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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Church of All Hallows, Great Mitton, Lancashire, North-West England, British Isles [Map]

Church of All Hallows, Great Mitton is in Great Mitton, Lancashire [Map], Churches in Lancashire.

After 1667 recumbent effigies of Richard Shireburn [aged 76], his son Richard Shireburn [aged 41] and his wife Isabel Ingleby [aged 40] and at Church of All Hallows, Great Mitton [Map].

Richard Shireburn: In 1591 he was born to Richard Shireburn and Catherine Stourton. On 11th February 1667 he died

Richard Shireburn: he and Isabel Ingleby were married. In 1626 he was born to Richard Shireburn. On 16th August 1689 he died.

Isabel Ingleby: In 1627 she was born to John Ingleby of Lawkland. On 2nd April 1693 she died.

After 1702. Monument to Richard Francis Shireburn [aged 8]. Church of All Hallows, Great Mitton [Map]. Sculpted by William Stanton [aged 63]. Figure of boy against Reredos background, with Cherubs.

Richard Francis Shireburn: On 3rd December 1693 he was born to Nicholas Shireburn 1st Baronet. On 8th June 1702 he died.

On 14th December 1717 Nicholas Shireburn 1st Baronet [aged 59] died. Monument in Church of All Hallows, Great Mitton [Map]. Baronet Shireburn extinct. His daughter Maria Shireburn Duchess Norfolk [aged 25] inherited Stonyhurst.

Nicholas Shireburn 1st Baronet: On 29th July 1658 he was born to Richard Shireburn and Isabel Ingleby. On 4th February 1685 Nicholas Shireburn 1st Baronet was created 1st Baronet Shireburn. Around 1706 Thomas Howard 8th Duke of Norfolk was in secret negotiations for a marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Bruce, 2nd earl of Ailesbury. When her brother, Charles, the future 3rd earl, discovered the intrigue he was horrified. He insisted that he would never give his consent to her marrying a Catholic, though he seems to have been just as worried about the 'worldly concerns' of Catholics who were 'in a very precarious way', as about their religious beliefs, citing the bill to limit their rights of inheritance which was then before Parliament. Instead, Norfolk began his pursuit of Maria, then only thirteen, daughter of Nicholas Shireburn 1st Baronet.

Maria Shireburn Duchess Norfolk: On 22nd November 1692 she was born to Nicholas Shireburn 1st Baronet. On 26th May 1709 Thomas Howard 8th Duke of Norfolk and she were married. She by marriage Duchess Norfolk. She bringing a large dowry of £30,000. She eventually left him after he changed his allegiance to George I rejecting the Jacobites. On 26th September 1754 she died. Her aunt Elizabeth Shireburn inherited Stonyhurst by which it became into the ownership of the Weld family.