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.
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Around 1596 Archbishop Richard Sterne was born.
On 15th November 1660 Archbishop Richard Sterne (age 64) was elected Bishop of Carlisle.
On 2nd December 1660 Archbishop Richard Sterne (age 64) was consecrated Bishop of Carlisle.
On 28th April 1664 Archbishop Richard Sterne (age 68) was elected Archbishop of York.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 8th April 1666. To the Chappell, but could not get in to hear well. But I had the pleasure once in my life to see an Archbishop (age 70) (this was of Yorke) in a pulpit. Then at a loss how to get home to dinner, having promised to carry Mrs. Hunt thither. At last got my Lord Hinchingbroke's (age 18) coach, he staying at Court; and so took her up in Axe-yard [Map], and home and dined. And good discourse of the old matters of the Protector and his family, she having a relation to them. The Protector (age 39)1 lives in France: spends about £500 per annum. Thence carried her home again and then to Court and walked over to St. James's Chappell, thinking to have heard a Jesuite preach, but come too late. So got a Hackney and home, and there to business. At night had Mercer comb my head and so to supper, sing a psalm, and to bed.
Note 1. Richard Cromwell subsequently returned to England, and resided in strict privacy at Cheshunt for some years before his death in 1712.
In 1683 Archbishop Richard Sterne (age 87) died.
John Evelyn's Diary. 26th July 1692. I went to visit the Bishop of Lincoln (age 55), when, among other things, he told me that one Dr. Chaplin, of University College in Oxford, was the person who wrote the "Whole Duty of Man"; that he used to read it to his pupil, and communicated it to Dr. Sterne, afterward Archbishop of York, but would never suffer any of his pupils to have a copy of it.