Jean Lebel

Jean Lebel

Jean Lebel (d. 1370), Belgian chronicler, was born near the end of the 13th century. His father, Gilles le Beal des Changes, was an alderman of Liege.

Jean entered the church and became a canon of the cathedral church, but he and his brother Henri followed Jean de Beaumont to England in 1327 and took part in the border warfare against the Scots. His will is dated 1369, and his epitaph gives the date of his death as 1370. Nothing more is known of his life, but Jacques de Hemricourt, author of the "Miroir des nobles de Hesbaye" ("Mirror of the Nobles of Hesbaye"), has left a eulogy of his character, and a description of the magnificence of his attire, his retinue and his hospitality.

Hemricourt asserts that he was eighty years old or more when he died. For a long time Jean Lebel (or le Bel) was only known as a chronicler through a reference by Jean Froissart, who quotes him in the prologue of his first book as one of his authorities. A fragment of his work in the manuscript of Jean d'Outremeuse's "Ly Myreur des Histors", was discovered in 1847; and the whole of his chronicle, preserved in the library of Chálons-sur-Marne, was edited in 1863 by L. Polain.

Jean Lebel gives as his reason for writing a desire to replace a certain misleading rhymed chronicle of the wars of Edward III by a true relation of his enterprises down to the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. In the matter of style Lebel has been placed by some critics on the level of Froissart. His chief merit is his refusal to narrate events unless either he himself or his informant had witnessed them. This scrupulousness in the acceptance of evidence must be set against his limitations. He takes on the whole a similar point of view to Froissart's; he has no concern with national movements or politics; and, writing for the public of chivalry, he preserves no general notion of a campaign, which resolves itself in his narrative into a series of exploits on the part of his heroes. Froissart was considerably indebted to him, and seems to have borrowed from him some of his best-known episodes, such as the death of Robert the Bruce, Edward III, and the countess of Salisbury, and the devotion of the burghers of Calais. The songs and virelais, in the art of writing which he was, according to Hemricourt, an expert, have not come to light.

References

*1911


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Jean Lebel — est un chroniqueur liégeois du Moyen Âge né vers 1290 mort vers 1370, chanoine de Saint Lambert de Liège. Sa biographie et son œuvre Portail de l’histoire Ce document provient de « Jean Lebel » …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lebel — (also Le Bel or LeBel) is a surname, and may refer to:* Firmin Lebel, French composer * Ghislain Lebel, militant Canadian politician and former Member of Parliament * Hardy LeBel, video game designer * Jean Lebel, Belgian chronicler * Jean… …   Wikipedia

  • Jean Le Bel — Jean Lebel Jean Lebel est un chroniqueur liégeois du Moyen Âge né vers 1290 mort vers 1370, chanoine de Saint Lambert de Liège. Sa biographie et son œuvre Portail de l’histoire Ce document provient de « Jean Lebel » …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jean le Bel — Jean le Bel, aussi connu sous le nom de Jean Lebel ou de Jehan le Bel, est un chroniqueur liégeois du Moyen Âge, né à Liège vers 1290 et mort vers 1370, chanoine de Saint Lambert de Liège. Il a été qualifié par Henri Pirenne, de premier grand… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jean-Jacques Lebel — Jean Jacques Lebel, né à Paris en 1936, est un artiste plasticien, écrivain, créateur de manifestations artistiques. Il est le fils de Robert Lebel, critique d art et ami de Marcel Duchamp, entre autres. Biographie Jean Jacques Lebel en 2008. En… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jean-jacques lebel — Cet article fait partie de la série Art contemporain Artistes …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Jean-Jacques Lebel — was born in Paris in 1936. He is known primarily for his work as an artist and a writer. He is the son of Robert Lebel, art critic and friend of Marcel Duchamp. Lebel had his first exhibition in 1955 at Galleria Numero (Florence, Italy). After a… …   Wikipedia

  • Lebel-sur-Quévillon — Administration Pays  Canada …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lebel-Sur-Quévillon — Ajouter une image Administration Pays  Canada …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Lebel-sur-Quevillon — Lebel sur Quévillon Lebel sur Quévillon Ajouter une image Administration Pays  Canada …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”