The Livre des fais du bon messire Jehan le Maingre was written between 1406 and 1409, while Marshal Boucicaut was serving as governor of Genoa. Both the text and the surviving manuscript were completed in a hurry: the narrative stops abruptly in December 1408, empty pages were left in the manuscript for the story to be continued, and the programme of illuminations was never carried out. This would suggest that the biography as it survives today was written for an immediate and urgent purpose, that is to explain and to defend Boucicaut's actions as governor of Genoa to his most important audience, the princes of the blood at the French royal court.

The Livre des fais could not end with the usual account of the hero's death because Boucicaut was very much alive when his biography was completed. Without a report of the final moments of his life, the Livre des fais lacked the traditional opportunity to encapsulate the full meaning of his life. Therefore the author concluded the book with an extended review of the marshal's virtues and good habits, highlighting his supposed piety, charity, self-discipline, chastity, justice and eloquence, and emphasizing the vices like avarice and vainglory that he shunned. There was only a limited attempt to tie this discussion to the story of Boucicaut's life that had appeared in the narrative portion of the Livre des fais. The author preferred to illustrate the fourth part of the biography by comparing the marshal to the great heroes of Antiquity, recounting stories and anecdotes that underlined the lessons to be drawn from the example set by Boucicaut, while implicitly elevating the marshal to their glorious status. The principal source for this section was the recent French translation of Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dictorum memorabilia libri novem. Given that one of the translators, Nicolas de Gonesse, was in service to Boucicaut in Genoa, it is reasonable to suppose that this learned cleric was heavily involved in the production of the Livre des fais. But the biography was certainly a collaboration between Gonesse and other members of the entourage of Boucicaut, and it is possible that this cleric was merely adding a gloss and commentary at the final stage of production to a more functional narrative authored by a layman like Jean d’Ony or Jean de Châteaumorand.