95

Monarchs’ mirrors is a genre criticized by some and praised by others. Some find in these considerations on good government only conventional lists of vices and virtues. Others are of the opinion that beyond the resemblances demanded by the genre, the study of these mirrors provides a means to evaluate the constant features, the inflections, and evolutions of the ars gubernandi at the end of the Middle Ages. The Livre de l’information des princes was written for the eldest son of Philip the Fourth the Handsome who was to be Louis the Tenth (1314–1316). Charles the Fifth ordered a translation of it from Jean Golein in 1379. In spite of both versions being successful (more than 30 manuscripts can be found), this text was never published. Very concerned with the monarch’s financial policy, the author made use of numerous exempla and the most contemporary history to persuade his royal pupil not to give way to avarice, but called on him to build up a treasury for the commune utilite (common good) of the kingdom.