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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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.