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All About History Books

The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, a canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: "In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed." Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, Welsh March, England, British Isles

Winchcombe, Gloucestershire is in Gloucestershire.

1271 Murder of Henry of Almain

1408 Battle of Bramham Moor

After September 1192 Emma Beauchamp (deceased) died at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

Around 1382 John Ludlow (age 56) died at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 19th September 1667. Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon home to dinner, W. Hewer (age 25) and I and my wife, when comes my cozen, Kate Joyce, and an aunt of ours, Lettice, formerly Haynes, and now Howlett, come to town to see her friends, and also Sarah Kite, with her little boy in her armes, a very pretty little boy. The child I like very well, and could wish it my own. My wife being all unready, did not appear. I made as much of them as I could such ordinary company; and yet my heart was glad to see them, though their condition was a little below my present state, to be familiar with. She tells me how the lifeguard, which we thought a little while since was sent down into the country about some insurrection, was sent to Winchcombe, to spoil the tobacco there, which it seems the people there do plant contrary to law, and have always done, and still been under force and danger of having it spoiled, as it hath been oftentimes, and yet they will continue to plant it1. The place, she says, is a miserable poor place. They gone, I to the office, where all the afternoon very busy, and at night, when my eyes were weary of the light, I and my wife to walk in the garden, and then home to supper and pipe, and then to bed.

Note 1. Winchcombe St. Peter, a market-town in Gloucestershire. Tobacco was first cultivated in this parish, after its introduction into England, in 1583, and it proved, a considerable source of profit to the inhabitants, till the trade was placed under restrictions. The cultivation was first prohibited during the Commonwealth, and various acts were passed in the reign of Charles II for the same purpose. Among the King's pamphlets in the British Museum is a tract entitled "Harry Hangman's Honour, or Glostershire Hangman's Request to the Smokers and Tobacconists of London", dated June 11th, 1655. The author writes: "The very planting of tobacco hath proved the decay of my trade, for since it hath been planted in Glostershire, especially at Winchcomb, my trade hath proved nothing worth". He adds: "Then 'twas a merry world with me, for indeed before tobacco was there planted, there being no kind of trade to employ men, and very small tillage, necessity compelled poor men to stand my friends by stealing of sheep and other cattel, breaking of hedges, robbing of orchards, and what not"..

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In 1846 George Backhouse Witts was born to Reverend Edward Francis Witts at Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

Hailes Abbey, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, Welsh March, England, British Isles [Map]

Hailes Abbey is also in Abbeys in England.

On 15th November 1261 Sanchia Provence Queen Consort Germany (deceased) was buried at Hailes Abbey [Map].

On 13th March 1271 Henry "Almain" Cornwall (age 35) was murdered while attending mass at the Chiesa di San Silvestro, Viterbo by his cousins Simon "Younger" Montfort and Guy Montfort Count Nola (age 27) in revenge for the deaths of their father Simon and older brother Henry at the Battle of Evesham.

The murder was carried out in the presence of the Cardinals, who were conducting a papal Election, King Philip III of France (age 25), and King Charles of Sicily (age 43). The Montfort brothers were excommunicated.

Henry "Almain" Cornwall was buried in Hailes Abbey [Map].

The deed is mentioned by Dante Alighieri some forty years after in the Divine Comedy who placed Guy de Montfort in the seventh circle of hell.

On 2nd April 1272 Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall (age 63) died at Berkhamsted Castle, Hertfordshire [Map]. He was buried at Hailes Abbey [Map]. His son Edmund (age 22) succeeded 2nd Earl Cornwall.

On 25th September 1300 Edmund "Almain" 2nd Earl Cornwall (age 50) died. Earl Cornwall extinct. He was buried, heart and flesh, at Ashridge, Hertfordshire [Map]. His bones were interred at Hailes Abbey [Map] during a service attended by King Edward I of England (age 61).

On 19th February 1408 Thomas Rokeby's (age 15) force of Yorkshire levies defeated the Percy army during the Battle of Bramham Moor bringing to an end the Percy rebellion.

Henry Percy 1st Earl of Northumberland (age 66) was killed. His body was afterwards hanged, drawn and quartered, his head being sent to London bridge and his quarters to diverse places. Earl of Northumberland, Baron Percy of Alnwick and Baron Percy of Topcliffe forfeit.

Thomas Bardolf 5th Baron Bardolf (age 38) was killed. Baron Bardolf of Wormegay in Norfolk had been forfeited in 1406 when Thomas Bardolf 5th Baron Bardolf was declared a traitor. It was restored on the 19th of July 1408 to his two daughters Anne Bardolf Baroness Cobham Sternborough (age 18) and Joan Bardolf (age 17) and their husbands William Clifford (age 33) and William Phelip (age 25) respectively.

The Abbot of Hailes Abbey [Map] was executed following the battle since he was wearing armour. Bishop Griffin Yonge (age 38), Bishop of Bangor, was captured, but wearing his vestments, he avoided execution.

Thomas Walsingham [-1422]. After the death of the aforesaid nobles, envy took strength, and in the northern country there arose a multitude of informers, eager to accuse the patriots of having shown great favor to those lords. Stirred by their outcry, the King went to York to conduct judgment upon the transgressors; where, after condemning many, confiscating much property, and bringing the land to peace, he hanged the Abbot of Hales [Map], who had stood armed with the aforesaid lords, and then he went on to the Parliament at Westminster.

Post mortem prædictorum procerum, vires assumpsit invidia, succrevitque delatorum turba in Boreali patria, quæ patriotas accusare studuit de 1mpenso favore dictis dominis. Quorum clamore Rex excitus, perrexit Eboracum ad faciendum judicium transgressorum; ubi cum multos damnasset, plurima confiscasset, patriam pacificasset, suspenso Abbate de Hales, qui cum præfatis dominis armatus steterat, vediit ad parle Austales.

St Peter's Church, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, Welsh March, England, British Isles

Chronicon ex Chronicis. On Wednesday the first of the ides [15th October 1091] of October, a thunderbolt struck with great force the tower of Winchcombe church, making a large aperture in the wall near the summit, and, after having riven one of the beams, struck the head from a crucifix and threw it on the ground, breaking also the right leg. An image of St. Mary, which stood near the crucifix, was also struck down. A thick smoke, with a suffocating stench, then burst forth and filled the whole church, lasting until the monks went the circuit of the chambers of the monastery, with holy water and incense, and the relics of the saints, chanting psalms.

Chronicon ex Chronicis. 10th April 1138. A council at Northampton. Stephen, king of England, held a council at Northampton, in the octave of Easter, which fell on the fourth of the ides [the 10th] of April. Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, archbishop of York, and all the bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and nobles of England took their seats at it. In this council an archdeacon named Robert, the choice of some few, was appointed bishop of the church of Exeter, then vacant by the death of its bishop, William de Warewast. Two abbeys were also given away; that of Winchcombe to a monk of Cluni, as it is said a relation of the king, named Robert; the other, that of York, to a monk of the same abbey. One of these, the abbot-elect of Winchcombe, was ordained abbot of that monastery by the venerable Simon, bishop of Worcester, on the eleventh of the calends of June (22nd May).

On or before 22nd March 1720 Frances Skey was born. She was baptised on 22nd March 1720 at St Peter's Church, Winchcombe.

On 21st August 1737 John Webb of Church Stanway in Gloucestershire (age 22) and Frances Skey (age 17) were married at St Peter's Church, Winchcombe.

Sudeley, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, Welsh March, England, British Isles

In 1496 Thomas Brydges was born to Giles Brugge 6th Baron Chandos (age 34) and Isabel Baynham Baroness Chandos (age 21) at Sudeley, Winchcombe.

Winchcombe Abbey, Gloucestershire, Welsh March, England, British Isles [Map]

Winchcombe Abbey is also in Abbeys in England.

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.

In 821 King Coenwulf of Mercia died at Basingwerk, Flintshire. He was buried at Winchcombe Abbey [Map]. His brother Coelwulf succeeded King Mercia, King East Anglia, King of Kent.