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All About History Books
The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Rutland 1640. 4th January 1640. Savoy.
F. Lord Willoughby to his uncle, the Earl of Rutland (age 60), at Belvoir Castle [Map].
When we ate your venison my wife and I drank your health and my Lady's and did not forget little Mr. George, whom, I am glad to hear, grows towards a man. "There hath beene a marriage at the court betweene one of my Lord of Corcke (age 73) sonnse (age 21) and my Lady Elizabeth Feelding, about which there is a greate stur, for it seemes he did not prove eoe rite as a man should be to goo about such a business. For the report goese that his manly part had lost something in his former serviocesse, and beside that he was soe full of severall disceases ... as that it was tould the Queene (age 30), whoe sent for my Lady Elizabeth, and tould her that she must desier her not to lett her husband lye with her that night, whoe put of, modilestly making little answere, but she seemed so lothe to understand the Queene, as that she tould her she must command her not to come in a pair of sheets with him, and tould her the reasons; soe as that he is gone out of the way some say into France, others thinks he is in London under cower. It was discovered by his sister (age 30) Mr. Goring's (age 31) wife, to whom he had imparted his grevancess, and she had plotted it soe, to make an excuse for him, that he should falie downe stares that day, and she would come and take him up, and soe he should complane how he had breused himselfe and strained his back with the fale, that he should be soe ill he was not fitt to goe to bed to his wife that night. But could not keepe her counsel but must tell her husband Jorge Goring, and he presently ran and tould the Queene, and soe it was discovered and then it was presently in every buddy's mouth.".
My Lord Keeper is so ill that the physicians think he cannot recover. My Lord Chief Justice Bramstone is talked of to be Lord Keeper, and Bishop Wren (age 54). It is known to be between those two. My Lord Finch (age 12) will be Chief Justice of the King's Bench and the Attorney General to be Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Signet.
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In 1676 Philippe Carteret 2nd Baronet (age 25) and Lady Elizabeth Carteret (age 12) were married at Saint Mary le Strand. The marriage contract stated "On the day of the marriage Sir Edouard (age 55) shall pay to Sir Philippe £1,000 sterling as part of the marriage settlement. The said Elisabeth shall immediately after the marriage return to her parents, and remain with them till she is fifteen years old. Then Sir Edouard shall pay to Sir Philippe for a marriage portion the sum of £1,500 sterling together with the £100 bequeathed to the said Elisabeth by Mrs Anne Skelton. If the said Elisabeth survive her husband, she shall receive one third of the revenue of the manor".
Vesta Monumenta. 1750. Plate 2.5. Savoy Palace [Map] with C. Saint Mary le Strand, F. Savoy French Church.
John Evelyn's Diary. 3rd August 1656. I went to London, to receive the Blessed Sacrament, the first time the Church of England was reduced to a chamber and conventicle; so sharp was the persecution. The parish churches were filled with sectaries of all sorts, blasphemous and ignorant mechanics usurping the pulpits everywhere. Dr. Wild preached in a private house in Fleet Street [Map], where we had a great meeting of zealous Christians, who were generally much more devout and religious than in our greatest prosperity. In the afternoon, I went to the French Church in the Savoy, where I heard Monsieur d'Espagne catechize, and so returned to my house.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 28th September 1662. At last I rose, and with Tom to the French Church at the Savoy, where I never was before-a pretty place it is-and there they have the Common Prayer Book read in French, and, which I never saw before, the minister do preach with his hat off, I suppose in further conformity with our Church.
John Evelyn's Diary. 20th March 1670. A stranger preached at the Savoy French church; the Liturgy of the Church of England being now used altogether, as translated into French by Dr. Durell.
Vesta Monumenta. 1750. Plate 2.5. Savoy Palace [Map] with C. Saint Mary le Strand, F. Savoy French Church.
On 15th June 1644 Edward Montagu 1st Baron Montagu (age 81) died at the Savoy Hospital. His son Edward (age 27) succeeded 2nd Baron Montagu of Boughton in Northamptonshire.
John Evelyn's Diary. 8th June 1665. I went again to his Grace, thence to the Council, and moved for another privy seal for £20,000, and that I might have the disposal of the Savoy Hospital for the sick and wounded; all which was granted. Hence to the Royal Society, to refresh among the philosophers.
John Evelyn's Diary. 17th August 1666. Dined with the Lord Chancellor (age 57), whom I entreated to visit the Hospital of the Savoy, and reduce it (after the great abuse that had been continued) to its original institution for the benefit of the poor, which he promised to do.
John Evelyn's Diary. 25th August 1666. Waited on Sir William D'Oyly (age 52), now recovered, as it were, miraculously. In the afternoon, visited the Savoy Hospital, where I stayed to see the miserably dismembered and wounded men dressed, and gave some necessary orders. Then to my Lord Chancellor (age 57), who had, with the Bishop of London (age 74) and others in the commission, chosen me one of the three surveyors of the repairs of Paul's [Map], and to consider of a model for the new building, or, if it might be, repairing of the steeple, which was most decayed.
John Evelyn's Diary. 6th September 1666. Thursday. I represented to his Majesty (age 36) the case of the French prisoners at war in my custody, and besought him that there might be still the same care of watching at all places contiguous to unseized houses. It is not indeed imaginable how extraordinary the vigilance and activity of the King and the Duke (age 32) was, even laboring in person, and being present to command, order, reward, or encourage workmen; by which he showed his affection to his people, and gained theirs. Having, then, disposed of some under cure at the Savoy, I returned to Whitehall [Map], where I dined at Mr. Offley's [Note. Not clear who Mr Offley is? John Evelyn's (age 45) brother George Evelyn of Wotton (age 49) was married to Mary Offley], the groom-porter, who was my relation.
Vesta Monumenta. 1753. Plate 2.12. The prison and chapel buildings in the Savoy Hospital in 1736. The Hospital Chapel, depicted from two different sides in the lower half and the upper right portion of this plate, is the only Savoy building that survives today. Engraving by George Vertue (age 69) after his own drawings.
On 8th April 1364 King John "The Good" II of France (age 44) died at Savoy Palace [Map] of an unknown illness. He was buried at the Basilica of St Denis [Map]. His son Charles (age 25) succeeded V King France: Capet Valois.
In 1376 John Savile of Shelley and Golcar (age 51) was elected MP Yorkshire in the Good Parliament. During the Good Parliament, he was sufficiently trusted to conduct Thomas Caterton from Queenborough Castle [Map] for interrogation before Parliament. Caterton had been appealed for treason by Sir John Annesley, and the court party, including Gaunt (age 35), was anxious to protect him from attack. In the event, they were able to hold off the opposition, despite some damning revelations about their conduct of the war-effort. The duke himself was singled out for particular criticism, and during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 he fled into Scotland, leaving his Savoy Palace [Map] to be destroyed by the London mob. Gaunt was, understandably, reluctant to cross the border again without the protection of a sizeable bodyguard. In late June 1376, therefore, his leading retainers in the north were instructed to provide an escort for his journey to Knaresborough [Map]. Not only did John Savile of Shelley and Golcar mobilize a personal retinue of ten men-at-arms and 40 archers; he also helped to suppress the rebellion in the north by serving on two commissions for the punishment of insurgents.
Patent Rolls. 15th June 1381. Commission of oyer and terminer to William Walleworth, mayor of London, Robert Bealknapp, Robert Knolles, Nicholas Brembre, John Philipot, Robert Launde, and William Cheyne, on information that great crowds of labourers and others have collected together, especially in the counties of Essex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Middlesex, compelled their betters to go with them, killed many of the king's lieges, and burned many houses, entered the city of London, and burned the house of the king's uncle John, duke of Lancaster (age 41), called the 'Sauveye [Map],' and the priory in Clerkenwelle of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, and killed Simon, archbishop of Canterbury (deceased) and chancellor, and Robert de Hales (deceased), prior of the said Hospital. By К. June 15. London.
Chronicle of Adam of Usk. 15th June 1381. In this rising of the commons were many great men of the land in many places beheaded. The Savoy [Map], the palace of the duke of Lancaster (age 41) and the fairest in the kingdom, standing near London on the bank of Thames, was, from the commons' hatred of the duke, utterly destroyed by them with fire; and the duke himself, for fear of them, fled into Scotland1. To appease them and to quiet their fury, the king (age 14) granted that the state of villeinage, as well in their persons as in their labour, should be henceforth done away, freedom fully given, and all prisoners set at large. And this he commanded and made to be openly proclaimed throughout the counties of the kingdom. And then what a throe of grief passed through the desolated land! For they boasted that they would slay all those of higher birth, would raise up king and lords from among themselves, would stablish new laws, and, in a word, would make new, or rather - disfigure, the face and estate of the whole island. Then every man struck off the head of his enemy, and despoiled his richer neighbour. But, by the mercy of God, when their leader, being in Smithfield near London, doffed not his hood before the king nor in anything did reverence to the king's majesty, his head was deftly struck off, in the very midst of his flock of kites, by sir William Walworth, knight and citizen of London; and straightway, being raised on the point of a sword, it was shown before them. Then the commons in sore dread sought flight by stealth, and there and then casting away their rebellious weapons, as though unguilty of such riot and wickedness, like foxes into their holes, they pitifully crept home. But the king and the lords pursued them, and some they made to be dragged behind horses, some they slew with the sword, some they hanged on the gallows, some they quartered; and they destroyed thousands2.
Note 1. John of Gaunt was at this time in the north, negotiating a truce with Scotland. Knighton (ij. 143-7) tells us that so unpopular was his name that his duchess was refused admission into his own castle at Pontefract [Map], and that he himself was denied hospitality by the earl of Northumberland; and that it was reported that a large force of the insurgents was sent north in pursuit of him. He retired to Edinburgh on a safe-conduct from the Scots, by whom he was well entertained.
Note 2. The severity of the punishments inflicted after the suppression of the outbreak is fully set forth in the pages of Walsingham's History. Richard, however, interfered to prevent indiscriminate slaughter of the insurgents when first beaten in the field.— Wals. Hist. Angl. (Rolls series), i. 466.
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All About History Books
The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 8th December 1554. The viij day of Desember, the wyche was the Conceptyon of owre blessed lady the Vyrgyn, was a goodly prossessyon at the Save [Map] be the Spaneards, the prest carehyng the sacrement ryally be-twyne ys hands, and on deacon carehyng a senser sensyng, and anodur the ale-water stoke, and a nombur of frers and prestes syngyng, [and every] man and woman, and knyghts and gentylmen, bayryng a gren tapur bornyng, and viij trumpeters blohyng; and when they had don plahyng, and then begane the sagbottes plahyng; and when they had don theyr was on that cared ij drumes on ys bake, and on cam after playng; and, so don, they whent a-bowt the Sawve with-in; and a wyll after playing a-gayn, and so cam in syngyng, and so after they whent to masse, wher the bedes w .. (unfinished).
On 3rd April 1606 Charles Blount 1st Earl Devonshire (age 43) died at Savoy Palace [Map]. Earl Devonshire, Baron Mountjoy extinct.
On 27th March 1629 George Carew 1st Earl Totnes (age 73) died at Savoy Palace [Map]. He was buried at Clopton Chantry Chapel Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford upon Avon [Map]. Earl Totnes extinct.
Vesta Monumenta. 1750. Plate 2.5. Savoy Palace [Map] with C. Saint Mary le Strand, F. Savoy French Church.
Vesta Monumenta. 1753. Plate 2.14. Plan of the Savoy Palace [Map]. Engraving by George Vertue (age 69) after his own drawings.