RECUEIL DES CRONIQUES ET ANCHIENNES ISTORIES DE LA GRANT BRETAIGNE, A PRESENT NOMME ENGLETERRE

(Waurin)

Jean de Waurin’sRecueil des Croniques et Anchiennes Istories de la Grant Bretaigne, a present nomme Engleterre(A Collection of the Chronicles and Ancient Histories of Great Britain, Now Called England) is a useful, if difficult, source for the early stages of the WARS OF THE ROSES and the first reign of EDWARD IV. Jean de Waurin (or Wavrin) (1395–1475) was the natural son of a Burgundian nobleman, who, after being officially legitimized in 1437, entered the service of both Dukes PHILIP and CHARLES of BURGUNDY. Pro-English in his outlook, he visited England in 1467 to attend the royal tournament fought at Smithfield by Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy (the natural son of Duke Philip), and Edward IV’s brother-inlaw, Anthony WOODVILLE, Lord Scales, He was also in CALAIS with Duke Charles in 1469 for a meeting with Richard NEVILLE, earl of Warwick. Because Waurin’s chronicle of England, Burgundy, and northwestern FRANCE in the period 1461–1471 was likely written between 1465 and Waurin’s death in 1475, theRecueilis a nearly contemporary account of the events it describes.

However, modern historians have seriously questioned Waurin’s reliability. Although theRECUEIL DES CRONIQUES ET ANCHIENNES ISTORIES DE LA GRANT BRETAIGNE221Recueilcontains some unique information about English affairs, Waurin is often unclear as to the sources of his information. Like other continental writers about events in England, Waurin seems to have had access to some of the newsletters and other PROPAGANDA pieces issued by the two sides in the English civil war, such as Warwick’sMANNER AND GUIDING OF THE EARL OF WARWICK AT ANGERS, which described and justified the earl’s conclusion of the ANGERS AGREEMENT with Queen MARGARET OF ANJOU in 1470, and the YorkistHISTORY OF THE ARRIVAL OF EDWARD IV, which offered Edward’s version of his successful campaign to regain the throne in 1471 (seeEdward IV, Restoration of). Waurin’s uncritical reliance on such obviously partisan sources, as well as his often confused chronology, his tendency to create fictional speeches for his characters, and his imaginative reconstructions of events based on what he felt must have occurred, have led some scholars to dismiss theRecueilas worthless. However, other historians maintain that, when used with care, theRecueilis a useful source for many events in the 1460s.