Jean Miélot, also Jehan, was an author, translator, manuscript illuminator, scribe and priest, who served as secretary to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1449 to Philip's death in 1467, and then to his son Charles the Bold. He also served as chaplain to Louis of Luxembourg, Count of St. Pol from 1468, after Philip's death. He was mainly employed in the production of de luxe illuminated manuscripts for Philip's library. He translated many works, both religious and secular, from Latin or Italian into French, as well as writing or compiling books himself, and composing verse. Between his own writings and his translations he produced some twenty-two works whilst working for Philip, which were widely disseminated, many being given printed editions in the years after his death, and influenced the development of French prose style.
An author portrait of Jean Miélot writing his compilation of the Miracles of Our Lady, one of his many popular works. The setting is probably the ducal library. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris.
Presentation miniature by Jean le Tavernier, 1454–7, Brussels. Jean Miélot giving Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, his translation of the Traité sur l'oraison dominicale. Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels.
Another image of Miélot writing. Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels.
Folio 41r "Wheel of Fortune" from Epitre d'Othéa; Les Sept Sacrements de l'Eglise, c. 1455 at Waddesdon Manor
Philip III the Good ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, the Burgundian State reached the apex of its prosperity and prestige, and became a leading centre of the arts.
Philip, wearing the collar of firesteels of the Order of the Golden Fleece which he instituted (copy of a Rogier van der Weyden work of c. 1450)
Rogier van der Weyden miniature 1447–48. Philip dresses his best, in an extravagant chaperon, to be presented with a History of Hainault by the author, Jean Wauquelin, flanked by his son Charles and his chancellor Nicolas Rolin.
Portrait of Isabella of Portugal from the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1445–1450