Jean was a peasant in a backwater village as a child, During a time of war his village would come under attack by one of the armies, the warband pillaged his home and slaughtered aimlessly anyone they could get, Included all of Jean's family, He himself taking a club to the head during the raid.
Afraid he looked for a place to hide, climbing into his families chicken coop and cowering there, the split on his head would of been a death sentence had it not been for outside intervention, I woke up the next day with a chicken on his head, his wound miraculously healed. The chicken whom he recognized as one they had given the name Brenda spoke to him in his mind, it claimed to have saved him, and claimed to have knowledge even greater to teach him.
So Jean learned from Brenda, and with no home he took to the road, using the arts and skills he learned from his mysterious patron to help other poor folk such as him.