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.
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Effigy of Sir Richard de Whatton is in Monumental Effigies of Great Britain.
THE Lords of Whatton had their residence in a strong castellated mansion on the banks of the river Smite, in the vale of Belvoir: traces of the earthworks on which it was erected remain to this day. Sir William de Whatton, said to be of Flemish extraction, nourished here in the reign of Henry I who made him a Knight. Richard de Whatton, the subject of this effigy, was the second son of John de Whatton, by his wife Ela, daughter of John Lord Bisset, Baron of Combe Bisset. He flourished in the reign of Henry III. In the 14th and 15th of Edward the Second; Richard de Whatton was summoned to attend King Edward II to aid him against Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, and the Barons his confederates. He valiantly adventured his life in the royal cause; and on the Earl of Lancaster being beheaded at Pontefract [Map], all his castles, lands, and tenements, and all those of the other rebels within the County of Northumberland and Episcopate of Durham, were committed to the custody of this Richard de Whatton, to have and to hold during the royal pleasure, he accounting for the receipts to the King's Exchequera. This instrument is dated at Pontefract 23d March. The effigy of Richard de Whatton is in the North aisle of Whatton Church. On his shield has been sculptured the arms of Whatton, which were, Argent, a bend Sable charged with three bezantsb between six crosslets Gules. An inscription on the monument runs thus:
PRIEZ PVR L'ALME DE SIRE RICHARD WHATTON, CHIVALER.
Note a. See the deed at length in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. XCV. i. p. 39.
Note b. Johnde Whatton charged his paternal coat with the bezants, having married into the family of Bisset, who bore. Azure, nine bezants, 4,3, and 2.
