Philippe Mouskes

Philippe Mouskes was bishop of Tournai, and author of a rhymed chronicle that draws on the history of the Franks and France, from the origins until 1242.

Biographie

Philippe Mouskes was born in Ghent before 1220. In 1242 or a little beforehand, he is canon and chancellor of the church of Tournai. In 1272 he is elected bishop of Tournai, where he dies on February the 24th 1282.

Work: the "Chronique rimée"

Philippe Mouskes is known for his "Chronique rimée" (rhymed chronicle) of 31 150 verses, first complete versified chronicle of the kings of France, from the beginings until Mouskes's time, probably composed between 1242 and 1272.

The "Chronique" starts with the legend that, following the model of the Eneid, makes the Franks siblings of Trojan exiled after the fall of Troy. The most important part (a third) is devoted to the reign of Charlemagne. It ends with the reign of Louis IX, in 1242.

Imitating versified chronicles like Wace's chronicle of the dukes of Normandy (12nd s.), Mouskes reworks materials from the abbey of Saint-Denis. The direct historic value and the literary value of the work appear rather weak and it seems that the "Chronique", judging from the number of remaining manuscripts, was "coldly received". It is known essentially by the extracts that du Cange gives in his "Glossarium medioe and infimoe latinitatis" and in his edition of the "Conquest of Constantinople" by Geoffrey of Villehardouin.

On the other hand, it presents a certain value as a testimony of french leading classes ideology in the years following the Albigensian Crusade.

Extract

Quar quant li buens rois Charlemaine Ot toute mise à son demaine Provence qui mult iert plentive De vins, de bois, d'aigue, de rive As leceours, as menestreux, Qui sunt auques luxurieus Le donna toute & departi.

where Philippe Mouskes bitterly regrets that Charlemagne, after conqueering Provence, gave it to his clowns and minstrels ("leceours" = "lècheurs", "gluttons", "parasites").

Sources

* [http://books.google.fr/books?id=LIYNAAAAQAAJ Histoire Littéraire de la France] , 1838
* [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/ducange.html Glossarium mediæ at infimæ latinitatis / Du Cange, Charles Du Fresne, sieur] ,1678

Bibliography

*"Chronique rimée, publiée par le baron de Reiffenberg", 1836.

, Philippe