Jean de Venette
[2] He is the author of L'Histoire des Trois Maries, a long French poem on the legend of the Three Marys, giving his name at the start of the text,[3] and has since 1735 been also regarded as the author of an anonymous Latin chronicle of the period of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
Newhall and Birdsall's contention that the Arundel MS contains a text closer to Venette's original than other versions has been generally accepted.
[8] As many of the portions were recorded contemporaneously[9] and in a chronological fashion, it gives a very reliable first hand account of several historical events.
The interest of the chronicle lies in the fact that it is the work of an intelligent and not uncritical observer, well placed to witness great and often tragic events, who provides a useful corrective to Froissart's aristocratic romanticism and is quite uninfluenced by the official Valois version of affairs, the version preserved by the Saint Denis chroniclers and still largely accepted by French historians.
Venette regarded ignorance as the cause of many of the problems of his time, including the Black Death, and encouraged many of the Carmelites to learn to read and write.
No matter the person or the circumstances, he did not deviate from his religious beliefs and criticised anyone who was Excommunicate or otherwise not following the teachings of God.
He mentions the failure of the Genoese crossbows to function, he states they were useless because they were wet and not given time to dry out.
He describes the English longbowmans' arrows as "rain coming from heaven and the sky's which were formerly clear, suddenly darkened".
He does not, however, hesitate to criticise the nobles for their failure to protect the people, particularly after the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 at which time the King of France and his son were taken hostage and held for an enormous ransom.
After the Battle of Poiters, many of the nobles and the "Companies" were ravaging the different towns and cities, pillaging and raping.
In no wise did they defend their country from its enemies; rather did they trample it underfoot, robbing and pillaging the peasants' goods.
At that time the country and the whole land of France began to be put in confusion and mourning like a garment, because it had no defender or guardian.
In one particular account, he tells of how a group of French peasants, led by Guillaume l'Aloue, defeated the English in several skirmishes.
It is decorated with seven miniatures in grisaille, and begins:[24] Cy commence le liure intitule le liure des troiz maries lequel compila fit & ordonna frère Jehan Filions de Venette lez compiegne en beauuoisins de lordre des Carmes lan 1357 acompli ou moys de may ledit an a lheure des compilesHere begins the book called the book of the three Marys which was created, made and done by Brother Jean Fillon of Venette near Compiègne, a member of the Carmelite Order, in the year 1357, finished in the month of May that year at the hour of Compline.A prose version was completed by Jean Drouyn in 1505, and printed in several editions.
