Gilles Le Bouvier

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.^[2] A modern, critical edition was printed in France in 1979.^[1] 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".^[2] It is to some extent based on the personal experiences of Le Bouvier, but also builds on archival material and narratives from others.^[2]

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 Turkey and Armenia.^[2] 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.^[2] The original manuscript is preserved in the BnF. A printed, critical edition in French was published in 1908.^[1] An English translation of excerpts from the book was published in 2024.^[3]

Gilles Le Bouvier also compiled an armorial for his personal use, the Armorial of Gilles Le Bouvier [fr]. The manuscript is lavishly illustrated by several artists, including Jean Fouquet and the Master of the Vienna Roman de la Rose [fr]. It is today preserved in the BnF in Paris.^[2][4]

• Media related to Gilles Le Bouvier at Wikimedia Commons
• 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.