The king of France sends a solemn embassy to the pope. The answer they receive. The pope excommunicates the king and his adherents 302
The university of Paris declares against the pope della Luna, in the presence of the king of France. King Louis of Sicily leaves Paris. Of the borgne de la Heuse 315
The duke of Burgundy departs from Paris, on account of the affairs of Liege. The king of Spain combats the saracen fleet. The king of Hungary writes to the university of Paris 320
How all the prelates and clergy of France were summoned to Paris. The arrival of the queen and of the duchess of Orleans 325
The duchess-dowager of Orleans and her son cause a public answer to be made, at Paris, to the charges of the duke of Burgundy against the late duke of Orleans, and challenge the duke of Burgundy for his murder 331
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Materials for the biography of Monstrelet are still more scanty than for that of Froissart. The most satisfactory account, both of his life and of the continuators of his history, is contained in the Memoires de l’Académie de Belles Lettres, vol. XLIII. p. 535. by M. Dacier.
‘We are ignorant of the birthplace of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, and of the period when he was born, as well as of the names of his parents. All we know is, that he sprang from a noble family,—which he takes care to tell us himself, in his introduction to the first volume of the chronicles; and his testimony is confirmed by a variety of original deeds, in which his name is always accompanied with the distinction of ‘noble man,’ or ‘esquire.[1]’
‘According to the historian of the Cambresis, Monstrelet was descended from a noble family settled in Ponthieu from the beginning of the twelfth century, where one of his ancestors, named Enguerrand, possessed the estate of Monstrelet in the year 1125,—but Carpentier does not name his authority for this. A contemporary historian (Matthieu de Couci, of whom I shall have occasion to speak in the course of this essay,) who lived at Peronne, and who seems to have been personally acquainted with Monstrelet, positively asserts that this historian was a native of the county of the Boulonnois, without precisely mentioning the place of his birth. This authority ought to weigh much: besides, Ponthieu and the Boulonnois are so near to each other that a mistake on this point might easily have happened. It results, from what these two writers say, that we may fix his birthplace in Picardy.