Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes
Récits d’un bourgeois de Valenciennes aka The Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes is a vivid 14th-century vernacular chronicle written by an anonymous urban chronicler from Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut. It survives in a manuscript that describes local and regional history from about 1253 to 1366, blending chronology, narrative episodes, and eyewitness-style accounts of political, military, and social events in medieval France, Flanders, and the Low Countries. The work begins with a chronological framework of events affecting Valenciennes and its region under rulers such as King Philip VI of France and the shifting allegiances of local nobility. It includes accounts of conflicts, sieges, diplomatic manoeuvres, and the impact of broader struggles like the Hundred Years’ War on urban life in Hainaut. Written from the perspective of a burgher (bourgeois) rather than a monastery or royal court, the chronicle offers a rare lay viewpoint on high politics and warfare, reflecting how merchants, townspeople, and civic institutions experienced the turbulence of the 13th and 14th centuries. Its narrative style combines straightforward reporting of events with moral and civic observations, making it a valuable source for readers interested in medieval urban society, regional politics, and the lived experience of war and governance in pre-modern Europe.
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Chronicle of Battle Abbey is in Late Medieval Books.
In the year of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1135, not long after the death of the noble King Henry, Stephen, count of Boulogne, his nephew, succeeded to the kingdom of England — his claims having the support of some of the chief men of the realm. He was anointed and crowned at Westminster, on the 11th of the calends of January [22nd December 1135], by William, archbishop of Canterbury. As soon as he was settled in the kingdom, there arose some deadly broils (of which however this is not the proper time to speak), and the nobles disagreed among themselves. When public affairs were at length set in order, the venerable abbot Warner, among others, was found, by some slight offence, to have incurred the royal displeasure, and certain other complaints having arisen, he thought it better to yield to circumstances. Not long afterwards therefore, before Christmas, being at Westminster, and taking the advice of certain persons (particularly that of Aubrey, the Pope's legate, then in England), he voluntarily resigned his abbacy, in the fourteenth year of his government. And thus, having only himself to care for, he retired to S. Pancras, a monastery greatly renowned for piety, lying near the castle of Lewes, where he remained in the exercise of religion until the day of his death.146
Note 146. It is pretty certain from this account, that the abbot's offence was, his adherence to the cause of Maud, against the usurpation of Stephen.