But from the mid-15th century a number of unillustrated copies survive "on paper or on mixtures of parchment and paper that belonged (when provenance is known) to secretaries and notaries and to members of the Parlement. These inexpensive books filled a practical need; they provided a chronology for persons charged with maintaining the state archives and doubtless also assisted them in their increasingly common role as writers of history". Latterly, under the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, it spread there as well, and copies were given to foreign royalty.