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All About History Books
The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, a canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: "In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed." Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
King Essex is in Saxon Heptarchy.
Around 587 Sledd King of Essex was appointed King Essex.
In 604 Sledd King of Essex died. His son Sæberht succeeded King Essex.
In 616 King Sæberht of Essex died. His son Sexred succeeded King Essex. His son Sæward succeeded King Essex. They ruled jointly with another unamed brother.
In 653 Sigeberht the Little died. Sigeberht the Good II King Essex succeeded King Essex.
In 661 Sigeberht the Good II King Essex was murdered by Swithhelm King of Essex and Swinfrith of Essex. Swithhelm King of Essex succeeded King Essex.
In 664 Swithhelm King of Essex died. Sighere King of Essex succeeded King Essex. Sæbbi King of Essex (age 38) succeeded King Essex. They ruled jointly.
In 664 Sighere King of Essex was appointed King Essex.
In 664 Sæbbi King of Essex (age 38) was appointed King Essex. He ruled jointly with his cousin Sighere King of Essex until 688 when Sighere King of Essex died after which he ruled solely.
In 688 Sighere King of Essex died. His son Offa succeeded King Essex.
In 695 Sæbbi King of Essex (age 69) died. His son Sigeheard succeeded King Essex. His son Swæfred succeeded King Essex. They ruled jointly.
In 709 Sigeheard King of Essex died. His second cousin once removed Offa succeeded King Essex.
Bede. In the fourth year of the reign of Osred (age 12), Coenred, who had for some time nobly governed the kingdom of the Mercians, much more nobly quitted the sceptre of his kingdom. For he went to Rome, Italy [Map], and there receiving the tonsure and becoming a monk, when Constantine (age 45) was pope, he continued to his last hour in prayer and fasting and alms-deeds at the threshold of the Apostles. He was succeeded in the throne by Ceolred, the son of Ethelred, who had governed the kingdom before Coenred. With him went the son of Sighere, the king of the East Saxons whom we mentioned before, by name Offa, a youth of a most pleasing age and comeliness, and greatly desired by all his nation to have and to hold the sceptre of the kingdom. He, with like devotion, quitted wife, and lands, and kindred and country, for Christ and for the Gospel, that he might "receive an hundred-fold in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting." He also, when they came to the holy places at Rome, received the tonsure, and ending his life in the monastic habit, attained to the vision of the blessed Apostles in Heaven, as he had long desired.
The same year that they departed from Britain, the great bishop, Wilfrid, ended his days in the province called Inundalum [Map], after he had been bishop forty-five years. His body, being laid in a coffin, was carried to his monastery, which is called Inhrypum, and buried in the church of the blessed Apostle Peter, with the honour due to so great a prelate. Concerning whose manner of life, let us now turn back, and briefly make mention of the things which were done. Being a boy of a good disposition, and virtuous beyond his years, he conducted himself so modestly and discreetly in all points, that he was deservedly beloved, respected, and cherished by his elders as one of themselves. At fourteen years of age he chose rather the monastic than the secular life; which, when he had signified to his father, for his mother was dead, he readily consented to his godly wishes and desires, and advised him to persist in that wholesome purpose. Wherefore he came to the isle of Lindisfarne [Map], and there giving himself to the service of the monks, he strove diligently to learn and to practise those things which belong to monastic purity and piety; and being of a ready wit, he speedily learned the psalms and some other books, having not yet received the tonsure, but being in no small measure marked by those virtues of humility and obedience which are more important than the tonsure; for which reason he was justly loved by his elders and his equals. Having served God some years in that monastery, and being a youth of a good understanding, he perceived that the way of virtue delivered by the Scots was in no wise perfect, and he resolved to go to Rome, to see what ecclesiastical or monastic rites were in use at the Apostolic see. When he told the brethren, they commended his design, and advised him to carry out that which he purposed. He forthwith went to Queen Eanfled, for he was known to her, and it was by her counsel and support that he had been admitted into the aforesaid monastery, and he told her of his desire to visit the threshold of the blessed Apostles. She, being pleased with the youth's good purpose, sent him into Kent, to King Earconbert,8 who was her uncle's son, requesting that he would send him to Rome, Italy [Map] in an honourable manner. At that time, Honorius, one of the disciples of the blessed Pope Gregory (age 41), a man very highly instructed in ecclesiastical learning, was archbishop there. When he had tarried there for a space, and, being a youth of an active spirit, was diligently applying himself to learn those things which came under his notice, another youth, called Biscop, surnamed Benedict, of the English nobility, arrived there, being likewise desirous to go to Rome, of whom we have before made mention.
In 709 Swæfred King of Essex died. His second cousin once removed Offa succeeded King Essex.
In 709 Offa King of Essex died. His first cousin three times removed Saelred succeeded King Essex.
In 715 Swæfberht King of Essex was appointed provisional King Essex by Saelred King of Essex (age 6). Given Swæfberht had just been born Saelred was, in effect, naming his heir.
All About History Books
The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
In 746 Saelred King of Essex (age 37) died. His first cousin four times removed Swithred succeeded King Essex.
In 798 Sigeric I King of Essex died. His son Sigered succeeded King Essex.
In 812 King Sigered of Essex was reduced from King Essex to Duke Essex by the Kings of Mercia.
In 825 King Sigered of Essex ceded the King Essex to King Egbert of Wessex (age 52).
Swithred King of Essex was born to Sebbi of Essex. Sigeric I King of Essex succeeded King Essex.