portraying the Merovingian kingdom and Carolingian empire as mirrors of his contemporary France.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- List of Figures XI
- Notes on Contributors XVII
- Introduction: History, Manuscripts, Making 1
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I Strategies of Production
- Assemblages and History in a Medieval French Manuscript from Corbie, ca. 1295: Copenhagen, Kongelige Biblioteket, GKS 487 f° 23
- Writing with the Book: History through the Codex and the Materiality of Autography 47
- Miscellanies of Histories: Perception of the Past and Historiographical Agency of Late Medieval Compilers 71
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II The Stakes of Adaptation
- Writing History with Bede’s Martyrology, 800–1200 95
- Adaptation and Affect in Orderic Vitalis’s Historia ecclesiastica 117
- From Little Egypt to Zurich: Chronicling Romani Immigrants with Late Medieval Manuscripts 141
- Making History in the Renaissance with Medieval Manuscripts: Jean Le Féron and the Grandes chroniques de France 171
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III Configuring History
- Medieval Monastic Manuscripts after the Middle Ages: The Case of St. Nikolaus in undis at Strasbourg 199
- History Branches Out: Narrative and Chronology in Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 225
- Fabulous History: Painting History in Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 5069 253
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IV Response
- Making History with Manuscripts: Response 287
- General Index 303
- Manuscripts Cited 315
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- List of Figures XI
- Notes on Contributors XVII
- Introduction: History, Manuscripts, Making 1
-
I Strategies of Production
- Assemblages and History in a Medieval French Manuscript from Corbie, ca. 1295: Copenhagen, Kongelige Biblioteket, GKS 487 f° 23
- Writing with the Book: History through the Codex and the Materiality of Autography 47
- Miscellanies of Histories: Perception of the Past and Historiographical Agency of Late Medieval Compilers 71
-
II The Stakes of Adaptation
- Writing History with Bede’s Martyrology, 800–1200 95
- Adaptation and Affect in Orderic Vitalis’s Historia ecclesiastica 117
- From Little Egypt to Zurich: Chronicling Romani Immigrants with Late Medieval Manuscripts 141
- Making History in the Renaissance with Medieval Manuscripts: Jean Le Féron and the Grandes chroniques de France 171
-
III Configuring History
- Medieval Monastic Manuscripts after the Middle Ages: The Case of St. Nikolaus in undis at Strasbourg 199
- History Branches Out: Narrative and Chronology in Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 225
- Fabulous History: Painting History in Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 5069 253
-
IV Response
- Making History with Manuscripts: Response 287
- General Index 303
- Manuscripts Cited 315
