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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.
Chronicles of Trokelowe and Blaneforde is in Late Medieval Books.
[1324] Another incident also occurred during the said Parliament—one harmful and deeply prejudicial to the liberty of the Holy Church of God, and to its prelates and ministers. For the venerable father, the Bishop of Hereford [Bishop Adam Orleton], was brought before the King and all the nobles of the realm, and there was accused and examined for treason, as if for the crime of high treason itself. It was alleged against him that he had knowingly received and sheltered certain enemies of the King and the realm, despite being aware of their malicious intentions, and that he had provided them with armed men, assistance, and counsel. Struck with these and other reproaches, he—being a mature man and one excellently adorned with learning—bore such insults for a time in silence, enduring them patiently. At last, entrusting his cause to the Most High Judge, whose minister he professed himself to be, he broke forth in reply, saying: 'My Lord King, with all due reverence always preserved for your royal majesty, I—though an unworthy servant of the Holy Church of God, a member thereof, and a consecrated bishop—am unable, as indeed I must not, to answer to such grave charges as have been brought against me, except by the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, of whom I am a suffragan, and who, after the Supreme Pontiff, is my direct judge, and with the consent of my peers, the other bishops.'
Accidit et alius casus in dicto Parliamento, Ecclesiæ sanctæ Dei libertati, suisque prælatis, sive ministris, damnosus, nimiumque præjudicialis. Nam venerabilis pater, Episcopus Herefordensis, coram Rege et cunctis regni proceribus constitutus, arrannatus extitit, et examinatus, de proditione, quasi de crimine læsæ majestatis. Cui quidem impositum fuerat, quod quosdam inimicos Regis et regni, sciens eornm præcogitatam malitiam, hospitasse, fovisse, copiam armatorum, auxi- lium, et consilium, debuit impendisse. Super quibus et aliis conviciis irrogatis pulsatus, ut erat vir maturus et litterali scientia excellenter ornatus, aliquandiu hujusmodi opprobria patienter sustinuit, obmutescens; tandem Altissimo Judici, cujus se fatebatur fore ministrum, causam committens, in hujusmodi responsum prorupit: "Domine Rex, vestra regiæ majestatis reverentia in omnibus semper salva, ego, Ecclesiæ sanctæ Dei humilis minister, membrum ejus, et Episcopus consecratus, licet indignus, ad tam ardua nobis imposita, nequimus, sicut nec debemus, absque Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, cujus sumus Suffraganeus, post Summum Pontificem mei directi judicis, auctoritate, et aliorum parium meorum, Episcoporum, consensu, aliqualiter respondere."
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On the escape of a certain man from the Tower of London.
De evasione cujusdam extra Turrim Londonearum.
[1st August 1323] In the year of our Lord 1323, on the feast of Saint Peter in Chains (ad Vincula), the noble lord, Sir Roger de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, confined in the highest and most secure part of the Tower of London—along with his uncle, Sir Roger, and other nobles of the realm, who, having returned from the conflict between the King and the Barons mentioned above, had submitted themselves to the King's mercy—was held in a manner less civil than befitted their station. From the depths of his heart and by the utmost ingenuity of his mind, he devised a clandestine escape, one unheard of and unimaginable for ages past.
Anno Domini millesimo trecentesimo vicesimo quarto, in festo Sancti Petri quod dicitur "Ad Vincula," nobilis vir, Dominus Rogerus de Mortuo Mari, Dominus de Wigemor, in eminentiori et arctiori loco Turris Londoniarum, cum Domino Rogero, avunculo suo, et cum ceteris regni nobilibus, qui a conflictu inter Regem et Barones supra memorato redeuntes gratie Regis se submiserant, minus civiliter quam decuit, detentus et detrusus, a sæculis inaudibilem et inexcogitabilem, ex profundissimo cordis ingenio, suam ordinavit clandestinam liberationem.
[1st August 1323] For in the stillness of the night during that same feast (of Saint Peter in Chains), when both the guards of the Tower and many others had fallen into deep sleep and rest — having been given a certain harmful drink — Roger [Mortimer] (age 36) did not escape through the door of his chamber, which had been secured with many locks and bars, but rather through another way. By breaking through a wall, he entered the royal palace kitchen attached to the Tower. From the top of this building, he climbed down into one of the Tower's guard posts. Then, using ropes ingeniously fashioned like a ladder, which had been procured for him by a certain friend and secretly brought to him beforehand, he descended with considerable fear to another guard post. And, just as Saint Peter, imprisoned under Nero, passed the first and second guards with the help of an angel, so too did he—though with great difficulty—finally reach the Thames. There, he found a small, fragile boat, into which he entered with his helper and two other members of his inner circle. With God's help, they swiftly crossed the river. They then hurried with all speed toward the sea, carefully avoiding public roads throughout their journey, and did not rest until, united in purpose, they reached a certain port. In that place, where they were known to no one, they found a ship—prepared for them and waiting for some time near the port. With all haste, they boarded the vessel and, aided by a favorable wind granted by God, they swiftly arrived in the realms of France.
Nam intempestæ noctis silentio dictæ festivitatis, tarn custodibus castri quam cæteris multis, per quendam pestiferum potum eis ministratum, nocturno quieti ac sopori deditis, repentine, noii per ostium cameræ suæ, quod multis seris et repagulis fuerat obseratum, sed aliunde, per ruptionem muri, venit in coquina palatio Regis annexa; per cujus sunimitatem exiens, ad unam oastri devenit eustodiam; deinde per cordas, ad modum scalæ ingeniose compositas, per quenidam amicum suum pro visas, et sibi secrete prius allatas, ad aliam castri eustodiam cum non modico timore per venit. Et, sicut Beatus Petrus, in vinculis Neronis detentus, Angelo ducente, primam et secundam transivit custodiam, cum maxima difficultate tandem venit ad aquam Tamisiæ; ibi quamdam fragilem cymbam reperiens, quam, cum adjutore suo, et aliis duobus de consilio suo, intravit, et dictam aquam, Deo volente, concito transmearunt. Et cum omni festinatione ad mare properantes, publicas stratas semper in itinere devitarunt; nec cessare voluerunt, donec ad quemdam portum unanimes pervenirent. Quo vero in loco, ab omnibus ignoti, navem, aliquandiu eos ibidem expectantem, prope portum promptam ibidem reperientes; quam cum omni festinatione intraverunt, et, prosperam auram eis Deo ministrante, ad Gallicana regna concito pervenerunt.
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