Text this colour is a link for Members only. Support us by becoming a Member for only £3 a month by joining our 'Buy Me A Coffee page'; Membership gives you access to all content and removes ads.

Text this colour links to Pages. Text this colour links to Family Trees. Place the mouse over images to see a larger image. Click on paintings to see the painter's Biography Page. Mouse over links for a preview. Move the mouse off the painting or link to close the popup.



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.

Sempringham Priory, Lincolnshire, North-Central England, British Isles [Map]

Sempringham Priory is in Sempringham, Priories in England.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 852. About this time Abbot Ceolred of Medhamsted, with the concurrence of the monks, let to hand the land of Sempringham [Map] to Wulfred, with the provision, that after his demise the said land should revert to the monastery; that Wulfred should give the land of Sleaford to Medhamsted, and should send each year into the monastery sixty loads of wood, twelve loads of coal, six loads of peat, two tuns full of fine ale, two neats' carcases, six hundred loaves, and ten kilderkins of Welsh ale; one horse also each year, and thirty shillings, and one night's entertainment. This agreement was made in the presence of King Burhred. Archbishop Ceolnoth, Bishops Tunbert, Kenred, Aldhun, and Bertred; Abbots Witred and Weftherd, Aldermen Ethelherd and Hunbert, and many others.

In 1131 Gilbert of Sempringham founded Sempringham Priory [Map] as a Gilbertine Priory.

Battle of Boroughbridge

On 16th March 1322 the rebel army led by Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln (age 44) attempted to cross the bridge over the River Ure (between Ripon and York) at Boroughbridge Bridge [Map]. Their path was blocked by forces loyal to the King led by Andrew Harclay 1st Earl Carlisle (age 52). Bartholomew Badlesmere 1st Baron Badlesmere (age 46), Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March (age 34), John Botetort 1st Baron Botetort (age 57) and John Maltravers 1st Baron Maltravers (age 32) fought for the rebels. Roger Clifford 2nd Baron Clifford (age 22), Nicholas Longford (age 37), Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln, John Mowbray 2nd Baron Mowbray (age 35) were captured.

Warin Lisle (age 51) was hanged after the battle at Pontefract [Map].

Following the battle Hugh Audley 1st Earl Gloucester (age 31) and his wife Margaret Clare Countess Gloucester were both imprisoned. He in Nottingham Castle [Map] and she in Sempringham Priory [Map].

John Clinton 2nd Baron Clinton (age 22), Ralph Greystoke 1st Baron Greystoke (age 22), William Latimer 2nd Baron Latimer of Corby (age 46), Robert Lisle 1st Baron Lisle (age 34), Domhnall Mar II Earl of Mar (age 29) and Peter Saltmarsh (age 42) fought for the King.

Adam Everingham 1st Baron Everingham of Laxton (age 43) was captured.

Humphrey Bohun 4th Earl Hereford 3rd Earl Essex (age 46) was killed. His son John (age 15) succeeded 5th Earl Hereford, 4th Earl Essex.

Piers Grandison 2nd Baron Grandison (age 31) fough for the rebels, and was captured.

Hugh Audley 1st Baron Audley of Stratton Audley (age 55) surrendered before the battle and was imprisoned in Wallingford Castle [Map] for the rest of his life

John Giffard 2nd Baron Giffard Brimpsfield (age 34) was captured.

Become a Member via our 'Buy Me a Coffee' page to read complete text.

On 11th December 1326 Margaret Clare Countess Gloucester was released from her imprisonment at Sempringham Priory [Map].

On 7th June 1337 Gwenllian "Lady of Wales" Aberffraw (age 55) died at Sempringham Priory [Map].

On 17th June 1369 Henry Beaumont 3rd Baron Beaumont (age 29) died at Sempringham Priory [Map]. On 17th June 1369 His son John (age 8) succeeded 4th Baron Beaumont.