author
Georges Chastellain
d. 1475
A leading voice at the Burgundian court, this 15th-century poet and chronicler turned politics, war, and court life into vivid history. His writing is prized both for its literary flair and for the sharp eyewitness detail it preserves from a turbulent age.
1 Audiobook
Le miroir de mort
by Georges Chastellain
About the author
Born in or around Aalst in Flanders, Georges Chastellain was active in the world of the dukes of Burgundy during the 1400s. Reliable reference sources describe him as a Burgundian chronicler and poet, and one of the notable literary figures attached to that court.
He served Philip the Good and later wrote as an official historiographer, recording major events and personalities of his time. His surviving chronicle of Burgundian affairs is incomplete, but it remains an important source for the history of the fifteenth century because of its concrete detail and strong sense of character.
Chastellain was also admired as a poet by later readers and is often linked with the elaborate rhetorical style favored in late medieval French writing. He died in 1475, leaving behind work that stands at the meeting point of literature, politics, and eyewitness history.