JEAN D'ARRAS

jean d'arras, a 15th-century _trouvere_, about whose personal history nothing is known, was the collaborator with antoine du val and fouquart de cambrai in the authorship of a collection of stories entitled _evangiles de quenouille_. they purport to record the narratives of a group of ladies at their spinning, who relate the current theories on a great variety of subjects. the work dates from the middle of the 15th century and is of considerable value for the light it throws on medieval manners. there were many editions of this book in the 15th and 16th centuries, one of which was printed by wynkyn de worde in english, as _the gospelles of dystaves_. a modern edition (collection jannet) has a preface by anatole france. another _trouvere_, jean d'arras who flourished in the second half of the 14th century, wrote, at the request of john, duke of berry, a long prose romance entitled _chronique de la princesse_. it relates with many digressions the antecedents and life of the fairy melusine (q.v.).