Philippe de Commines (or de Commynes or "Philippe de Comines", Latin Philippus Cominaeus;
1447 - c. 1511) was a French-speaking Fleming in the courts of Burgundy and France, a diplomat, and a writer. He has been called "the first
truly modern writer" (Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve) and "the first
critical and philosophical historian since classical times" (Oxford Companion to English
Literature). Neither a chronicler nor a historian in the usual sense of the word,
his analyses of the contemporary political scene are what made him virtually unique in his own time.
Biography
Early life
Commines was born at Renescure, Flanders, to an outwardly
wealthy family. However, his father's death in 1453 left him the orphaned owner of an estate
saddled with enormous debts. In his teens he was taken into the care of Philip the Good
(1419-1467), Duke of Burgundy, who was his godfather. He fought at the Battle of Montlhery in
1465 and the Battle of Brusthem in 1467 but in general seems to have kept a low profile.
Burgundy
In 1468, he became a knight in the household of Charles the
Bold, Philip's son who succeeded to the dukedom in 1467, and thereafter he moved in the most exalted circles, being party
to many important decisions and present at history-making events. A key event in Commines's life seems to have been the meeting
between Charles and Louis XI of France at Péronne in
October 1468. Although Commines's own account skates over the details, it is apparent from other
contemporary sources that Louis believed Commines had saved his life. This may explain Louis's later enthusiasm in wooing him
away from the Burgundians.
In 1470 Commines was sent on an embassy to Calais, then an
English possession. It is unlikely that he ever visited England itself, what he knew of its
politics and personalities coming mostly from meetings with exiles, both Yorkist and Lancastrian; these included Henry Tudor and Warwick the
Kingmaker. He also met King Edward IV of England during the latter's
continental exile and later wrote a description of his appearance and character.
Commines was a great favorite with Duke Charles for seven years (going back to when he had still been Count of
Charolais). The 19th-century "man of letters", Isaac
D'Israeli, recounts that one day, when they came home from hunting and were joking around as was their wont within the
"family", Commines "ordered" the prince to remove Commines's boots as if he were a servant; laughing, the prince did so but then
tossed the boot at Commines, and it bloodied his nose. Everyone in the Burgundian court started calling Commines "booted head".
D'Israeli, in his 1824 Curiosities of Literature, suggests that Commines's hatred for the
duke of Burgundy poisoned everything he wrote about him, but comments:
- "When we are versed in the history of the times, we often discover that memoir-writers have some secret poison in their
hearts. Many, like Comines, have had the boot dashed on their nose. Personal rancour wonderfully enlivens the style . . . Memoirs
are often dictated by its fiercest spirit; and then histories are composed from memoirs. Where is TRUTH? Not always in histories
and memoirs !"
Service of Louis XI
D'Israeli says Commines so resented his nickname that it was the reason he suddenly left Burgundy and went into the service of
the French king, but the financial incentives offered by Louis provide a more than adequate explanation: Commines was still
heavily burdened with his father's debts. He fled by night from Normandy on August 7, 1472, and joined Louis near Angers. On
the following morning, when Duke Charles discovered his servant and god-brother missing, he confiscated all Commines's property.
Louis was generous in making up for those losses.
As a long-time enemy of Burgundy, Louis no doubt valued the inside information Commines was
able to provide, and Commines quickly became one of the king's most trusted advisers. Jean
Dufournet's 1966 study of Commines has shown that the next five years, up to
1477, were the most prosperous from Commines's point of view, and the only ones when he truly had
Louis's confidence. Dufournet's observations come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the modern political diarist. After
Charles's death in 1477, the two men openly disagreed about how best to take political advantage of
the situation. Commines himself admitted associating with some of the king's most prominent opponents and referred to another
incident, in May 1478, when Louis reprimanded him for allegedly being open to bribery. Thereafter, much of his diplomatic work
was done in the Italian arena, and he came into contact with Lorenzo de Medici on
several occasions.
When Louis began to suffer ill-health, Commines was apparently welcomed back into the fold and performed personal services for
the king. Many of his activities during the period seem to have involved a degree of secrecy; he was effectively acting as a kind
of undercover agent. However, he never regained the level of intimacy with the king that he had previously enjoyed, and Louis's
death in 1483, when Commines was still only in his thirties, left him without many friends at
court. Nevertheless, he retained a place on the royal council until 1485. Then, having been implicated in the Orleanist rebellion, he was taken prisoner and kept in confinement for over two years, from January
1487 until March 1489. For some of that period, he was kept in an
iron cage.
Mémoires
After his release, Commines was exiled to his estate at Dreux, where he began to write his
Mémoires. (This title was not used until an edition of 1552.) By 1490, however, he was recovering his position at court and was in the service of King Charles VIII of France. Charles never allowed him the privileged position he had held under
Louis, and he was once again used as an envoy to the Italian states. However, his personal affairs were still problematic, and
his right to some of the possessions given him by Louis was subject to legal challenges.
In 1498 (fifteen years after the death of Richard III
of England), Commines's work was published, and is considered a historical record of immense importance, largely because
of its author's cynical and forthright attitude to the events and machinations he had witnessed. His writings reveal many of the
less savory aspects of the reign of Louis XI, and Commines related them without apology, insisting that the late king's virtues
outweighed his vices. He is regarded as a major primary source for 15th century European
history.
The Mémoires are divided into "books", the first six of which were written between 1488
and 1494, and relate the course of events from the beginning of Commines' career (1464) up to the death of King Louis. The remaining two books were written between 1497 and 1501 and deal with the Italian wars, ending in the death of King
Charles VIII of France.
Commines' scepticism is summed up in his own words: Car ceux qui gagnent en ont toujours l'honneur ("For the honours
always go to the winners"). Some have disputed whether his candid phrases disguise a deeper dishonesty. Yet at no time does he
attempt to present himself as a hero, even when recounting his military career. His attitude to politics is one of pragmatism,
and his ideas are practical and progressive. His reflections on the events he has witnessed are profound by comparison with those
of Froissart, who lived a century earlier. His psychological insights into the behaviour
of kings are ahead of their time, reminiscent in some ways of his contemporary, Niccolò
Machiavelli. Like Machiavelli, Commines aims to instruct the reader in statecraft, though from a slightly different
viewpoint. In particular, he notes how Louis repeatedly got the better of the English, not by military might, but by political
machination.
References
- Philippe de Commynes: The Reign of Louis XI 1461-83, translated with an introduction by Michael Jones[1]
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