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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Essex Bridge is in Shugborough, Staffordshire [Map].
1575. Essex Bridge [Map] is located just downstream of where the River Sow and River Trent converge adjacent to the Trent & Mersey Canal. Originally forty arches only fourteen remain. It was commissioned by Robert Devereux 2nd Earl Essex [aged 9] as a pack-horse bridge although this seems unlikely given its width of four feet and narrow cutwaters. And his age in 1575 was only around ten so it likely a bridge was constructed before he commissioned its improvement, or alteration.
The confluence of the River Sow on the left and River Trent on the right.
The River Trent rises on Biddulph Moor, Staffordshire [Map] and flows, in a great horseshoe through, or near, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire [Map], Stone, Staffordshire [Map], Essex Bridge [Map], Bishton Hall, Staffordshire [Map], Colwich, Staffordshire [Map] passing St Michael and All Angels Church, Colwich [Map], Rugeley, Staffordshire [Map], Kings Bromley, Staffordshire [Map], Alrewas, Staffordshire [Map], Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire [Map], Newton Solney, Derbyshire [Map], Repton, Derbyshire [Map], under Swarkestone Bridge, Derbyshire [Map], Sawley, Derbyshire [Map], Nottingham, Nottinghamshire [Map], Holme Pierrepoint, Nottinghamshire [Map], Stoke Ferry, Shelford [Map], under Gunthorpe Bridge, Nottinghamshire [Map], past Gunthorpe Lock [Map], Hoveringham, Nottingham [Map], Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire [Map], Knaith [Map], Dunham Bridge [Map], Sutton on Trent, Nottinghamshire [Map], the Isle of Axholme [Map] and Gainsborough [Map] before joining the Humber Estuary at Trent Falls [Map].
The River Sow rises near Fair Oak, Staffordshire [Map]. From there it flows past Outlands, Staffordshire [Map], Bishops Offley, Staffordshire [Map], Copmere End, Staffordshire [Map], Eccleshall Castle, Staffordshire [Map], Chebsey, Staffordshire [Map], Little Bridgeford, Staffordshire [Map], Great Bridgeford, Staffordshire [Map], Stafford, Staffordshire [Map] to Baswich, Stafford [Map] where it is joined by the River Penk.
After Baswich the River Penk flows past Milford, Staffordshire [Map] to Essex Bridge [Map] where it joins the River Trent.