Note 30 — Chapter I · Coronation of King Charles of France.

This is King Charles the Sixth of France, called “the Maniac.” The narrative has here advanced twenty-four years since we left King John in England, a prisoner, after the battle of Poitiers. John has died, and been succeeded by Charles V.,—“the Wise,”—who has reigned sixteen years, and died. We now go on to see how his successor, young Charles the Sixth, fares in his wars with Philip von Artaveld to recover the rights of the Earl of Flanders. I have chosen these special chapters because they give us lively pictures of manners and customs among a different people from those illustrated by the selections of the first book. The insurrection of Wat Tyler, of which Froissart gives such a lively account in this book, ought really to begin these first chapters, since it occurred in 1378,—two years before the coronation of King Charles,—in the reign of Richard II. of England. The period covered by my extracts from this second book is therefore from 1378 to 1382, when the battle of Rosbecq was fought.—Ed.