The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel Volume 1 Chapters 1-60 1307-1342
The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel offer one of the most vivid and immediate accounts of 14th-century Europe, written by a knight who lived through the events he describes, and experienced some of them first hand. Covering the early decades of the Hundred Years’ War, this remarkable chronicle follows the campaigns of Edward III of England, the politics of France and the Low Countries, and the shifting alliances that shaped medieval warfare. Unlike later historians, Jean le Bel writes with a strong sense of eyewitness authenticity, drawing on personal experience and the testimony of fellow soldiers. His narrative captures not only battles and sieges, but also the realities of military life, diplomacy, and the ideals of chivalry that governed noble society. A key source for Jean Froissart, Le Bel’s chronicle stands on its own as a compelling and insightful work, at once historical record and literary achievement. This translation builds on the 1905 edition published in French by Jules Viard, adding extensive translations from other sources Rymer's Fœdera, the Chronicles of Adam Murimuth, William Nangis, Walter of Guisborough, a Bourgeois of Valenciennes, Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke and Richard Lescot to enrich the original text and Viard's notes.
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Paternal Family Tree: Sackville
Before 1536 [his father] Richard Sackville [aged 28] and [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester were married.
In 1536 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset was born to [his father] Richard Sackville [aged 29] and [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester.
Around 1550 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 14] educated at St John's College, Cambridge University [Map].
In 1555 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 19] and Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 20] were married. He the son of Richard Sackville [aged 48] and Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester.
Between 1557 and 1587. Unknown Painter. The Almain Armourers' Album. Armour of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 21].
In 1560 Thomas Bishopp of Henfield in Surrey [aged 54] died. His son Thomas Bishopp 1st Baronet [aged 6] became a ward of [his father] Richard Sackville [aged 53] and then his son Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 24].
In 1561 [his son] Robert Sackville 2nd Earl Dorset was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 25] and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 26]. He married (1) February 1580 Margaret Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk and Margaret Audley Duchess Norfolk, and had issue (2) 4th December 1592 Anne Spencer Countess Dorset.
Around 1564 [his daughter] Anne Sackville was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 28] and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 29]. She married before 1589 Henry Glemham and had issue.
In 1565 [his brother-in-law] Gregory Fiennes 10th Baron Dacre Gilsland [aged 25] and [his sister] Anne Sackville Baroness Dacre of Gilsland were married. She by marriage Baroness Dacre Gilsland. She the daughter of [his father] Richard Sackville [aged 58] and [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester. They were fifth cousins. He a great x 5 grandson of King Edward III of England.
On 21st April 1566 [his father] Richard Sackville [aged 59] died.
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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In 1567 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 31] was created 1st Baron Buckhurst. [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 32] by marriage Baroness Buckhurst.
Around 1570 [his son] William Sackville was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 34] and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 35].
Before May 1571 [his step-father] John Paulet 2nd Marquess Winchester [aged 61] and [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester were married. He the son of William Paulet 1st Marquess Winchester [aged 88] and Elizabeth Capell Marchioness Winchester.
In January 1572 Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk [aged 35] was tried for high treason for his involvement in the Ridolphi Plot. Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 36] acted as judge.
George Talbot 6th Earl of Shrewsbury [aged 44] was appointed Lord High Steward for the trial.
Walter Mildmay [aged 51] helped prepare evidence against Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk.
On 10th March 1572 William Paulet 1st Marquess Winchester [aged 89] died. On His son [his step-father] John [aged 62] succeeded 2nd Marquess Winchester, 2nd Earl Wiltshire, 2nd Baron St John. [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester by marriage Marchioness Winchester.
Around 1573 [his daughter] Jane Sackville Viscountess Montague was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 37] and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 38]. She married 1591 her fourth cousin once removed Anthony Maria Browne 2nd Viscount Montagu and had issue.
In February 1580 Robert Sackville 2nd Earl Dorset [aged 19] and Margaret Howard [aged 18] were married. She the daughter of Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk and Margaret Audley Duchess Norfolk. He the son of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 44] and Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 45].
In 1584 [his daughter] Mary Sackville was born to Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 48] and [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 49]. She married before 1601 her sixth cousin Henry Neville 2nd Baron Abergavenny, son of Edward Neville 1st Baron Abergavenny and Rachel Lennard Baroness Bergavenny, and had issue.
In 1586 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 50] conveyed to Mary Queen of Scots [aged 43] the sentence of death confirmed by the English Parliament.
In 1586 [his mother] Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester died.
In November 1586 Robert Beale [aged 45] was sent with Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 50] to Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire [Map] to notify Mary Queen of Scots [aged 43] that sentence of death had been passed upon her.
Before 1589 [his son-in-law] Henry Glemham and Anne Sackville [aged 24] were married. She the daughter of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 52] and Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 53].
In 1589 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 53] was appointed 373rd Knight of the Garter by Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland [aged 55].
Before 1591. Hieronimo Custodis. Portrait of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 54].
In 1591 [his son-in-law] Anthony Maria Browne 2nd Viscount Montagu [aged 16] and Jane Sackville Viscountess Montague [aged 18] were married. She by marriage Viscountess Montagu. She the daughter of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 55] and Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 56]. They were fourth cousin once removed.
In 1592 [his son] William Sackville [aged 22] died.
On 4th December 1592 Robert Sackville 2nd Earl Dorset [aged 31] and Anne Spencer Countess Dorset were married. He the son of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 56] and Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 57].
In 1595 [his sister] Anne Sackville Baroness Dacre of Gilsland died.
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.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
In 1599 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 63] was appointed Lord Treasurer.
Before 1601 [his son-in-law] Henry Neville 2nd Baron Abergavenny [aged 21] and Mary Sackville [aged 16] were married at Buckhurst Withyham. She the daughter of Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 64] and Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 65]. They were sixth cousins.
Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts. The 19th of February [1601] the Earl [of Essex] was arraigned (together with Southampton) in Westminster Hall before 25 peers, the Lord Treasurer [aged 66] [Buckhurst] sitting as Lord Steward. At the bar the Earl laboured to extenuate his ftiult, by denying that ever he meant any harm to her Majesty's person, and by pretending that he took arms principally to save himself from my Lord Cobham [aged 37] and Sir Walter Ralegh [aged 48], who (he gave out) should have murdered him in his house on Saturday night. He pretended also an intention he had to have removed me with some others from the Queen, as one who would sell the kingdom of England to the Infant of Spain, with such other hyperbolical inventions. But before he went out of the Hall, when he saw himself condemned, and found that Sir John Davys [aged 40], Sir Ferdinando Gorges [aged 37], Sir Charles Davers, and Sir Christopher Blunt had confessed all the conferences that were held at Drury House, by his directions, for the surprising of the Queen and the Tower, which argued a premeditated treason (which he laboured to have had it prove only a sudden putting himself into strength, and flying into the city for fear of being committed over night when the Lords sent for him, which upon my faith to you, to whom I will not lie, was only to have reproved him for his unlawful assemblies, and to have wislied him to leave the city and retire into the country), he then break out to divers gentlemen in these words, that his confederates wlio now had accused him had been principal inciters of him, and not he of them, even ever since August last, to work his access to the Queen with force.
Around 1604 John Critz [aged 53] is believed to have contributed to the Somerset House Conference painting of the negotiation of the Treaty of London in which Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 68], Charles Howard 1st Earl Nottingham [aged 68], Charles Blount 1st Earl Devonshire [aged 41], Henry Howard 1st Earl of Northampton [aged 63] and Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury [aged 40] are represented on the right side.
In 1604 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 68] was created 1st Earl Dorset. [his wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 69] by marriage Countess Dorset.
On 19th April 1608 Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset [aged 72] died suddenly at the council table, having apparently suffered a stroke. His funeral was held at Westminster Abbey [Map]. He was buried in the Sackville Chapel St Michael's Church Withyham East Sussex. His son Robert [aged 47] succeeded 2nd Earl Dorset, 2nd Baron Buckhurst. Anne Spencer Countess Dorset by marriage Countess Dorset.
On 1st October 1615 [his former wife] Cicely Baker Countess Dorset [aged 80] died in Buckhurst.
Letters of Horace Walpole. 5th August 1752. From Sevenoaks [Map] we went to Knowle. The park is sweet, with much old beech, and an immense sycamore before the great gate, that makes me more in love than ever with sycamores. The house is not near so extensive as I expected:330 the outward court has a beautiful decent simplicity that charms one. The apartments are many, but not large. The furniture throughout, ancient magnificence; loads of portraits, not good nor curious; ebony cabinets, embossed silver in vases, dishes, etc. embroidered beds, stiff chairs, and sweet bags lying on velvet tables, richly worked in silk and gold. There are two galleries, one very small; an old hall, and a spacious great drawing-room. There is never a good staircase. The first little room you enter has sundry portraits of the times; but they seem to have been bespoke by the yard, and drawn all by the same painter; One should be happy if they were authentic; for among them there is Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, Gardiner of Winchester, the Earl of Surry, the poet, when a boy, and a Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, but I don't know which. The only fine picture is of Lord Goring and Endymion Porter by Vandyke. There is a good head of the Queen of Bohemia, a whole-length of Duc d'Espernon, and another good head of the [his granddaughter-in-law] Clifford, Countess of Dorset, who wrote that admirable haughty letter to Secretary Williamson, when he recommended a person to her for member for Appleby: "I have been bullied by an usurper, I have been neglected by a court, but I won't be dictated to by a subject: your man shan't stand. Ann Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery." In the chapel is a piece of ancient tapestry: Saint Luke in his first profession is holding an urinal. Below stairs is a chamber of poets and players, which is proper enough in that house; for the first Earl wrote a play331, and the last Earl was a poet332, and I think married a player333 Major Mohun and Betterton are curious among the latter, Cartwright and Flatman among the former. The arcade is newly enclosed, painted in fresco, and with modern glass of all the family matches. In the gallery is a whole-length of the unfortunate Earl of Surry, with his device, a broken column, and the motto Sat superest. My father had one of them, but larger, and with more emblems, which the Duke of Norfolk bought at my brother's sale. There is one good head of henry VIII, and divers of Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, the citizen who came to be lord treasurer, and was very near coming to be hanged.334 His Countess, a bouncing kind of lady-mayoress, looks pure awkward amongst so much good company. A visto cut through the wood has a delightful effect from the front: but there are some trumpery fragments of gardens that spoil the view from the state apartments.
Note 329. Only son of Dr. Richard Bentley, the celebrated Divine and classical scholar. He was educated at Trinity College, under his father. Cumberland, who was his nephew, describes him as a man of various and considerable accomplishments; possessing a fine genius, great wit, and a brilliant imagination; "but there was," he adds, "a certain eccentricity and want of prudence in his character, that involved him in distresses, and reduced him to situations uncongenial with his feelings, and unpropitious to the cultivation and encouragement of his talents."-E.
Note 330. Evelyn in his Diary for July 25, 1673, says, "In my way I visited my Lord of Dorset's house at Knowle, near Sevenoaks, a greate old-fashion'd house."-E.
Note 331. Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, while a student in the Temple, wrote his tragedy of Gordobuc, which was played before Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall, in 1561. He was created Earl of Dorset by James the First, in 1604.-E.
Note 332. Charles Sackville, sixth Earl of Dorset. On the day previous to the naval engagement with the Dutch, in 1665, he is said to have composed his celebrated song, "to all you Ladies now on Land."-E.
Note 333. On the contrary, he married the Lady Frances, daughter of the Earl of Middlesex, who survived him.-E. [Note. This appears to be a mistake insofar as [his great grandson] Richard Sackville 5th Earl Dorset married Frances Cranfield Countess Dorset who was the daughter of Lionel Cranfield 1st Earl Middlesex. Charles Sackville 6th Earl Dorset 1st Earl Middlesex married firstly Mary Bagot Countess Falmouth and Dorset and secondly Mary Compton Countess Dorset and Middlesex. There, however, references to his marrying an actress Alice Lee with whom he appear to have had a daughter Mary Sackville Countess Orrery.]
Note 334. Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, married two wives: the first was the daughter of a London citizen; the second, the daughter of James Brett, Esq. and half-sister of Mary Beaumont, created Countess of Buckingham. To this last alliance, Lord Middlesex owed his extraordinary advancement.-E.
Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts. After he [Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex] had been in the Tower one night, he sent to the Lord Thomas Howard, being constable of the Tower, by Mr. Warburton, to entreat him to move her Majesty to send unto him the Lord Keeper (Egerton), Lord Treasurer (Buckhurst), Lord Admiral (Nottingham), and me the secretary by name, that he might now discharge his conscience, and confess his great obstinacy in denying those things at his arraignment wherewith he had been charsed, as also to reconcile himself to his enemies, and specially to me, whom he liad wronged as a councillor, when he pretended at the bar that the cause of his taking arms was the rather to save the kingdom of England from the Spaniard, to whom it was bought and sold, particularly urging it upon me, who had been a dealer in the peace; adding also that he had heard that I delivered to a councillor that the Inftint had the best title: to the which when I replied, and pressed that the party that told it him miglit be brought forth, Mr. Controller (Sir Edward Wotton?) was named by the poor Earl of Southampton, who, being sent for into the seat of judgment, very like a gentleman and a Christian cleared me that I did never speak of that in other sort than as reporting what a strange book was come forth of one Doleman dedicated to the Earl of Essex, which did maintain that title to be the best.
Kings Wessex: Great x 16 Grand Son of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Kings Gwynedd: Great x 12 Grand Son of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd
Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 18 Grand Son of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth
Kings Powys: Great x 13 Grand Son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys
Kings England: Great x 8 Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Kings Scotland: Great x 15 Grand Son of King Duncan I of Scotland
Kings Franks: Great x 22 Grand Son of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Kings France: Great x 16 Grand Son of Hugh I King of the Franks
Kings Duke Aquitaine: Great x 20 Grand Son of Ranulf I Duke Aquitaine
Great x 2 Grandfather: Humphrey Sackville 
Great x 1 Grandfather: Richard Sackville of Buckhurst 7 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Browne 
Great x 2 Grandmother: Catherine Browne 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Fitzalan 
4 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Eleanor Fitzalan 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Joan Moyns
GrandFather: John Sackville 8 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England
Great x 2 Grandfather: John Digges
Great x 1 Grandmother: Isabel Digges
Great x 4 Grandfather: Gervase Clifton 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Gervase Clifton
Great x 4 Grandmother: Isabel Francis
Great x 2 Grandmother: Joan Clifton
Great x 4 Grandfather: Vincent Finch aka Herbert of Netherfield Sussex 
Great x 3 Grandmother: Isabel Finch
Father: Richard Sackville 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Boleyn 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Geoffrey Boleyn
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Jane Bracton
Great x 2 Grandfather: Geoffrey Boleyn
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Bracton
Great x 3 Grandmother: Alice Bracton
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Boleyn 8 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Hoo
Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Hoo 1st Baron Hoo and Hastings 9 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Eleanor Felton 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Ann Hoo 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Nicholas Wychingham of Norfolk 5 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Wychingham 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King John of England
GrandMother: Margaret Boleyn 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: James Butler 3rd Earl Ormonde 
2 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: James "White Earl" Butler 4th Earl Ormonde 3 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Welles Countess Ormonde 
6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England
Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Butler 7th Earl Ormonde 4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Beauchamp 1st Baron Abergavenny 
5 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Joan Beauchamp Countess Ormonde 3 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Joan Fitzalan Baroness Bergavenny 2 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Margaret Butler 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Hankford
Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Hankford
Great x 2 Grandmother: Anne Hankford Countess Ormonde 4 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Montagu 3rd Earl Salisbury 
2 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Anne Montagu Duchess Exeter 3 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Maud Francis Countess of Salisbury
Thomas Sackville 1st Earl Dorset 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
GrandFather: John Brydges
Mother: Winifred Brydges Marchioness Winchester
GrandMother: Agnes Ayloffe