Anne Boleyn. Her Life as told by Lancelot de Carle's 1536 Letter.

In 1536, two weeks after the execution of Anne Boleyn, her brother George and four others, Lancelot du Carle, wrote an extraordinary letter that described Anne's life, and her trial and execution, to which he was a witness. This book presents a new translation of that letter, with additional material from other contemporary sources such as Letters, Hall's and Wriothesley's Chronicles, the pamphlets of Wynkyn the Worde, the Memorial of George Constantyne, the Portuguese Letter and the Baga de Secrets, all of which are provided in Appendices.

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Biography of Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet 1678-1746

Paternal Family Tree: Bridgeman

On 28th September 1670 [his father] Orlando Bridgeman 1st Baronet (age 20) and [his mother] Mary Cave Lady Bridgeman (age 16) were married. He the son of [his grandfather] Bishop John Bridgeman.

On 27th April 1678 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet was born to [his father] Orlando Bridgeman 1st Baronet (age 28) and [his mother] Mary Cave Lady Bridgeman (age 24).

In 1696 [his father] Orlando Bridgeman 1st Baronet (age 46) was elected Fellow of the Royal Society.

On 20th April 1701 [his father] Orlando Bridgeman 1st Baronet (age 51) died. His son Orlando (age 22) succeeded 2nd Baronet Bridgeman of Ridley in Cheshire.

Around June 1701 [his mother] Mary Cave Lady Bridgeman (age 47) died.

On 15th April 1702 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 23) and Susanna Dashwood Lady Bridgeman (age 17) were married. She by marriage Lady Bridgeman of Ridley in Cheshire.

On 25th February 1707 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 28) was elected MP Coventry. He was re-elected in 1708. He was defeated in 1710.

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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In 1715 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 36) was elected MP Calne which seat he held until 1722.

In 1716 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 37) was appointed Auditor General to George, Prince of Wales.

On 25th February 1724 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 45) was elected MP Lostwithiel at a by-election.

In 1727 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 48) was elected MP Calne and MP Bletchingley. He chose to sit for the latter.

In 1727 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 48) was appointed to the Board of Trade as a Lord of Trade which office he held until 1738.

Bowood park [Map] was retained by the Crown until 1727, when it was bought by the tenant, Sir Orlando Bridgeman (age 48).

In 1734 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 55) was elected MP Dunwich.

In 1737 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 58) was appointed Governor of Barbados. He disappeared before sailing to Barbados. He left farewell letters to his family and to the king and left his clothes by the side of the Thames. On 10th June 1738, a body was found drowned in the Thames near Limehouse and because it had been disfigured by the water, the body was falsely identified as Bridgeman's.

Diary of Viscount Egmont afterwards Earl Egmont 1741. Monday, 30 [October 1738]. — I went to Court, being the King's birthday, but returned home to Charlton to dinner. I saw half the gentlemen in plain clothes, with silver and gold buttons only, and was told it was the fashion to appear so on the King's birthday in France, and that we have followed them in it.

Sir Orlando Bridgman (age 60), who, instead of going to his Government of Barbadoes conferred on him last winter, made his escape (as he hoped) from the world, to avoid his creditors, by pretending to make himself away, and accordingly gave it out that he had drowned himself, was ferreted out of his hole by the reward advertised for whoever should discover him, and seized in an inn at Slough, where he had ever since concealed himself.

Under a Chancery decree of 1739 the park and Bowood House [Map], which Sir Orlando Bridgeman (age 60) had built on it, were acquired by Richard Long, Sir Orlando's principal creditor, who sold them in 1754 to John Petty (age 33), earl of Shelburne. Petty devised them to his wife Mary, who in 1761 or 1762 conveyed them to her son William Petty (age 1), earl of Shelburne (cr. marquess of Lansdowne 1784, d. 1805).

The History of William Marshal, Earl of Chepstow and Pembroke, Regent of England. Book 1 of 2, Lines 1-10152.

The History of William Marshal was commissioned by his son shortly after William’s death in 1219 to celebrate the Marshal’s remarkable life; it is an authentic, contemporary voice. The manuscript was discovered in 1861 by French historian Paul Meyer. Meyer published the manuscript in its original Anglo-French in 1891 in two books. This book is a line by line translation of the first of Meyer’s books; lines 1-10152. Book 1 of the History begins in 1139 and ends in 1194. It describes the events of the Anarchy, the role of William’s father John, John’s marriages, William’s childhood, his role as a hostage at the siege of Newbury, his injury and imprisonment in Poitou where he met Eleanor of Aquitaine and his life as a knight errant. It continues with the accusation against him of an improper relationship with Margaret, wife of Henry the Young King, his exile, and return, the death of Henry the Young King, the rebellion of Richard, the future King Richard I, war with France, the death of King Henry II, and the capture of King Richard, and the rebellion of John, the future King John. It ends with the release of King Richard and the death of John Marshal.

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On 5th December 1746 Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet (age 68) died at Gloucester Gaol, Gloucestershire where he had been imprisoned six years before for faking his own death. He was buried at St Nicholas' Church, Gloucester. Baronet Bridgeman of Ridley in Cheshire extinct.

On 4th September 1747 [his former wife] Susanna Dashwood Lady Bridgeman (age 62) died.

Royal Ancestors of Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet 1678-1746

Kings Wessex: Great x 20 Grand Son of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England

Kings Gwynedd: Great x 17 Grand Son of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd

Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 23 Grand Son of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth

Kings Powys: Great x 18 Grand Son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys

Kings Godwinson: Great x 21 Grand Son of King Harold II of England

Kings England: Great x 11 Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Kings Scotland: Great x 19 Grand Son of King Duncan I of Scotland

Kings Franks: Great x 27 Grand Son of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor

Kings France: Great x 20 Grand Son of Hugh I King of the Franks

Kings Duke Aquitaine: Great x 24 Grand Son of Ranulf I Duke Aquitaine

Ancestors of Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet 1678-1746

Great x 2 Grandfather: Edward Bridgeman

Great x 1 Grandfather: Thomas Bridgeman

GrandFather: Bishop John Bridgeman

Father: Orlando Bridgeman 1st Baronet

Orlando Bridgeman 2nd Baronet 11 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Cave

Great x 3 Grandfather: Roger Cave of Stanford

Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Danvers

Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Cave

Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Cecil

Great x 3 Grandmother: Margaret Cecil

Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Heckington

Great x 1 Grandfather: Thomas Cave of Croft Castle 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: John St John 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 3 Grandfather: Nicholas St John 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Margaret Carew 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England

Great x 2 Grandmother: Eleanor St John 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Blount of Mapledurham in Oxfordshire 12 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Blount 13 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

GrandFather: Thomas Cave 1st Baronet 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: James Croft

Great x 3 Grandfather: Edward Croft

Great x 4 Grandmother: Alice Warnecombe

Great x 2 Grandfather: Herbert Croft

Great x 1 Grandmother: Elizabeth Croft

Mother: Mary Cave Lady Bridgeman 10 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Wenman

Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Wenman

Great x 4 Grandmother: Isabel Williams

Great x 2 Grandfather: Richard Wenman 1st Viscount Wenman 10 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: William West 1st Baron De La Warr 8 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Jane West 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Strange Baroness De La Warr

Great x 1 Grandfather: Thomas Wenman 2nd Viscount Wenman 11 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: John Fermor

Great x 3 Grandfather: George Fermor of Easton Neston

Great x 4 Grandmother: Maud Vaux

Great x 2 Grandmother: Agnes Fermor 15 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Curzon 13 x Great Grand Son of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Mary Curzon 14 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Agnes Hussey

GrandMother: Penelope Wenman Lady Cave 12 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England