Note 260 — BOOK VIII[239]

The Chroniques de Saint-Denys or Grandes chroniques de France were chronicles compiled from the earliest times of the French Monarchy by the Benedictines of Saint-Denis and kept in the treasury of the abbey. The Abbot of Saint-Denis used to appoint a monk as historiographer whose duty it was to follow the Court in order to collect and write down events as they occurred. On the death of the king, a history of his reign was drawn up from these notes, and this history, after being submitted to the Chapter, was incorporated in the Grandes chroniques. Suger, who became Abbot of Saint-Denis in 1122, collected all the chronicles compiled from the commencement of the Monarchy and himself wrote those of his own time. After the discovery of printing, an abstract of the Grandes chroniques was prepared and published by Jean Chartier, the Benedictine, in 1476, under the title, Chroniques de France depuis les Troiens jusqu'à la mort de Charles VII., in 3 volumes 4to. They constitute the first French book known to have been printed in Paris. These three volumes, which brought up the History of France to 1461, were reprinted, with a continuation to 1513, in 1514. A more recent edition appeared in Paris in 1836 to 1841, in 6 volumes 8vo.—T.