Seven works by other trouvères (Jehan de Grieviler, Jehan Erart, Jaques le Vinier, Colart le Boutellier, and Mahieu de Gant) are dedicated to Bretel and he was for a time the "Prince" of the Puy d'Arras.
Bretel held the hereditary post of sergeant at the Abbey of Saint Vaast in Arras, in which capacity he oversaw the rights of the abbacy on the river Scarpe.
He is referred to as sergens iretavles de la riviere Saint-Vaast in a document of 1256.
The trouvère and his brother were modestly wealthy property owners near Arras, where Jehan died in 1272.
About forty different poets from the region around Arras participated in these jeux partis, either as judges or correspondents.