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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Tympanum is in Architectural Detail.
Tympanum. A semi-circular, or triangular, decorative wall surface over an entrance, door or window, which is bounded by a lintel and an arch.
St Leonard's Church, Ribbesford [Map]. Herefordshire School of Carving tympanum. Archer aiming at what appears to be a bird with dog beneath. The description 'bird' somewhat difficult. Others call it a 'fishlike monster'. The capitals are carved with large bird pecking small bird, intertwined knots, and snakes.
Tympanum above the south door at Holy Trinity Church, Ashford-in-the-Water [Map]:
All Saints Church, Billesley [Map]. In the transept are two pieces of carved stone. One is a tympanum dating from about 1140 that depicts a man being attacked by a snake and a dragon, and being defended by a dove. The man is similarly dressed to those on the font at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Eardisley [Map]. Herefordshire School of Carving.
Around 1150. Norman Tympanum at St Mary's Church, Tissington [Map].
1150. St Mary's Church, Halford [Map]. Norman tympanum of the Herefordshire School of Carving over the north door.
1200. St Andrew's Church, Bredwardine [Map]. Carving of lintel above north door. Possibly missing a Tympanum. From the Herefordshire School of Carving.
The Herefordshire School of Carving at St Giles' Church, Pipe Aston [Map]. Tympanum over the North doorway. An "agnus dei" - Lamb of God - flanked by a winged eagle and a winged bull surrounded byan archivolt of animals and foliage enclosed within a chevroned arch. The church guide describes the eagle as the emblem of St John complementing the winged bull emblem of St Luke which has at the end of one of its forelegs a block that is assumed to be St Luke's Gospel. Malcolm Thurlby, in this excellent book "The Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture" suggest the carving is of a griffin. The imposts at the end of the arches have, on the left, dragons entwined, and, on the right, foliage. See Herefordshire School of Carving.
1896. John Benjamin Stone [aged 57]. Photograph of the tympanum at St Leonard's Church, Ribbesford [Map].
Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke
Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.
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1900. John Benjamin Stone [aged 61]. Photograph of the tympanums at St James' Church, Alveston [Map].
St John's Church, Shobdon [Map].When the 18th-century church was built, the original Romanesque chancel arch was carefully removed and reassembled on the hill overlooking the church. This was linked to two carved doorways with their tympana to create an unusual folly, or eyecatcher. Though somewhat eroded by wind and weather, the arches feature exquisitely detailed Norman carving.
St John the Baptist Church, Beckford [Map]. Fine Tympanum showing Harrowing of Hell. Possibly Herefordshire School of Carving.
St Mary's Church, Fownhope [Map]. Fine tympanum of the Herefordshire School of Carving.
St Mary's Church, Stottesdon [Map]. Fine tympanum and font of the Herefordshire School of Carving.
St Nicholas' Church, Little Langford [Map]. Fine tympanum from the Herefordshire School of Carving.
The Church of St Mary Magdalene and St Andrew, Ridlington [Map] has a Jacobean memorial to James Harington and his wife facing each other, praying in a kneeling position. Over the vestry door in the south aisle, is a Norman tympanum.
St Michael's Church, Houghton le Spring [Map]. The church dates from the 12C but during recent renovations the foundations of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church were discovered. Many Saxon post holders were found. Below the Saxon church were found some Roman foundations, possibly from a temple and boulders from an early prehistoric burial cairn or ritual site. A carved tympanum (which probably predates the church) features intertwined beasts. It is known as 'The Houghton Beasts or Dragons'. See Herefordshire School of Carving.
Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck [Map]. South door with tympanum. Fine example of the Herefordshire School of Carving.
St Botolph's Church, Stow Longa [Map]. Above the priest door, outside the east side of the church, is the nationally important tympanum known as the Mermaid Stone (or the Beckoning Mermaid Stone), since the engraving displays a mermaid between two creatures.
Anne Boleyn. Her Life as told by Lancelot de Carle's 1536 Letter.
In 1536, two weeks after the execution of Anne Boleyn, her brother George and four others, Lancelot du Carle, wrote an extraordinary letter that described Anne's life, and her trial and execution, to which he was a witness. This book presents a new translation of that letter, with additional material from other contemporary sources such as Letters, Hall's and Wriothesley's Chronicles, the pamphlets of Wynkyn the Worde, the Memorial of George Constantyne, the Portuguese Letter and the Baga de Secrets, all of which are provided in Appendices.
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St Peter's Church, Rowlestone [Map]. Tympanum of the Herefordshire School of Carving.
St Gregory's Church, Castlemorton [Map]. The C12 doorway has a round arch with zig-zag ornament, and angle shafts with scalloped capitals. The tympanum is carved with the Agnus Dei..
