Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes
Récits d’un bourgeois de Valenciennes aka The Chronicle of a Bourgeois of Valenciennes is a vivid 14th-century vernacular chronicle written by an anonymous urban chronicler from Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut. It survives in a manuscript that describes local and regional history from about 1253 to 1366, blending chronology, narrative episodes, and eyewitness-style accounts of political, military, and social events in medieval France, Flanders, and the Low Countries. The work begins with a chronological framework of events affecting Valenciennes and its region under rulers such as King Philip VI of France and the shifting allegiances of local nobility. It includes accounts of conflicts, sieges, diplomatic manoeuvres, and the impact of broader struggles like the Hundred Years’ War on urban life in Hainaut. Written from the perspective of a burgher (bourgeois) rather than a monastery or royal court, the chronicle offers a rare lay viewpoint on high politics and warfare, reflecting how merchants, townspeople, and civic institutions experienced the turbulence of the 13th and 14th centuries. Its narrative style combines straightforward reporting of events with moral and civic observations, making it a valuable source for readers interested in medieval urban society, regional politics, and the lived experience of war and governance in pre-modern Europe.
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Chiswick is in Middlesex.
See: Chiswick Bridge [Map], Chiswick House, Chiswick Mall, Church of St Nicholas, Chiswick, Morton House Chiswick, Turnham Green Chiswick.
On 6th April 1657 William Boothby 1st Baronet [aged 19] and Hill Brooke [aged 21] were married at Chiswick.
John Evelyn's Diary. 29th October 1682. Being my birthday, and I now entering my great climacterical of 63, after serious recollections of the years past, giving Almighty God thanks for all his merciful preservations and forbearance, begging pardon for my sins and unworthiness, and his blessing on me the year entering, I went with my Lady Fox to survey her building, and give some directions for the garden at Chiswick; the architect is Mr. May [aged 61], somewhat heavy and thick, and not so well understood: the garden much too narrow, the place without water, near a highway, and near another great house of my Lord Burlington [aged 14], little land about it, so that I wonder at the expense; but women will have their will.
John Evelyn's Diary. 16th June 1683. I went to Windsor, Berkshire [Map], dining by the way at Chiswick, at Sir Stephen Fox's [aged 56], where I found Sir Robert Howard (that universal pretender), and Signor Verrio [aged 47], who brought his draught and designs for the painting of the staircase of Sir Stephen's new house.
In 1700 Crisp Gascoyne was born in Chiswick. He was baptised on 26th August 1700 at Church of St Nicholas, Chiswick.
On 5th January 1713 Jean Chardin [aged 69] died in Chiswick.
On 26th June 1722 Dorothy Molyneux Viscountess Falkland died at Chiswick.
On 13th November 1789 Jane Thornhill [aged 80] died in Chiswick.
On 24th September 1822 Charles William Cavendish was born to Henry Frederick Compton Cavendish [aged 32] and Frances Susan Lambton at Chiswick. He married (1) his half sixth cousin Felicia Susan Lygon, daughter of Henry Beauchamp Lygon 4th Earl Beauchamp and Susan Caroline Eliot (2) 25th June 1863 Louisa Cockburn.
Chiswick Bridge [Map] is a bridge over the River Thames.
On 3rd July 1933 Twickenham Bridge [Map], Hampton Court Bridge [Map] and Chiswick Bridge [Map] were opened by the Prince of Wales [aged 39].
Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans
Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.
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In 1682 Charles Boyle 3rd Baron Clifford [aged 42] puchased Chiswick House.
Adeline Horsey Recollections. After my dear mother's [aged 43] death I visited a great deal with my father [aged 53], and one year we went for the shooting to Lord Huntingfield's place, Heveningham Hall, Suffolk. I slept in the bedroom once occupied by the famous Chevalier d'Éon, who had been a frequent guest at Heveningham, and about whom there were many stories told. It was said that the Chevalier was the one and only lover of cross-grained Queen Charlotte, and that her son, George IV, was the result of their intimacy, although his paternity was of course admitted by King George III. The animosity always displayed by the old Queen to her grand-daughter, Princess Charlotte, was supposed to arise from the fact that as heiress to the throne she innocently dispossessed the other Royal Dukes from the succession. It is certainly a fact that the Princess's untimely death in childbirth was attributed to foul play at the time, and when later the accoucheur [obstetrician] Sir Richard Croft, committed suicide, all classes of society were loud in condemnation of the Queen and the Prince Regent. I do not vouch for the accuracy of Queen Charlotte's love affair. I only give the Heveningham gossip as I heard it.
Note A. D'Eon was undoubtedly one of the most picturesque and mysterious personages of the eighteenth century I was naturally interested in these somewhat scandalous stories.
The Chevalier died when he was eighty-three years of age, after a most extraordinary career. He was at one time aide-de-camp to the Comte de Broglie, and fought in the French army; but later on for some mysterious reason he discarded man's attire and passed as a woman for thirty-four years. Often when I went into my room I half expected to see a ghostly figure seated at the escritoire where the Chevalier wrote his secret cipher communications, and I wondered whether the brocade crowns and frills and furbelows that he wore as a woman had ever hung in the old wardrobe which I used.
My father and I also stayed with the Westmorlands at Apethorpe Hall; we visited the Earl [aged 38] and Countess of Chichester [aged 36] at Stanmer Park, and we were welcome guests at Cadlands, Silverlands, Chiswick House, West Park, and my uncle Lord Stradbroke's place, Henham Hall, which was afterwards burnt down.
I had visited Deene Park, Northamptonshire [Map] with my mother in 1842, but I must deal with my future home in the chapter devoted to Deene and its associations.
On 9th October 1709 Barbara Villiers 1st Duchess of Cleveland [aged 68] died at Chiswick Mall. Her son Charles [aged 47] succeeded 2nd Duke Cleveland, 2nd Earl of Southampton and 2nd Baron Nonsuch. Anne Pulteney Duchess Southampton Duchess of Cleveland [aged 45] by marriage Duchess Cleveland.
In 1700 Crisp Gascoyne was born in Chiswick. He was baptised on 26th August 1700 at Church of St Nicholas, Chiswick.
On 26th June 1800 Charles Loraine 5th Baronet [aged 21] and Elizabeth Campart Lady Loraine [aged 21] were married at the Church of St Nicholas, Chiswick by the Reverend Mr. Trebec, the rector.
On 9th April 1801 William Lorraine 6th Baronet was born to Charles Loraine 5th Baronet [aged 21] and Elizabeth Campart Lady Loraine [aged 22]. He was baptised on 6th May 1801 at Church of St Nicholas, Chiswick; his mother was visiting her family.
On 30th September 1811 Mary Campbell [aged 84] died at Morton House Chiswick.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 19th May 1669. With my coach to St. James's; and there finding the Duke of York [aged 35] gone to muster his men, in Hyde Park, I alone with my boy thither, and there saw more, walking out of my coach as other gentlemen did, of a soldier's trade, than ever I did in my life: the men being mighty fine, and their Commanders, particularly the Duke of Monmouth [aged 20]; but me-thought their trade but very easy as to the mustering of their men, and the men but indifferently ready to perform what was commanded, in the handling of their arms. Here the news was first talked of Harry Killigrew's [aged 32] being wounded in nine places last night, by footmen, in the highway, going from the Park in a Hackney-coach towards Hammersmith, to his house at Turnham Greene: they being supposed to be my Lady Shrewsbury's [aged 27] men, she being by, in her coach with six horses; upon an old grudge of his saying openly that he had lain with her.
On 18th August 1680 Philip "Infamous Earl" Herbert 7th Earl Pembroke 4th Earl Montgomery [aged 28] killed William Smeeth following a drunken evening in the tavern on Turnham Green Chiswick. On 21st June 1681 the grand jury of Middlesex charged him with murder. Pembroke could not invoke the privilege of peerage for a second time, leading him to briefly flee the country. A petition signed by twenty-four of his fellow peers was presented to the king, resulting in a royal pardon being granted to him.
John Evelyn's Diary. 18th May 1705. I went to see Sir John Chardin [aged 61], at Turnham Green, the gardens being very fine, and exceedingly well planted with fruit.
On 20th August 1711 Richard Thornhill was murdered at Turnham Green Chiswick by two men who, as they killed him, allegedly invoked the name of Cholmley Dering 4th Baronet, who Thornhill had killed in a duel three months before.