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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Waenfynydd aka Castellor Burial Chamber is in Llanfaelog, Anglesey, Prehistoric Anglesey Burial Chambers.
Archaeological Journal Volume 28 1871 Pages 97-108. 19. [Waenfynydd aka Castellor Burial Chamber [Map]] Llechylched par. (w). Fragments of a cromlech on a farm called Waenfynydd. Two stones remain; the cap-stone was broken up some years ago. Rev. Hugh Prichard, Memoir on Castellor, &c., Arch. Cambr., fourth series, vol. ii. p. 53.
Archaeologia Cambrensis 1876 Pages 51-66. Two stones of a cromlech [Waenfynydd aka Castellor Burial Chamber [Map]], the largest of which measures superficially 9 feet by 5½ feet, and is 3 feet thick, are at present the only perceptible antiquities on this field with the exception of the large stone mentioned above. The capstone of the cromlech, 15 feet long, was broken up many years ago. On the second field, separated from the first by a farm wall, seven or eight low circles, with several lines of upright stones, mark the sites of early habitations not fully obliterated, and also of structures, concerning the purpose of which it is vain to speculate.