This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
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Architectural Detail is in Architecture.
After 29th April 1714. St Michael's Church, Stowe Nine Churches [Map]. Monument to Thomas Turner [deceased]. Sculpted by Thomas Stayner [aged 49]. Baldachin. Drapery. Baroque. The figure on the left is Faith who holds a model of a circular church. The figure on the right is Thomas Turner. Segmental Pediment. Moulded Cornice.
Around 1578. Church of the Holy Trinity, Bosbury [Map]. Monument to Richard Harford died 1578.
Large recessed wall Elizabethan Period monument commemorating Richard Harford died 1578, his wife Martha and Anthony Harford, attributed improbably to John Guldo of Hereford, caryatid-type figures possibly Adam and Eve flank central semi-circular headed arched recess with segmental pediment. Two recumbent effigies, male and female in civil costume on sarcophagus supported by two grotesque animals, the whole enriched with foliage and flock motifs and rather more primitive in style than John Harford memorial on opposite wall.
Before 1736. Monument to Anne Brudenell (wife of Charles Lennox) in St Peter's Church, Deene [Map] by Giovanni Battista Guelphi [aged 45] on the west wall of the transept. Bust set against square surround with flanking caryatids, metope frieze and pediment over.
Giovanni Battista Guelphi: Church of St Peter Kirkthorpe [Map]. The chief merit of the church is a fine collection of C18 wall monuments. The most important of these is the Stringer Monument by Guelfi: 2 detached busts on a sarcophagus with straight tapering sides; background by Kent with inscription, a frame starting from 2 big volutes and crowned by an open-segmental pediment carved coat-or-arms with putti. The Smyth chapel has numerous monuments dating from 1731; including that to John Smyth of 2 putti uncovering his portrait on an oval medallion, that to Lady Georgina Smyth and others signed by Flaxman; 1799. Around 1690 he was born. In 1736 he died.
After 29th April 1714. St Michael's Church, Stowe Nine Churches [Map]. Monument to Thomas Turner [deceased]. Sculpted by Thomas Stayner [aged 49]. Baldachin. Drapery. Baroque. The figure on the left is Faith who holds a model of a circular church. The figure on the right is Thomas Turner. Segmental Pediment. Moulded Cornice.
In 1406 John Curzon died. Monument in All Saints Church, Kedleston [Map]. Fluted Period. Lancastrian Esses Collar. Reset in tomb recess with depressed crocketed and pinnacled ogee arch, with shields above. This effigy is somewhat anomalous being much earlier than other Fluted Period effigies. It may have been decades after John Curzon died, or may be a mis-attribution, or the effigy may have been placed into the arch from another monument at a later date.
John Curzon: he was born to Roger Curzon. John Curzon and Eleanor Twyford were married.
Around 1230. The West Facade of Peterborough Cathedral [Map]. Early English Gothic style. The three arches with Recesses unique.
Beverley Minster [Map] West Facade.