Jean de Waurin's Chronicle of England Volume 6 Books 3-6: The Wars of the Roses
Jean de Waurin was a French Chronicler, from the Artois region, who was born around 1400, and died around 1474. Waurin’s Chronicle of England, Volume 6, covering the period 1450 to 1471, from which we have selected and translated Chapters relating to the Wars of the Roses, provides a vivid, original, contemporary description of key events some of which he witnessed first-hand, some of which he was told by the key people involved with whom Waurin had a personal relationship.
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1216-1229 Henry III Accedes is in 13th Century Events.
On 28th October 1216 King Henry III of England [aged 9] was crowned III King of England at Gloucester Cathedral [Map] during the Gloucester Coronation of Henry III at which Cardinal Guala Bicchieri [aged 66] presided, Bishop Sylvester and Bishop Simon Apulia anointed the King. The coronation took place in Gloucester since London was at the time held by rebels. John Monmouth [aged 34] was present.
Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. And his son Henry, a boy of ten years, succeeded him. He was consecrated king at Gloucester on the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude [28th October 1216], in the presence of Gualo the legate, who had come into England that same year. Afterwards he mercilessly despoiled Master Gervase, dean of London, together with the priests of that city and other clerics, of their benefices, as also those who had sided with Louis and celebrated during the interdict; and he distributed their ecclesiastical benefices at his own pleasure to other persons.
Et consecratus est in regem apud Gloecestriam, in die apostolorum Simonis et Judæ, præsente G. legato, qui eodem anno in Angliam applicuerat. Qui postmodum magistrum Gervasium, decanum Londoniæ, ac presbyteros ejusdem urbis ac cæteros clericos, beneficiis suis immisericorditer spoliavit, et cæteros qui Lodowico consenserunt et in interdicto celebraverant ; atque eorum beneficia ecclesiastica aliis personis pro voluntate distribuit.
Annals of Six Kings of England by Nicholas Trivet. Henry III of England, son of John of England by Isabella of Angoulême, daughter of the count of Angoulême, being in the tenth year of his age, after his father's death, was raised to the kingship in the year of the Lord 1216. In the presence of Guala Bicchieri, legate of the Apostolic See, together with the bishops Jocelin of Wells and William de Cornhill, and many other prelates, as well as Queen Isabella, with the earls William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby, and a great multitude of other nobles, he was anointed and solemnly crowned king by Peter des Roches on the fifth day before the Kalends of November [28th November 1216], that is, on the feast of the apostles Simon and Jude, in the church of St Peter of the monks at Gloucester. Louis VIII of France, son of the king of France, after he had besieged the castle of Dover Castle for fifteen days without success, returned to London, where on the feast of St Leonard [6th November] the Tower [of London] was surrendered to him. Advancing from London, he captured the castle of Hertford Castle on the feast of St Andrew [30th November], and the castle of Berkhamsted Castle on the feast of St Lucy [13th December]. After this, a truce was agreed between the young King Henry and Louis until the feast of the blessed martyrs Fabian and Sebastian; and once this had been confirmed, Louis crossed back into France. Meanwhile, a great number of barons and knights, breaking the agreement by which they had bound themselves to Louis, and with the same fickleness of mind with which they had deserted the father, returned to the son.
HENRICUS filius Joannis regis ex Isabella filia comitis Engolismensis, annum ætatis decimum agens, post patrem defunctum, anno Domini MCCXVI sublimatur in regem: et præsentibus Gualone apostolicæ sedis legato, cum episcopis Jocelino Bathoniensi, Willelmo Coventrensi, aliisque prælatis pluribus, reginaque Isabella cum comitibus Willelmo Marescalli, Willelimo de Ferrariis, magnaque aliorum nobilium multitudine, per Petrum Wintoniensem episcopum quinto calendas Novembris, in die videlicet apostolorum Simonis et Judæ, in ecclesia beati Petri monachorum Gloverniæ inunctus in regem solemniter coronatur. Lodovicus regis Francorum filius, cum jam castrum Dovoriæ obsedisset diebus quindecim, nihil proficiens Londoniam revertitur, ubi in die sancti Leonardi redditur ei turris. Progressus vero de Londonia, castrum de Hertford cepit in die apostoli Andreæ, et castrum de Berchamstede in die sanctæ Luciæ. Et exinde acceptæ sunt treugæ inter regem juvenem Henricum et Lodovicum usque ad festum Fabiani et Sebastiani martyrum beatorum, quibus firmatis, Lodovicus in Gallias transfretavit. Interim vero multitudo magna baronum et militum, rupto fœdere quo se Lodovico adstrinxerant, ea mentis levitate qua a patre desciverant, ad filium revertuntur.
On 17th May 1220 Henry [aged 12] was crowned III King of England at Westminster Abbey [Map] since the Pope didn't consider the earlier Gloucester Coronation of Henry III to have been performed correctly. Archbishop Stephen Langton [aged 70] presided.
On 25th June 1218 Simon "Elder" Montfort 5th Earl of Leicester [aged 43] was killed at the Siege of Toulouse 1218. His son Amaury [aged 23] succeeded 6th Seigneur Montfort. His son Simon [aged 10] succeeded 6th Earl of Leicester.
Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. William Marshal the Elder1, earl of Pembroke, who held the greatest lordship both in England and in Ireland, died; and on the morrow of the Ascension he was buried at the New Temple in London.
Obiit Willelmus Marescallus senior, comes de Penbrock, qui maximum habuit dominium tam in Anglia quam in Hibernia; et in crastino Ascensionis sepultus est apud Novum Templum de Londoniis.
Note 1. William Marshall, the 'Greatest Knight' died on 14th May 1219 aged around seventy-two.
Annals of Six Kings of England by Nicholas Trivet. In the same year William Marshal [aged 73], 1st Earl of Pembroke the elder died [on 14th May 1219], and was buried on the day after Ascension [31st May] at the Temple Church. He was fortunate in his children, having five sons, of whom William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke succeeded to his father's inheritance, and five daughters, whom he married in his lifetime: the eldest, Matilda, to Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk; the second, Joan, to Warin de Montchensy; the third, Isabella, to Gilbert de Clare; the fourth, Sibyl, to William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby; and the fifth, Eva, to William de Braose. Upon their heirs, when the male line failed, the whole and very great inheritance of the Marshal family devolved.
Hoc anno Willelmus Marescalli senior defungitur, et in crastino Ascensionis apud Novum Templum Londoniæ sepelitur. Hic prole felix, quinque habuit filios, quorum Willelmus fuit paternæ hereditatis successor: et quinque filias, quarum seniorem Matildem Hugoni Bigoth, secundam Joannam Garino de Monte-Camisii, tertiam Isabellam Gilberto de Clare, quartam Sibillam Willelmo de Ferrariis comiti Derebeyæ, quintam Evam Willelmo de Brehuse, dum adhuc viveret, maritavit. Ad quarum heredes, deficiente fratribus successione, totius Marescalliæ bereditas amplissima est devoluta.
On 14th May 1219 William Marshal 1st Earl Pembroke [aged 73] died. His son William [aged 29] succeeded 2nd Earl Pembroke.
On 17th May 1220 Henry [aged 12] was crowned III King of England at Westminster Abbey [Map] since the Pope didn't consider the earlier Gloucester Coronation of Henry III to have been performed correctly. Archbishop Stephen Langton [aged 70] presided.
Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. In the same year [1220], on the day of Pentecost, namely the sixteenth day before the Kalends of June [17th May 1220], Henry, king of England, the son of King John, was crowned1 at Westminster by Lord Stephen Langton [aged 70], archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of Lord Pandulf the legate, and of bishops and other prelates and earls and magnates of England. By that same archbishop it was there proclaimed that the taking of the cross should be preached, and that the canonization of Saint Hugh the bishop should be celebrated on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December [17th November 1220].
Eodem anno, die Pentecosten, videlicet XVI kalendarum Junii, coronatur Henricus rex Angliæ, filius regis Johannis, apud Westmonasterium, a domno Stephano de Langetune, Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, præsentibus domno Pandulfo legato, et episcopis et aliis prælatis et comitibus et majoribus Angliæ; a quo archiepiscopo prædicatur ibidem crucis signatio, et Sancti Hugonis episcopi canonizatio celebranda, XV kalendas Decembris.
Note 1. King Henry III's second coronation. His first had taken place at Gloucester in October 1216, officiated by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri [aged 70], the papal legate, when London was held by rebels.
Roger of Wendover: "In the year of our Lord 1220, King Henry was at Christmas at Marlborough, still under the guardianship of Peter, Bishop of Winchester. In that same year the same king was crowned at Westminster, on the holy day of Pentecost, by Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of the clergy and people of the whole realm, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of June (that is, May 17), in the fifth year of his reign. In testimony and memory of this event there went forth a royal command and proclamation that everyone, except those in holy orders, should wear garlands of flowers."
Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1220. In the year of our Lord 1220, King Henry was at Christmas at Marlborough, still under the guardianship of Peter, Bishop of Winchester. In that same year the same king was crowned at Westminster, on the holy day of Pentecost, by Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of the clergy and people of the whole realm, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of June (that is, May 17), in the fifth year of his reign. In testimony and memory of this event there went forth a royal command and proclamation that everyone, except those in holy orders, should wear garlands of flowers.
Anno Domini MCCXX. Rex Henricus fuit ad Natale apud Merlebergiam, adhuc sub custodia Petri Wintoniensis episcopi constitutus. Quo etiam anno, coronatus est idem rex apud Westmonasterium, in die sancto Pentecostes, a Stephano Cantuariensi archiepiscopo, præsente clero et populo totius regni, decimo sexto kalendas Junii, anno regni sui quinto. In cujus rei testimonium et memoriam exiit præceptum et regale edictum ut quilibet prseter ordinatos sertis florum uteretur.
On 7th July 1220 the remains of Archbishop Thomas Becket were translated from the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral [Map] to an elaborate shrine in the newly-constructed apse at the east end of the cathedral. King Henry III of England [aged 12] was in attendance, together with the political and religious great and good, and a new liturgical office was composed for the occasion.
The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel Volume 1 Chapters 1-60 1307-1342
The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel offer one of the most vivid and immediate accounts of 14th-century Europe, written by a knight who lived through the events he describes, and experienced some of them first hand. Covering the early decades of the Hundred Years’ War, this remarkable chronicle follows the campaigns of Edward III of England, the politics of France and the Low Countries, and the shifting alliances that shaped medieval warfare. Unlike later historians, Jean le Bel writes with a strong sense of eyewitness authenticity, drawing on personal experience and the testimony of fellow soldiers. His narrative captures not only battles and sieges, but also the realities of military life, diplomacy, and the ideals of chivalry that governed noble society. A key source for Jean Froissart, Le Bel’s chronicle stands on its own as a compelling and insightful work, at once historical record and literary achievement. This translation builds on the 1905 edition published in French by Jules Viard, adding extensive translations from other sources Rymer's Fœdera, the Chronicles of Adam Murimuth, William Nangis, Walter of Guisborough, a Bourgeois of Valenciennes, Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke and Richard Lescot to enrich the original text and Viard's notes.
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Annals of Six Kings of England by Nicholas Trivet. 1220. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, king of the Romans and of Sicily, was crowned with the imperial diadem by Pope Honorius III in the basilica of St Peter's Basilica. On the feast of Pentecost, Henry III of England was crowned at London. A truce of four years between Philip II of France and King Henry of England, concerning Poitou, was agreed around the feast of St Peter's Chair. In this year the new work of Westminster Abbey was begun, and the king himself laid the first foundation stone. From every ploughland in England two shillings were granted to the king for the support of his estate. Stephen Langton [aged 70], preaching the cross at Westminster, announced the canonisation of Hugh of Lincoln, bishop of Lincoln, recently carried out by Pope Honorius. On the Nones of July [7th July], the venerable body of Thomas Becket was translated, in the presence of King Henry and Pandulf Verraccio, legate of the Apostolic See, with a great multitude of prelates and nobles, and was most carefully placed in a precious shrine. The Latins dwelling in Greece, while Emperor Peter II of Courtenay was still held in prison, sent solemn envoys to his son, the count of Namur, asking him to come and rule them. He, refusing the honour offered, sent his brother Henry of Courtenay, whom they gladly received and raised to the imperial dignity and crown. In this year the Christians captured the Egyptian city of Tanis, no less miraculously than they had earlier taken Damietta. In the same year, on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Henry de Bohun and Saer de Quincy died.
1220. FREDBRICUS, Romanorum ct Siciliæ rex, ab Honorio papa in basilica S. Petri apostoli, imperiali diademate coronatur. In festo Pentecostes rex Henricus Londoniis coronatur. Treugæ quatuor annorum inter Philippum Francorum et Henricum Anglorum reges, circa Cathedram S. Petri, pro Pictavia sunt acceptæ. Hoc anno inchoatum est novum opus W estmonasterii, cujus in propria persona rex primum posuit lapidem fundamenti. De singulis autem carucis Angliæ dati sunt regi duo solidi, pro relevamine status sui. Stephanus Cantuariensis, crucem prædicans apud Westmonasterium, canonisationem S. Hugonis Lincolniensis episcopi publicavit, a papa Honorio nuper factam. Nonis Julii corpus venerabile beati Thomæ Martyris, præsentibus Henrico rege et Pandulfo apostolicæ sedis legato, cum multitudine prælatorum et procerum, translatum est, et in capsa pretiosa diligentissime collocatum. Latini qui morabantur in Græcia, detento adhuc in carcere Petro imperatore, missis solemnibus nuntiis ad fillum ejus comitem Namurcii, ut veniret et eis imperaret suppliciter invitarunt. Qui honorem sibi oblatum respuens, fratrem suum, Henricum nomine, ad eos transmisit; quem illi gratanter admittentes, imperiali honore et diademate sublimarunt. Hoc anno ceperunt Christiani civitatem Ægypti Tanis, non minori miraculo quam prius ceperant Damiatam. Hoc anno, in itinere peregrinationis Terosolymitanæ, Henricus de Boun Herfordensis, et Saerus de Quenci Wintoniensis comites obierunt.
Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. It came to pass that Henry de Braybrooke, one of the itinerant justices, unjustly demanded from Falkes and his men certain exactions and arrears that were owed. Angered by the injustice of these demands, they violently seized1 the said Henry and imprisoned him in the castle of Bedford. When the king heard of this at Northampton, he immediately marched with his army to Bedford and besieged the castle. To that siege there quickly came the archbishop of Canterbury with a powerful force; also came other bishops, black monks, earls, and barons of nearly all England, preparing various engines of war: stone-throwers, mangonels, a siege-ower with crossbows. Moreover, by a general summons two men from each ploughland throughout the counties of England were called, to pull the cords of the machines, to hurl stones from the stone-throwers, and to carry heavy stones from the quarries. Thus, neither by day nor by night was any rest given to the besieged: they were ceaselessly pressed and assaulted, and terrified at times by the dreadful crash of stones and the battering and shaking of the walls; yet they were not bent to surrender or to yield up the castle, vainly waiting for aid from Falkes. Therefore, the besieged, with foolish daring and stubborn loyalty, defended and protected themselves manfully against the whole army of the king for eight weeks, wounding and killing many outside with arrows and crossbow bolts. There the lord Richard de Argentein was grievously wounded in the belly beneath the navel, though he was armoured, and six other valiant knights were slain, together with more than two hundred of the servants and labourers working at the engines, as some assert.
Accidit autem quod Henricus de Braibroche, unus de errantibus justitiis, improbe exigeret a Falcone et a suis quasdam exactiones et reragia quæ debebant; ex qua exactionum improbitate commoti, violenter ceperunt prædictum Henricum et in castello de Bedford incarceraverunt. Quod rex audiens apud Norhamtune, confestim cum exercitu suo ad Bedefordiam perrexit, atque castellum obsedit. Ad quam obsidionem confestim advenit archiepiscopus Cantuariensis cum potenti virtute; venerunt et alii episcopi, abbates nigri, comites et barones fere totius Angliæ, præparantes diversas machinas, petrarias, mangonillos, berefridum cum balistis. Convocati sunt etiam per generale edictum duo homines de qualibet carruca, ex diversis Angliæ comitatibus, ad trahendas machinarum cordas, ad jaciendos lapides de petrariis, et ad cariendos ponderosos lapides de lapidicinis. Itaque nec per diem, neque per noctem obsessis ulla dabatur requies; sed incessanter impellebantur, impetebantur, et ex terrifico lapidum sonitu, ac murorum conquassatione et impulsu, terrebantur quidam ; sed ad deditionem et castelli redditionem non flectebantur, dum super auxilium Falconis frustra præstolarentur. Unde obessi, stulta audacia et obstinata probitate præstantissimi, viriliter se defensabant et tuebantur diutius contra totum exercitum regis per octo hebdomadas. multos exterius vulnerantes et interficientes cum sagittis et arcubalistis. Ibidem graviter vulneratus est dominus Richardus de Argent in ventre sub umbilico, quamvis armatus, atque alii sex strenui milites sunt occisi, et de servientibus et laborantibus circa machinas plusquam ducenti, ut quidam asserunt.
Note 1. The arrest of Henry de Braybrooke occurred on the 16th June 1224. The siege of Bedford Castle commenced 20th June 1224 and lasted eight weeks and ended on the 15th August 1224. Roger of Wendover: "After this, the besieged seeing that they could hold out no longer, on the eve [14th August 1224] of the assumption of St. Mary, sent some of the garrison from the castle to entreat the king's mercy; but the king ordered them to be kept in close confinement till he reduced the rest to subjection. On the following day all the rest came out of the castle dreadfully bruised and wounded, and were taken before the king, who ordered them all to be hung; of the knights and soldiers of the garrison, twenty-four were hung, who could not obtain mercy from the king on account of the audacity which they had showed to him in the late siege. Henry de Braybrook came to the king safe and sound and returned him his thanks. Falcasius, in his false sense of security, believed that his followers could defend the castle from capture for a whole year; when however he learned for certain that his brothers and the rest of his friends were hung, he came under the conduct of Alexander bishop of Coventry, to the king at Bedford, and, falling at his feet, begged him to show mercy to him in consideration of his great services and expensive undertakings on behalf of him, the king, and his father, in times of war."
Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1224. The capture of the castle and hanging of the knights.
In the mean time the king ordered the corn and cattle on the manors and lands of Falcasius throughout the kingdom to be seized and confiscated, that by these means he might during this lengthened siege obtain supplies at the expense of his enemy. At length the king's soldiers brought up, though not without much loss, two penthouses, which the French call brutesches, and, attacking the castle in all directions, forced the besieged to retire. The king's troops then entered the castle, and gaining possession of horses, arms, provisions, and innumerable other things, returned in triumph; the victors then attacked the tower, and destroyed a great portion of the walls. After this, the besieged seeing that they could hold out no longer, on the eve [14th August 1224] of the assumption of St. Mary, sent some of the garrison from the castle to entreat the king's mercy; but the king ordered them to be kept in close confinement till he reduced the rest to subjection. On the following day all the rest came out of the castle dreadfully bruised and wounded, and were taken before the king, who ordered them all to be hung; of the knights and soldiers of the garrison, twenty-four were hung, who could not obtain mercy from the king on account of the audacity which they had showed to him in the late siege. Henry de Braybrook came to the king safe and sound and returned him his thanks. Falcasius, in his false sense of security, believed that his followers could defend the castle from capture for a whole year; when however he learned for certain that his brothers and the rest of his friends were hung, he came under the conduct of Alexander bishop of Coventry, to the king at Bedford, and, falling at his feet, begged him to show mercy to him in consideration of his great services and expensive undertakings on behalf of him, the king, and his father, in times of war. The king then having taken advice on the subject, deprived him of all his castles, lands, and possessions, and delivered him into the custody of Eustace bishop of London, till he should determine what ought to be done with him; and thusand especially to the guilty. Concerning this change of fortune, some one thus writes:
"Thus in a month fierce Falco lost
What he had gained by years of strife;
Fate stripped him now of what had cost
Him all his former life."
and especially to the guilty. Concerning this change of fortune, some one thus writes: "Thus in a month fierce Falco lost What he had gained by years of strife; Fate stripped him now of what had cost Him all his former life." The wife of the said Falcasius came before the king and the archbishop, and said that it was not with her own consent that she had been married to him; she therefore, as she had been seized by force in time of war, and been married to him without her consent, asked for a divorce from him. The archbishop then appointed a day for her to come to him, that he might in the meantime determine what ought to be done. The king however granted her all her lands and possessions throughout England, and placed her under the care of William earl Warrenne. The king, for the great labour and expense he had been at, was granted a tax on ploughed land throughout England, namely two marks of silver for each plough; and he granted a scutage to the nobles, namely two marks of sterling money for each scutcheon; and then they all returned to their homes. The king ordered the castle to be pulled down and reduced to a heap of stones, and gave the houses and all other buildings to William Beauchamp.1
Note 1. In the same year the following bishops were consecrated: Master Alexander de Stavensby to the see of Chester by his holiness the pope at Rome, on Easter-day; and William, nephew of William Briwere the elder to the see of Exeter, and Ralph de Neville to that of Chichester, by Stephen archbishop of Canterbury: of these, Ralph bishop of Chichester was the king's chancellor, and in many dangers afterwards he was found faithful and conspicuous in the king's business, and was a firm pillar of fidelity and truth. About this time there was one Faulkes de Breaute, a native of Normandy, a bastard by his mother's side, who had lately come on a scurvy horse, with a pad on his back, to enter the king's service, and had fortified Bedford castle, although on the land of another, when John had given it to bim in the time of the war. This man trusting in his castle, his money, and some friends he had amongst the king's courtiers, all of which turned out to be no better than a reed to support him, began to seize on the lands and property of his free men and neighbours; above all he dispossessed, without judgment, thirty-two free men in the manor of Luyton of their tenements, and appropriated some common pastures to his own use. When a complaint on the matter was laid before the king, the latter appointed Henry de Braibroc and some other justiciaries, to take recognizance of the disseizing of the complainants; and when after hearing the case and the aforesaid premises which had been taken from them, were restored to them by the decree of the judges, the said Faulkes was condemned in a fine for damages and loss. Faulkes, annoyed at this and carried beyond himself, in violation of the peace of the kingdom, seized by force on Henry de Braibroc and imprisoned him in his castle of Bedford. On hearing this, the king, who was at Northampton holding a council about giving assistance to Poictou, changed his intentions at this circumstance, and turning off to the castle of Bedford, where the said Henry was confined, laid siege to it; for three successive days he sent summonses to the knights in the castle to surrender it, and S. archbishop of Canterbury, with the bishops, abbats, and other prelates, who were present excommunicated Faulkes and those who were united with them, and declared them to be outlaws. The royal troops fiercely assailed the castle by engines and by assault, and some of the king's knights fell by the arrows of the besieged cross-bow men, amongst others a distinguished knight named Giffard fell pierced by an arrow. After they had continued the siege for about nine weeks the castle was at length taken, and all the followers of Faulkes found there with their commander Mantel de Breaute, Faulkes's brother, were made prisoners, besides several English and Norman nobles, who were all condemned to be hung, as had been fully declared to them.
Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. At length the besiegers, by the continual hurling of heavy stones and by the battering of the walls and towers, with great fighting and conflict, won the outer barbican, and drove the besieged back to another wall as far as the tower. But the barbicans with their towers were so strongly fortified at the tops with huge beams, hewn and armed with iron, that the besieged could safely hide beneath them, and for a while had little to fear from the stones and other missiles, until the miners dug beneath the foundations of the tower and walls, and the timbers placed in the tunnels were set on fire. When these were burned, a great part of the tower and walls collapsed. And so afterwards, while the besieged were feasting in certain hiding places of the same tower and keeping less careful watch, they were suddenly assaulted and taken, and were hanged upon gibbets, both knights and men-at-arms, on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary [15th August 1224], to the number of eighty-three. On that day, the counsel and aid of the lord archbishop of Canterbury, and of the other bishops and abbots, especially shone forth in the siege, for they adhered to the king with the utmost zeal, sparing neither money nor toil for their men in any respect. But the monks of Warden Abbey suffered a great and irreparable loss from this siege, for their tall woods, and especially the trees around the abbey, were cut down to prepare those machines.
Tandem primum exterius antemurale ex assiduo lapidum ponderosorum jactu, et murorum ac turrium conquassatione, cum magno pugnæ conflictu obsidentes obtinuerunt, atque obsessos in alium murum usque ad turrim effugarunt; sed antemuralia cum turribus ita in summitatibus erant munita maximis et dolatis et armatis trabibus et lignis, quod obsessi sub eis securiter delitescerent, jactusque lapidum ponderosorum ac cætera missilia parumper formidarent, donec fossarii minitores fundamenta turris et murorum suffoderent, et ligna supposita in cuniculis igne apposito concremarent; quibus combustis, corruit maxima pars turris et murorum. Sicque postmodum obsessi, dum in quibusdam latebris ejusdem turris epularentur et minus caute se custodirent, subito invaduntur et capiuntur, atque in patibulis suspenduntur, tam milites quam servientes, die Assumptionis beatæ Mariæ virginis, numero octoginta-tres. In hac autem die de obsidione specialiter claruit consilium et auxilium domni Cantuariensis et aliorum episcoporum et abbatum, qui nimis fideliter regi cum toto conamine adhæserunt, qui pecuniis ac laboribus nihil hominibus suis in aliquo pepercerunt. Monachi autem de Wardona magnum et irrecuperabile damnum ex hac obsidione perpessi sunt, quia nemora eorum excelsa, et præcipue arbores circa abbatiam, succisæ sunt ad machinas illas præparandas.
Chronicum Anglicanum by Ralph Coggeshall. But Falkes, who had been the author and instigator of this rising and siege, while riding again through the county of Chester with certain companions, hoping by the aid of some men to lift the king's siege from the aforesaid castle, was at length, by the safe-conduct of the archbishop of Canterbury and of Holy Church, brought to the king's court, his life and limbs being spared, at Northampton, his men already having been hanged, to whom he had promised strong relief within forty days of their siege. Afterwards he was delivered into the custody of the bishop of London, until he should hear the judgment of the lord pope and the will of the king.
Falco autem, qui hujus seditionis et obsidionis exstiterat auctor et incentor, dum per comitatum Cestriæ iterum cum quibusdam sibi sociatis obequitaret, putans per quorumdam auxilium obsidionem regis a castello prædicto removere, tandem per salvum conductum archiepiscopi Cantuariensis et sanctæ ecclesiæ adductus est ad curiam, salva vita et membris suis, de Norhamtune, suis jam suspensis, quibus promiserat validum succursum intra quadraginta dies obsidionis eorum. Post hoc vero traditus in custodia Londoniensis episcopi, quousque audiret judicium domni papæ et voluntatem regis.