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The Grandes Chroniques de France de Charles V (The Great Chronicle of France of Charles V) was recognised as the standard official history of the French monarchy. By the late 13th century it had become the custom of the monks of Saint-Denis to record remarkable contemporary events. This habit was then systematically continued by court historians, and ultimately developed into a historical project unique in the whole of Europe. Like his predecessors, Charles V was strongly concerned to have a lavish, historically updated new copy of the chronicles made, based on the old repertoire of text. This luxurious manuscript actually consists of two volumes illuminated by numerous anonymous artists in very different styles.
The six scenes painted in the quatrefoil-borders of folio 265r show events from the life of the saintly King Louis IX of France. In particular, they depict his piety, his mystically inspired asceticism and his strict life of prayer.
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