Gilles Le Bouvier (1386– 1455) was a French

herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

, diplomat and writer. He served King

Charles VII of France Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious () or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461. His reign saw the end of the Hundred Years' War and a ''de facto'' end of the English claims to ...

and compiled an official history of the king's reign. Gilles Le Bouvier also wrote a geographical work with descriptions of the lands he had visited as a diplomat for the king, including

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He was also the author of a lavishly illustrated

armorial A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coat of arms, coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms. The oldest extant armorials date to the m ...

preserved in the national library of France (BnF), the .

Biography

Gilles Le Bouvier was born in

Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...

. He came to Paris in 1402 and came into the service of King

. He was made ''Roi d'armes de Berry'' or ''Héraut Berry'' ("

Herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen ...

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

) in 1420, and in 1451 was promoted to ''Roi d'armes des Français'' (Chief Herald of France). From 1438, he travelled extensively throughout Europe on various diplomatic missions for the king. The last five years of his life he dedicated to writing.

Works

In his role as herald to the king, Gilles Le Bouvier was tasked with writing an official history of the reign of Charles VII, ''Chronique de Charles VII''. The original version survives in a single manuscript in the national library of France, BnF. Another 20 manuscript versions have survived of a later, somewhat different edition. The work was furthermore printed in several editions in the 16th and 17th centuries. A modern, critical edition was printed in France in 1979. The chronicle, though avoiding themes and events which may show Charles VII in a poor light, has nonetheless been described as "neutral in tone and very well informed". It is to some extent based on the personal experiences of Le Bouvier, but also builds on archival material and narratives from others. From the late 1430s, Gilles Le Bouvier travelled on diplomatic missions for the king, both to adjacent lands and to more faraway destinations such as present-day

and

. As a result of his travels, he also wrote ''Le livre de la description des pays'' ("The Book of Description of Countries"), which contains information about the countries he visited, though not always his own observations but rather compiled information from various sources. The original manuscript is preserved in the BnF. A printed, critical edition in French was published in 1908. An English translation of excerpts from the book was published in 2024. Gilles Le Bouvier also compiled an

for his personal use, the . The manuscript is lavishly illustrated by several artists, including

Jean Fouquet Jean (or Jehan) Fouquet (; – 1481) was a French painter and miniaturist. A master of panel painting and manuscript illumination, and the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature, he is considered one of the most important painters from the ...

and the . It is today preserved in the BnF in Paris.

References

External links

*
Digitised copy of 1908 edition of Le Bouvier's ''Le livre de la description des pays'', with an extensive introduction
(in French)
The Armorial de Gilles Le Bouvier
digitised by the BnF. {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Bouvier, Gilles 1386 births French travel writers People from the Duchy of Berry French heraldists French chroniclers Medieval French diplomats People from Bourges