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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Biography of Archbishop Walter Giffard 1225-1279

Paternal Family Tree: Giffard

Before 18th March 1217 [his father] Hugh Giffard [aged 22] and [his mother] Sibyl Cormeilles [aged 24] were married.

Around 1225 Archbishop Walter Giffard was born to [his father] Hugh Giffard [aged 30] and [his mother] Sibyl Cormeilles [aged 32].

Around 1246 [his father] Hugh Giffard [aged 51] died at Warminster, Wiltshire [Map].

On 22nd May 1264 Archbishop Walter Giffard [aged 39] was elected Bishop of Bath and Wells.

On 4th January 1265 Archbishop Walter Giffard [aged 40] was consecrated as Bishop of Bath and Wells at Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral [Map].

After 10th August 1265 Archbishop Walter Giffard [aged 40] was appointed Lord Chancellor.

On 15th October 1266 Archbishop Walter Giffard [aged 41] was appointed Archbishop of York.

Dictum of Kenilworth

On 31st October 1266 the Dictum of Kenilworth was issued. The Dictum was a peace agreement between King Henry III of England [aged 59] and the rebels who were besieged in the impregnable Kenilworth Castle [Map]. The committee included: Bishop Walter Branscombe [aged 46], Archbishop Walter Giffard [aged 41], Bishop Nicholas Ely, Gilbert de Clare 8th Earl Gloucester 7th Earl Hertford, Humphrey Bohun 2nd Earl Hereford 1st Earl Essex [aged 62], Philip Basset [aged 82], John Balliol [aged 58], Robert Walerand, Alan Zouche [aged 63], Roger Somery 2nd Baron Dudley [aged 76], and Warin Bassingbourne.

Robert Ferrers 6th Earl of Derby [aged 27] and Henry Hastings [aged 31] were fined seven times their annual income. The Dictum, however, required the rebels to pay their fines before being restored to their lands; something of a Catch-22 since if they weren't restored to their lands, they would have no income to pay the fine.

On 1st November 1266 Archbishop Walter Giffard [aged 41] was enthroned as Archbishop of York.

Around 20th May 1268 [his brother] Godfrey Giffard Bishop of Worcester [aged 33] was appointed Bishop of Worcester.

The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel Volume 1 Chapters 1-60 1307-1342

The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel offer one of the most vivid and immediate accounts of 14th-century Europe, written by a knight who lived through the events he describes, and experienced some of them first hand. Covering the early decades of the Hundred Years’ War, this remarkable chronicle follows the campaigns of Edward III of England, the politics of France and the Low Countries, and the shifting alliances that shaped medieval warfare. Unlike later historians, Jean le Bel writes with a strong sense of eyewitness authenticity, drawing on personal experience and the testimony of fellow soldiers. His narrative captures not only battles and sieges, but also the realities of military life, diplomacy, and the ideals of chivalry that governed noble society. A key source for Jean Froissart, Le Bel’s chronicle stands on its own as a compelling and insightful work, at once historical record and literary achievement. This translation builds on the 1905 edition published in French by Jules Viard, adding extensive translations from other sources Rymer's Fœdera, the Chronicles of Adam Murimuth, William Nangis, Walter of Guisborough, a Bourgeois of Valenciennes, Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke and Richard Lescot to enrich the original text and Viard's notes.

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Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. In the year of our Lord 1279, Walter Giffard [aged 54],1 Archbishop of York, died on the 22nd of April. He was succeeded by William de Wickwane2. In the second year of his archiepiscopate, wishing to visit his suffragan Robert of Holy Island, Bishop of Durham, and the chapter of Durham, he was repelled for they shut the city gates against him. Nevertheless, taking up his pontifical insignia, he preached in the city square, choosing as his sermon theme: "I have come down to see Judah and Jerusalem." After delivering his sermon, he pronounced a dreadful sentence of excommunication upon those who opposed him and placed the city under ecclesiastical interdict. But they treated all of this lightly, relying on a constitution of Pope Innocent IV concerning censuses and Roman exactions, and they appealed, claiming that he should not be admitted unless he had first visited his own chapter and diocese, which he had not done. For that constitution states: "We decree that any archbishop who wishes to visit his province must first take care to visit the chapter, city, and diocese of his own church." A year later, with the Bishop of Durham now dead, the archbishop returned again at the same time of year, around the [24th June 1280], intending another visitation. There, he suffered even greater injury than before, and after renewing the same dreadful sentence, he departed. From that time on, a lawsuit ensued in the Roman Curia at enormous expense.

Anno Domini MCCLXXIX obiit Walterus Giffard Eborum archiepiscopus X kalendas Maii. Cui successit Willelmus Wychewang. Hic in anno archiepiscopatus sui secundo suffraganeum suum Robertum de Insula Dunolmensem episcopum et capitulum Dunolmense visitare volens, passus est ibidem repulsam, clauserunt enim portas civitatis contra eum; ipse vero pontificali accepto prædicavit ibidem in platea civitatis, et assumpto themate, Descendi ut viderem Judæam et Jerusalem, et facto sermone in contradictores The bishopric sibi sententiam excommunicationis terribilem laid under fulminavit et locum eundem ecclesiastico supposuit interdicto. Ipsi vero parvipendebant omnia; fundaverant enim se super constitutionem Innocentii quarti de censibus et exactione Romana, et appellaverant, dicentes eum admitti non debere nisi proprium capitulum et dioecesim prius visitasset, quod non fecit. Dicit enim constitutio illa sic: Statuimus ut quilibet archiepiscopus, suam volens visitare provinciam, prius ecclesiæ suæ capitulum et civitatem ac dioecesim visitare procuret. Anno autem revoluto, et mortuo Dunolmensi episcopo, iterato et eodem tempore anni, scilicet circa festum Sancti Johannis Baptistæ, ibidem causa visitationis adveniens, majorem quam prius passus est injuriam, et renovata terribili sententia recessit et abiit: et extunc in Romana curia immensis sumptibus litigabant.

Note 1. The date of this archbishops death is assigned by Godwin to the 25th of April.

Note 2. MSS. Coll. Arm, and Cott. Tib. William Wickwane, Chancellor of York, was elected June 22, 1279, and consecrated at Rome on the 19th of September following.

On 25th April 1279 Archbishop Walter Giffard [aged 54] died at York [Map]. He was buried at York Minster [Map].

Ancestors of Archbishop Walter Giffard 1225-1279

Great x 4 Grandfather: Osberne de Bolbec Giffard

Great x 3 Grandfather: Osberne Giffard

Great x 4 Grandmother: Avelina Unknown

Great x 2 Grandfather: Elias Giffard

Great x 1 Grandfather: Elias "The Boy" Giffard

GrandFather: Walter Giffard

Father: Hugh Giffard

Archbishop Walter Giffard

GrandFather: Walter Cormeilles

Mother: Sibyl Cormeilles