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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Maternal Family Tree: Joan Scott Viscountess Canning 1776-1837
On 8th July 1800 [his father] George Canning Prime Mininster [aged 30] and [his mother] Joan Scott Viscountess Canning [aged 24] were married.
On 14th December 1812 Charles Canning 1st Earl Canning was born to [his father] George Canning Prime Mininster [aged 42] and [his mother] Joan Scott Viscountess Canning [aged 36] at Gloucester Lodge.
On 4th April 1825 [his brother-in-law] Ulick Burgh 1st Marquess Clanricarde [aged 22] and [his sister] Harriet Canning Marchioness Clanricarde [aged 20] were married at Gloucester Lodge. She by marriage Marchioness Clarincade. He the son of John Thomas Burgh 13th Earl Clanricarde.
On 8th August 1827 [his father] George Canning Prime Mininster [aged 57] died.
On 22nd January 1828 [his mother] Joan Scott Viscountess Canning [aged 51] was created 1st Viscountess Canning with a special remainder to the heirs male of her late husband [his father] George Canning Prime Mininster.
On 5th September 1835 Charles Canning 1st Earl Canning [aged 22] and Charlotte Stuart Countess Canning [aged 18] were married at St Martin in the Fields Church [Map].
On 14th March 1837 [his mother] Joan Scott Viscountess Canning [aged 60] died. Her son Charles [aged 24] succeeded 2nd Viscount Canning.
In June 1842 Henry de la Poer Beresford 3rd Marquess Waterford [aged 31] and [his sister-in-law] Louisa Anne Stuart Marchioness Waterford [aged 24] were married byy his uncle Archbishop John Beresford [aged 68] at the Chapel Roal, Whitehall. She by marriage Marchioness Waterford. He the son of Henry de la Poer Beresford 2nd Marquess Waterford and Susan Hussey Carpenter Marchioness Waterford.
In May 1859 Charles Canning 1st Earl Canning [aged 46] was created 1st Earl Canning. [his wife] Charlotte Stuart Countess Canning [aged 41] by marriage Countess Canning.
On 18th November 1861 [his wife] Charlotte Stuart Countess Canning [aged 44] died at Calcutta, India in the arms of her husband Charles Canning 1st Earl Canning [aged 48].
In 1862 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom [aged 42] appointed seven Knights of the Garter:
729th Charles Canning 1st Earl Canning [aged 49]. He died a month later.
730th Edward Adolphus Seymour 12th Duke of Somerset [aged 57].
731st. John Russell 1st Earl Russell [aged 69].
732nd Anthony Ashley-Cooper 7th Earl Shaftesbury [aged 60].
733rd William Thomas Wentworth-Fitzwilliam 6th and 4th Earl Fitzwilliam [aged 46].
734th Prince Louis Hesse Darmstadt IV Grand Duke [aged 24].
735th Grand Duke Frederick William of Mecklenburg-Strelitz [aged 42].
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William of Worcester's Chronicle of England
William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.
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On 17th June 1862 Charles Canning 1st Earl Canning [aged 49] died without issue. Earl Canning, Viscount Canning extinct.
Father: George Canning Prime Mininster
Charles Canning 1st Earl Canning
GrandFather: John "Pawky Scott" Scott 
Mother: Joan Scott Viscountess Canning