ABSTRACT
The career of Jean II le Maingre, Marshal Boucicaut, was characterised by constant bellicosity: in the wars of his king, as commander of a French expeditionary corps to Constantinople, as governor of the city of Genoa on behalf of the crown, and as a willing volunteer in conflicts against Muslims and pagan Lithuanians. Not surprisingly therefore, the practice of war plays a large role in the marshal's famous biography, the 'Livre des fais'. This essay examines the treatment of warfare in the 'Livre des fais' in the light of the wide range of issues about the conduct of war and chivalry recently highlighted by such scholars as Christopher Allmand, Philippe Contamine and Maurice Keen. Boucicaut's career shows that around 1400 it was still possible to reconcile professional duties, the laws of war, the demonstration of prouesse, and combat against 'Saracens', although it was becoming increasingly hard to do so.
