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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Architecture is in General Things.
Prodigy House. A large house built in the Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean periods defined by their use of glass. Prodigy houses include: Longford Castle, Wiltshire [Map], Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, Longleat House, Burghley House, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire [Map] and Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire [Map].
In 1573 Thomas Gorges of Longford Castle (age 37) acquired the manor of Longford, Wiltshire [Map] which had been owned by the Servington aka Cervington family. In 1576 after his marriage to Helena Snakenbourg Marchioness Northampton (age 24) they commissioned the building of a house on the triangular Swedish style on the banks of the Wiltshire River Avon with money from a shipwreck of the Spanish Armada.
Around 1585 William Brereton 1st Baron Brereton (age 34) and his wife Margaret Savage (age 36) commissioned the building of Brereton Hall, Cheshire [Map]; a Prodigy House.
Margaret Savage: In 1549 she was born to John Savage and Elizabeth Manners. Before 25th February 1591 William Brereton 1st Baron Brereton and she were married. They were third cousins. On 7th April 1597 Margaret Savage died.
Between 1593 and 1600 Doddington Hall [Map] was built as a Prodigy House for the lawyer Thomas Tailor. The architect was Robert Smythson. The facade is wide, but the house is only a single room deep at the centre.