Guillaume Cretin and the Rewriting of the Grandes Chroniques de France

Abstract In 1515, King Francis I commissioned courtly poet Guillaume Cretin to write a history of the French royal dynasty. The resulting Chronique française , which is around 25,000 verses long and remained unfinished at the death of its author in 1525, is generally considered a rhymed version of the Grandes Chroniques de France . This paper argues that Cretin’s Chronique is not merely a rewriting of a much more popular work, but a carefully crafted text designed to bring about a different perspective on the history of the French kings. This new edition and analysis of a significant passage (book 1, chapter 14 of the Chronique ) shows how Cretin attempted to craft a text worthy of a scholarly historian and highlights the scope and ambition he gave to a work that was intended to teach, scold, and ultimately, to please and entertain.