page_title: Jean de Venette
section_title: The Hundred Years War
hierarchical_section_title: Jean de Venette / The Hundred Years War
caption_attribution_description: Español: Batalla de Poitiers (miniatura de Froissart)&#160;: Miniatura medieval sobre esta batalla de la Guerra de los Cien Años ocurrida en 1356.
context_page_description: Jean de Venette, or Jean Fillons was a French Carmelite friar, from Venette, Oise, who became the Prior of the Carmelite monastery in the Place Maubert, Paris, and was a Provincial Superior of France from 1341 to 1366. He is the author of L'Histoire des Trois Maries, a long French poem on the legend of the Three Marys, giving his name at the start of the text, and has since 1735 been also regarded as the author of an anonymous Latin chronicle of the period of the Hundred Years War between England and France. In recent decades it has been questioned whether these were in fact the same author, although it seems that both were Carmelites. Other historians see no reason to create an extra author, but recent French publications tend to refer to the "Chronique dite de Jean de Venette". By his own account the chronicler was of peasant origin, and his view of the events of his lifetime has a significantly different perspective from that of other chroniclers.
context_section_description: Jean vividly describes several battles of the Hundred Years' War such as the Battle of Crecy, the siege of Calais and the Battle of Poitiers.
  Of the Battle of Crecy, he places the time and day on "Saint Louis's Day, 1346, at the end of the ninth hour". He mentions the failure of the Genoese crossbows to function, he states they were useless because they were wet and not given time to dry out. He states that the French King ordered the massacre of the crossbowmen because of what he conceived as cowardice.  He blames this and the further disorder and confusion of the French on the "undue haste" of the French King.  He describes the English longbowmans' arrows as "rain coming from heaven and the sky's which were formerly clear, suddenly darkened".
  Venette was known as a child of the people and, until later in his life, he consistently acknowledged the power of the monarchy.  He does not, however, hesitate to criticise the nobles for their failure to protect the people, particularly after the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 at which time the King of France and his son were taken hostage and held for an enormous ransom.
  After the Battle of Poiters, many of the nobles and the "Companies" were ravaging the different towns and cities, pillaging and raping. Of that time Venette states:
  Thus discord and all three estates abandoned the task they had begun.  From that time on, all went ill with the kingdom and the State was undone.  Thieves and robbers rose up everywhere in the land.  The Nobles despised and hated all others and took no thought for usefulness and profit of lord and men.  They subjected and despoiled the peasants and the men of the villages.  In no wise did they defend their country from its enemies; rather did they trample it underfoot, robbing and pillaging the peasants' goods.  The regent, it appeared, clearly gave no thought to their plight.  At that time the country and the whole land of France began to be put in confusion and mourning like a garment, because it had no defender or guardian... .  
  Jean is referring here not only to the French Nobles, but to the Companies who also plundered the peasants and Churches.
caption: Battle of Poitiers 1356 shown here in a miniature from Froissart's Chronicles
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