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All About History Books

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.

Biography of Bishop John Pearson 1613-1686

On 28th February 1613 Bishop John Pearson was born.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 14th July 1667. After dinner, he gone, we all lay down after dinner (the day being wonderful hot) to sleep, and each of us took a good nap, and then rose; and Tom Wilson come to see me, and sat and talked an hour; and I perceive he hath been much acquainted with Dr. Fuller (age 59) (Tom) and Dr. Pierson (age 54), and several of the great cavalier parsons during the late troubles; and I was glad to hear him talk of them, which he did very ingeniously, and very much of Dr. Fuller's art of memory, which he did tell me several instances of.

In 1672 Bishop John Pearson (age 58) was appointed Bishop of Chester.

John Evelyn's Diary. 16th March 1673. Dr. Pearson (age 60), Bishop of Chester, preached on Hebrews ix. 14; a most incomparable sermon from one of the most learned divines of our nation. I dined at my Lord Arlington's (age 55) with the Duke (age 23) and Duchess of Monmouth (age 22); she is one of the wisest and craftiest of her sex, and has much wit. Here was also the learned Isaac Vossius (age 55).

John Evelyn's Diary. 25th March 1674. I dined at Knightsbridge, Kensington, with the Bishops of Salisbury, Chester (age 61), and Lincoln (age 66), my old friends.

On 16th July 1686 Bishop John Pearson (age 73) died.