This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
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Paternal Family Tree: Monson
In 1599 William Monson 1st Viscount Monson was born to William Monson [aged 32].
In September 1603 Charles Howard 1st Earl Nottingham [aged 67] and [his future wife] Margaret Stewart 1st Countess Nottingham [aged 12] were married. She by marriage Countess Nottingham. The difference in their ages was 55 years. She the daughter of James "The Bonnie Earl" Stewart 2nd Earl of Moray and Elizabeth Stewart 2nd Countess Moray. They were half fourth cousin twice removed. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Henry VII of England and Ireland.
On 12th February 1623 William Monson 1st Viscount Monson [aged 24] was knighted.
On 23rd August 1628 William Monson 1st Viscount Monson [aged 29] was created 1st Viscount Monson of Castlemaine in Kerry, 1st Baron Bellingnard of Limerick. [his future wife] Margaret Stewart 1st Countess Nottingham [aged 37] by marriage Viscountess Monson of Castlemaine in Kerry.
Before 4th August 1639 William Monson 1st Viscount Monson [aged 40] and Margaret Stewart 1st Countess Nottingham [aged 48] were married. She the daughter of James "The Bonnie Earl" Stewart 2nd Earl of Moray and Elizabeth Stewart 2nd Countess Moray.
On 4th August 1639 [his wife] Margaret Stewart 1st Countess Nottingham [aged 48] died at her house in Covent Garden [Map].
On 29th January 1649 King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland [aged 48] fifty-seven commissioners signed King Charles' Death Warrant at Westminster Hall [Map]. Two further names were added subsequently.
10 Thomas Maulever 1st Baronet
14 Major-General William Goffe
21 Admiral Richard Deane
42 John Jones
45 Major General Charles Fleetwood
55 John Downes
57 Thomas Scot
58 John Carew
The commissioners who sat at the trial but did not sign the Death Warrant included:
William Monson 1st Viscount Monson [aged 50]
James Harington 3rd Baronet [aged 41]
The Captain of the Guard was Daniel Axtell [aged 27]. The guards included Francis Hacker, Matthew Tomlinson [aged 31].
The Solicitor-General was John Cook [aged 41].
On 21st June 1661 William Monson 1st Viscount Monson [aged 62] surrendered himself to Parliament and was imprisoned at Fleet Prison [Map] for being a Regicide. On 1st July 1661 he was brought up to the bar of the House of Commons, and, after being made to confess his crime, was degraded from all his honours and titles and deprived of his property. He was also sentenced to be drawn from the Tower through the city of London to Tyburn [Map], and so back again, with a halter about his neck, and to be imprisoned for life.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 27th January 1662. That being done we went home again. This morning, going to take water upon Tower-hill [Map], we met with three sleddes standing there to carry my Lord Monson [aged 63] and Sir H. Mildmay [aged 69] and another, to the gallows and back again, with ropes about their necks; which is to be repeated every year, this being the day of their sentencing the King [aged 31].
On 13th February 1662 [his father] William Monson [aged 95] died.
Around 1672 William Monson 1st Viscount Monson [aged 73] died at Fleet Prison [Map].
GrandFather: John Monson 
Father: William Monson