Little is known about Alain Chartier's early life save that he was born in Bayeux into a bourgeois family prominent in the town's affairs, and that he studied at the University of Paris; the date of his birth is not known, nor the year in which he matriculated as a student. When Chartier addressed a letter in Latin to his alma mater toward the end of 1418 or early in 1419, he held the important post of notary and secretary to the king and was well established in the royal service. The earliest known letters which he signed in that capacity date from September 1417 and were sent on behalf of the Dauphin Charles. Chartier had almost certainly joined the dauphin's household some years earlier: Charles of France, then aged ten, was betrothed to Marie of Anjou on 18 December 1413 and, in accordance with the custom of the time, went to live...