CHARTIER, Alain, the most distinguished French man of letters during the 15th centnrv, was born at Baveux.
The date of his birth is not known, but Μ. Vallet de Viriville places it between 1380 and 1390. After a complete course of study at the university of Paris, he is supposed to have entered the service of Charles VI., who is said to have charged him with important missions. After this, however, he is known to have followed the fortunes of Charles the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII., and to have been employed by that prince, about 1420, in the triple capacity of clerk, notary, and financial secretary. He is also said to have held a prebend in the cathedral church of Nôtre-Dame de Paris, of which he was likewise arch-deacon, and to have been sent as envoy to the Scottish court. A Latin epitaph, discovered in the 18th century, and pronounced authentic by the biographer already cited, credits him with the enjoyment of other dignities than those referred to, and declares that he “s'endormit enfin dans le Seigneur,’' in the city of Avignon, “Van de l’incarnation, 1449.”...
There is some analogy between the fate of Alain Chartier and that of Ronsard. Both enjoyed an extraordinary reputation during their lives, and after death both were neglected and forgotten. Alain Chartier’s lot was cast in troublous times—he felt the agony of Agincourt, and witnessed the rise of the Maid—but this would seem to have increased his renown. The story of the famous kiss bestowed by Margaret of Scotland, wife of that Louis the Dauphin who was afterwards to be known as Louis XL, on “la preciev.se bouche de laquelle sont issus et sortis tant de bons mots et vertueuses sentences,” authentic or not, is interesting, if only as a proof of the high degree of estimation in which the ugliest man of his day was held. Jean de Masles, who annotated a portion of his verse, has recorded how the pages and young gentlemen of that epoch were required daily to learn by heart passages of his Bréviaire des Nobles ; Lydgate, the English rhymester, studied him ardently and affectionately; and Clément Marot and Octavien de Saint-Gélais, writing fifty years after his death, find many fair words for the old poet, their master and predecessor. For the last three centuries, however, Alain Chartier has been remembered rather on account of the kiss aforesaid than for the sake of any of the Ions mots and vertueuses sentences that induced it. The Renaissance of 1830, even, that has made so many glories to blossom anew, has not justified again his old renown in the eyes of men. As a poet his fame has yielded to that of his contemporary, Charles of Orleans; and even his eloquent prose, which is said to be the best part of his work, has awakened no interest whatever. In spite of this, however, Alain Chartier deserves notice as one of the most remarkable and influential men of his time. His writings, both in prose and verse, breathe an ardent spirit of patriotism, and are notable, in some instances, for a boldness of thought and freedom of idea that seem to foreshadow the great utterances of the 16 th century.
Alain Chartier, who is credited with the invention of the rondeau déclinatif, used all the forms of verse current at that period-roundel, lay, ballad, and complaint. His best books are said to be Le livre des Quatre Barnes, which was called forth by the battle of Agincourt, and Le Quadriloque-Invectif, a fine patriotic dialogue, bearing date-1422. See Mancel, Alain Chartier, étude bibliographique et littéraire, 8vo., Paris, 1849.
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