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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Around 1532 Sofonisba Anguissola was born.
Around 1555 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 23]. Portrait of Joanna of Austria Grand Duchess Tuscany [aged 7].
Joanna of Austria Grand Duchess Tuscany: On 24th January 1547 she was born to Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor and Anne Jagiellon. On 18th December 1565 Francesco I de Medici Grand Duke of Tuscany and she were married. She by marriage Grand Duchess Tuscany. She the daughter of Ferdinand I Holy Roman Emperor and Anne Jagiellon. On 10th April 1578 Joanna of Austria Grand Duchess Tuscany died.
Around 1556 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 24]. Self-Portrait.
Around 1560 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 28]. Self-Portrait.
Around 1563 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 31]. Portrait of Elizabeth Valois Queen Consort Spain [aged 17].
Around 1573 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 41]. Portrait of Anna of Austria Queen Consort Spain [aged 23].
Around 1573 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 41]. Portrait of Philip "The Prudent" II King Spain [aged 45].
Around 1599 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 67]. Portrait of Elizabeth Valois Queen Consort Spain.
Around 1624 Anthony Van Dyck [aged 24]. Portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 92] aged ninety-two.
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 16th November 1625 Sofonisba Anguissola [aged 93] died.