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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Assassinated is in Murder.
943 Assassination of William "Longsword"
1419 Murder of John the Fearless
1437 Assassination of King James I of Scotland
1570 James Stewart 1st Earl of Moray Assassinated by Firearm
1588 "Day of the Dagger" Assassination of Henry 1st Duke Guise
1812 Assassination of Primeminister Spencer Perceval
In 632 Eorpwald King East Anglia was assassinated by Ricberht.
On 17th December 943 William "Longsword" I Duke Normandy [aged 50] was assassinated at Picquigny by the followers of Arnulf "Great" I Count Flanders [aged 53] with whom he was attending a peace conference. He was buried at Rouen Cathedral [Map]. His son Richard [aged 11] succeeded I Duke Normandy. Gunnora Countess Ponthieu by marriage Countess Ponthieu.
After 1066 Robert Beaumont was assassinated.
In September 1183 Emperor Alexios II Komnenos [aged 13] was secretly strangled with a bow-string and his body thrown in the Bosporos.
On 24th November 1192 Bishop Albert Reginar [aged 26] was assassinated at Reims.
On 10th August 1250 King Eric IV of Denmark [aged 34] was assassinated. Many suspected the assassination was ordered by his brother King Abel of Denmark [aged 32].. His brother Abel succeeded King of Denmark.
On 10th September 1419 Charles "Victorious" VII King France [aged 16] and John "Fearless" Valois Duke Burgundy [aged 48] met on the bridge at Montereau to progress their peace negotiations. During the course of the discussions John "Fearless" Valois Duke Burgundy was assassinated. His son Philip [aged 23] succeeded III Duke Burgundy. Michelle Valois Duchess Burgundy [aged 24] by marriage Duchess Burgundy.
On 21st February 1437 King James I of Scotland [aged 42] was assassinated at Blackfriars. He was buried at Carthusian Charterhouse, Perth. His son James [aged 6] succeeded II King Scotland. His wife, Joan Beaufort Queen Consort Scotland [aged 33], managed to escape.
On 2nd June 1567 Shane O'Neill [aged 37] was assassinated at Castle Cara.
On 23rd January 1570 James Stewart 1st Earl of Moray Regent [aged 39] was assassinated at Linlithgow by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, a supporter of Mary Queen of Scots [aged 27]. His daughter Elizabeth [aged 4] succeeded 2nd Countess Moray. As he was passing in a cavalcade in the main street below, Hamilton fatally wounded him with a carbine shot from a window of his uncle Archbishop Hamilton's [aged 57] house. He was the first head of government to be assassinated by a firearm.
On 23rd December 1588 Henry 1st Duke Guise [aged 37], leader of the Catholic League, was assassinated at the Château de Blois by the King's bodyguard whilst Henry III King France [aged 37] looked on.
On 2nd August 1589 Henry III King France [aged 37] was assassinated.
On 20th July 1590 James Stewart 1st Lord Doune [aged 61] was assassinated (the first in Scotland by a fiream). His son James [aged 25] succeeded 2nd Lord Doune.
On 11th August 1664 John Lisle [aged 55] was assassinated in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland on his way to church, shot dead by an Irishman known as Thomas MacDonnell, who was later revealed to be Sir James Fitz Edmund Cotter. He was buried in the church of the city.
On 11th May 1812 Spencer Perceval [aged 49] was assassinated at House of Commons. Robert Jenkinson 2nd Earl Liverpool [aged 41] was appointed Prime Minister.
At 5:15 pm, on the evening of 11 May 1812, Perceval was on his way to attend the inquiry into the Orders in Council. As he entered the lobby of the House of Commons, a man stepped forward, drew a pistol and shot him in the chest. The assassin, John Bellingham, was a merchant who believed he had been unjustly imprisoned in Russia and was entitled to compensation from the government, but all his petitions had been rejected.
Perceval left a widow and twelve children aged between three and twenty. Parliament voted to settle £50,000 on Perceval's children, with additional annuities for his widow and eldest son.
On 18th May 1812 John Bellingham was hanged at Newgate Prison, London [Map]. René Martin Pillet says...
This unfortunate man had presented several memorials, and had repeatedly demanded audience, but they had given him no answer. Driven to despair, he presented himself at the door of the house of commons, waited for the prime minister, Mr. Percival, and shot him. He was seized, confessed the crime, was tried, condemned to be hung, and executed a few days after. At the time of execution an immense crowd filled the public square, and these expressions were heard on every side: Farewell poor man, you owe satisfaction to the offended laws of your country, but God bless you! you have rendered an important service to your country, you have tdugllt ministers that they should do justice, and grant audience when it is asked of them.
A subscription was opened for the widow and children, and a handsome sum was raised. Their fortune was ten times greater than they could ever have expected in any other situation.
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On 2nd April 1878 William Clements 3rd Earl Leitrim [aged 71] was assassinated along with his clerk and driver, near Cratlagh Wood while on his way to Milford (a village he owned in its entirety) from his home, Manor Vaughan (usually known as Mulroy House), on Mulroy Bay. Michael Heraghty and brothers Thomas and Bernard McGranahan were arrested. The gun butt had been traced to Heraghty, and paper for the wadding used to load the rifle was traced to a school copybook owned by the McGranahans. The McGranahans were released from Lifford Jail due to a lack of evidence. Heraghty died in Lifford Jail of typhus. The assassins, Nial Shiels of Doughmore, an itinerant tailor, Michael Hergarty of Tullyconnell, and Michael McElwee of Ballyworiskey, were from the remote Fanad Peninsula. His nephew Robert [aged 31] succeeded 3rd Earl Leitrim. Winifred Coke Countess of Leitrim [aged 27] by marriage Countess Leitrim.
On 13th March 1881 Tsar Alexander II of Russia [aged 62] was assassinated. He died at the Winter's Palace, St Petersburg. His son Alexander [aged 36] succeeded III Tsar Russia. Dagmar aka Maria Feodrovna Glücksburg [aged 33] by marriage Tsarina Russia.
As he was known to do every Sunday for many years, the emperor went to the Mikhailovsky Manège for the military roll call. A young member of the Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will") movement, Nikolai Rysakov, threw a bomb which explosion Alexander survived. A second young member of the Narodnaya Volya, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, threw a second bomb killing the Tsar.
On 6th May 1882 Frederick Charles Cavendish [aged 45] was assassinated at Phoenix Park, Dublin during the Phoenix Park Killings. He was buried in the Cavendish Plot, St Peter's Church, Edensor [Map].
On 10th September 1898 Empress Elisabeth of Austria [aged 60] was assassinated being fatally stabbed in the heart by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni.
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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On 6th November 1922 Ali Kemal [aged 53] was assassinated.
On 6th June 1928 Robert "Bobby" Francis Kennedy [aged 2] was assassinated.
On 9th October 1934 Alexander I King Yugoslavia [aged 45] was assassinated at Marseilles, France.
On 6th November 1944 Walter Guiness 1st Baron Moyne [aged 64] was assassinated. Eliyahu Bet-Zuri and Eliyahu Hakim of the Jewish terrorist group Lehi waited for Moyne near his home in Cairo. Moyne arrived in his car with his driver, Lance Corporal Arthur Fuller, his secretary, Dorothy Osmond, and his ADC, Major Andrew Hughes-Onslow. The ADC went to open the front door of the residence and the driver got out to open the door for Moyne. They were suddenly told not to move, as Bet-Zuri emerged and shot Fuller in the chest, causing him to collapse in the driveway and bleed to death in minutes. Hakim then pulled the car door open and fatally shot Moyne three times. His son Bryan [aged 39] succeeded 2nd Baron Moyne of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.
Salomon King Brittany was assassinated.