William of Worcester's Chronicle of England
William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
Paternal Family Tree: Spencer
Maternal Family Tree: Anne Windsor 1466-1500
On 9th June 1665 [her father] Robert Spencer 2nd Earl of Sunderland [aged 23] and [her mother] Anne Digby Countess Sunderland [aged 19] were married. She by marriage Countess of Sunderland. She the daughter of [her grandfather] George Digby 2nd Earl Bristol [aged 52] and [her grandmother] Anne Russell Countess Bristol [aged 45]. He the son of Henry Spencer 1st Earl of Sunderland and Dorothy Sidney Countess Sunderland [aged 47]. They were half fifth cousins.
In 1667 Anne Spencer Countess Arran was born to Robert Spencer 2nd Earl of Sunderland [aged 25] and Anne Digby Countess Sunderland [aged 21].
In 1684 [her brother-in-law] Donough MacCarty 4th Earl Clancarty [aged 16] and [her sister] Elizabeth Spencer Countess Clancarty [aged 13] were married. She by marriage Countess Clancarty. She the daughter of [her father] Robert Spencer 2nd Earl of Sunderland [aged 42] and [her mother] Anne Digby Countess Sunderland [aged 38]. He the son of Callaghan MacCarty 3rd Earl Clancarty and Elizabeth Fitzgerald Countess Clancarty [aged 42]. They were fifth cousin once removed.
In 1686 James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon [aged 27] and Anne Spencer Countess Arran [aged 19] were married. He by marriage Duke Hamilton. She the daughter of Robert Spencer 2nd Earl of Sunderland [aged 44] and Anne Digby Countess Sunderland [aged 40]. He the son of William Hamilton 1st Duke Hamilton [aged 51] and Anne Hamilton 3rd Duchess Hamilton [aged 54].
John Evelyn's Diary. 12th January 1688. My [her husband] Lord Arran [aged 29], eldest son to the [her father-in-law] Duke of Hamilton [aged 53], being now married to Lady Ann Spencer [aged 21], eldest daughter of the Earl of Sunderland [aged 46], Lord President of the Council, I and my family had most glorious favors sent us, the wedding being celebrated with extraordinary splendor.
John Evelyn's Diary. 18th August 1688. The house, or rather palace, at Althorpe [Map], is a noble uniform pile in form of a half H, built of brick and freestone, balustered and à la moderne; the hall is well, the staircase excellent; the rooms of state, galleries, offices and furniture, such as may become a great prince. It is situated in the midst of a garden, exquisitely planted and kept, and all this in a park walled in with hewn stone, planted with rows and walks of trees, canals and fish ponds, and stored with game. And, what is above all this, governed by a lady [aged 42], who without any show of solicitude, keeps everything in such admirable order, both within and without, from the garret to the cellar, that I do not believe there is any in this nation, or in any other, that exceeds her in such exact order, without ostentation, but substantially great and noble. The meanest servant is lodged so neat and cleanly; the service at the several tables, the good order and decency-in a word, the entire economy is perfectly becoming a wise and noble person. She is one who for her distinguished esteem of me from a long and worthy friendship, I must ever honor and celebrate. I wish from my soul the Lord [aged 46], her husband (whose parts and abilities are otherwise conspicuous), was as worthy of her, as by a fatal apostasy and court-ambition he has made himself unworthy! This is what she deplores, and it renders her as much affliction as a lady of great soul and much prudence is capable of. The Countess of Bristol [aged 68], her mother, a grave and honorable lady, has the comfort of seeing her daughter and grandchildren under the same economy, especially Mr. Charles Spencer [aged 13], a youth of extraordinary hopes, very learned for his age, and ingenious, and under a Governor of great worth. Happy were it, could as much be said of the elder brother, the Lord Spencer, who, rambling about the world, dishonors both his name and his family, adding sorrow to sorrow to a mother, who has taken all imaginable care of his education. There is a daughter [aged 17] very young married to the Earl of Clancarty [aged 20], who has a great and fair estate in Ireland, but who yet gives no great presage of worth,-so universally contaminated is the youth of this corrupt and abandoned age! But this is again recompensed by my Lord Arran [aged 30], a sober and worthy gentleman, who has espoused the Lady Ann Spencer [aged 21], a young lady of admirable accomplishments and virtue.
John Evelyn's Diary. 18th August 1688. My [her mother] lady [aged 42] carried us to see Lord Northampton's [aged 23] Seat, a very strong, large house, built with stone, not altogether modern. They were enlarging the garden, in which was nothing extraordinary, except the iron gate opening into the park, which indeed was very good work, wrought in flowers painted with blue and gilded. There is a noble walk of elms toward the front of the house by the bowling green. I was not in any room of the house besides a lobby looking into the garden, where my Lord and his new Countess [aged 19] (Sir Stephen Fox's [aged 61] daughter, whom I had known from a child) entertained the Countess and her daughter the Countess of Arran [aged 21] (newly married to the [her husband] son [aged 30] of the [her father-in-law] Duke of Hamilton [aged 53]), with so little good grace, and so dully, that our visit was very short, and so we returned to Althorpe [Map], twelve miles distant.
In 1690 Anne Spencer Countess Arran [aged 23] died.
In 1698 [her former husband] James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon [aged 39] and Elizabeth Gerard Duchess Brandon [aged 18] were married. The difference in their ages was 21 years. He the son of [her former father-in-law] William Hamilton 1st Duke Hamilton and [her former mother-in-law] Anne Hamilton 3rd Duchess Hamilton [aged 66].
On 15th November 1712 Charles Mohun 4th Baron Mohun Okehampton [aged 37] duelled with [her former husband] James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon [aged 54] at Hyde Park [Map] over a legal dispute about the estate and inheritance of the late Earl Macclesfield. Mohun had married Charlotte Orby Baroness Mohun Okehampton grand-daughter of Charles Gerard 1st Earl Macclesfield. James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon had married Elizabeth Gerard Duchess Brandon [aged 32]. The two seconds, Macartney and Colonel Hamilton, were both charged as accessories to murder. Hamilton gave himself up, Macartney fled into exile in Hanover. Colonel Hamilton was found guilty of manslaughter.
James Hamilton Duke Hamilton, 1st Duke Brandon died from wounds received duelling. His son James [aged 9] succeeded 5th Duke Hamilton, 2nd Duke Brandon of Suffolk, 2nd Baron Dutton of Cheshire.
Charles Mohun 4th Baron Mohun Okehampton died from wounds received duelling; his father had also been killed in a duel. Baron Mohun Okehampton and Baronet Mohun of Boconnoc in Cornwall extinct.
Kings Wessex: Great x 19 Grand Daughter of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Kings Gwynedd: Great x 16 Grand Daughter of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd
Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 22 Grand Daughter of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth
Kings Powys: Great x 17 Grand Daughter of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys
Kings Godwinson: Great x 20 Grand Daughter of King Harold II of England
Kings England: Great x 10 Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Kings Scotland: Great x 18 Grand Daughter of King Duncan I of Scotland
Kings Franks: Great x 26 Grand Daughter of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Kings France: Great x 20 Grand Daughter of Hugh I King of the Franks
Kings Duke Aquitaine: Great x 23 Grand Daughter of Ranulf I Duke Aquitaine
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Spencer 
Great x 3 Grandfather: John Spencer
Great x 4 Grandmother: Katherine Kitson 
Great x 2 Grandfather: Robert Spencer 1st Baron Spencer
Great x 3 Grandmother: Mary Catlyn
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Spencer 2nd Baron Spencer 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Henry Willoughby 
11 x Great Grand Son of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Francis Willoughby 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Grey 
5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Margaret Willoughby 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Lyttelton of Frankley 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Lyttelton 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Bridget Packington 
GrandFather: Henry Spencer 1st Earl of Sunderland 8 x Great Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Wriothesley 1st Earl of Southampton 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Henry Wriothesley 2nd Earl of Southampton
Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Cheney Countess Southampton
Great x 2 Grandfather: Henry Wriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Anthony Browne 1st Viscount Montagu 
5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Mary Browne Countess Southampton 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Radclyffe 
6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Penelope Wriothesley Baroness Spencer Wormleighton 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry IV of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: George Vernon 
4 x Great Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: John Vernon 5 x Great Grand Son of King Henry IV of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Elizabeth Vernon Countess Southampton 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry IV of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Devereux 
5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Devereux 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Dorothy Hastings 
5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Father: Robert Spencer 2nd Earl of Sunderland 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Sidney 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Henry Sidney
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Pakenham
Great x 2 Grandfather: Robert Sidney 1st Earl of Leicester 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Dudley 1st Duke Northumberland 
7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Mary Dudley 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Guildford Duchess Northumberland 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England
Great x 1 Grandfather: Robert Sidney 2nd Earl of Leicester 10 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Robert Gamage of Coity Castle 10 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: John Gamage of Coity Castle 11 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Barbara Gamage Countess Leicester 12 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England
GrandMother: Dorothy Sidney Countess Sunderland 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Percy 4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Henry Percy 8th Earl of Northumberland 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Eleanor Harbottle 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 2 Grandfather: Henry "Wizard Earl" Percy 9th Earl of Northumberland 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Neville 4th Baron Latimer of Snape 
5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Katherine Neville Countess Northumberland 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Lucy Somerset Baroness Latimer Snape 
5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Dorothy Percy Countess Leicester 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Devereux 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Walter Devereux 1st Earl Essex 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Dorothy Hastings 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Dorothy Devereux Countess Northumberland 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Francis Knollys 
Great x 3 Grandmother: Lettice Knollys Countess Essex and Leicester 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Catherine Carey 
5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Anne Spencer Countess Arran 10 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Reginald Digby 
Great x 3 Grandfather: John Digby
Great x 2 Grandfather: George Digby 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: George Throckmorton of Coughton 
Great x 3 Grandmother: Anne Throckmorton 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Katherine Vaux 
4 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 1 Grandfather: John Digby 1st Earl Bristol 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Heveningham of Ketteringham 
9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Anthony Heveningham 10 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Alice Shelton
Great x 2 Grandmother: Abigail Heveningham 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Shelton
Great x 3 Grandmother: Mary Shelton 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Boleyn 
6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
GrandFather: George Digby 2nd Earl Bristol 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Beatrice Walcott
Mother: Anne Digby Countess Sunderland 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Russell 1st Earl Bedford 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Francis Russell 2nd Earl Bedford
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Sapcote Countess Bedford
Great x 2 Grandfather: William Russell 1st Baron Russell 9 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John St John 
9 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Margaret St John Countess Bedford 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Margaret Waldegrave 
7 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England
Great x 1 Grandfather: Francis Russell 4th Earl Bedford 10 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Elizabeth Long Baroness Russel Thornhaugh
GrandMother: Anne Russell Countess Bristol 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Brydges 1st Baron Chandos
Great x 3 Grandfather: Edmund Brydges 2nd Baron Chandos 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Grey Baroness Chandos 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 2 Grandfather: Giles Brydges 3rd Baron Chandos 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Edmund Braye 1st Baron Braye 
Great x 3 Grandmother: Dorothy Braye Baroness Chandos and Knollys 12 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Halwell Baroness Bray 11 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Catherine Brydges Countess Bedford 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Clinton 8th Baron Clinton 
9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Edward Clinton 1st Earl Lincoln 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Poynings Baroness Clinton 
7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Anne Clinton 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Stourton 7th Baron Stourton 
9 x Great Grand Son of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Ursula Stourton Baroness Clinton 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Dudley Baroness Stourton 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England