LE JOUVENCEL

So writes Jean de Bueil, a renowned fifteenth-century French warrior, in his introduction to Le Jouvencel, a semi-autobiographical book which, through its narrative story-telling, imparts a lifetime of hard won wisdom to warriors young and old.

Le Jouvencel was evidently a highly popular treatise in its own time, given that it is still extant in sixteen manuscripts, more than half of which are illustrated. There is good reason for its popularity: through the vehicle of the inspiring romantic story of a knight called Jouvencel (a nickname that simply means ‘young man’), the book offers an astounding range of important military information, from detailed tactics, to legal arguments regarding people and property, to general advice on wellbeing. At the same time, it offers tantalizingly veiled references to the battles and important figures of the Hundred Years’ War.

The story: Part I

Part I outlines Jouvencel’s early roots at the castle of Luc, a fortification locked in conflict with another castle close by, called Verset. Jouvencel’s early exploits consist of small raids during which he steals goats, clothing drying on a clothesline, and even the enemy captain’s cow, which he gallantly returns – for a fee – so that the captain might continue to feed his child with the milk. Emboldened by these minor victories, Jouvencel enlists a handful of men from Luc’s garrison to join him on a midnight raid to steal some of the enemy’s horses, winning himself a second-rate horse (“the best of the bunch even though it wasn’t worth much”) and a pair of cuirasses from the captain of Luc as a tribute to his boldness and ability to command. Rather than being a detriment, Jouvencel’s poverty, suggests De Bueil, is what prompted him to take risks and made him