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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The Topography of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis

The Topography of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis is in Early Medieval Books.

The Topography of Ireland Chapter 18

Of The Giants' Dance, which was transferred from Ireland To Britain.

In ancient times there was in Ireland a remarkable pile of stones, called the Giants' Dance¹, because the giants brought it from the furthest parts of Africa into Ireland, and set it up, partly by main strength, partly by artificial contrivances, in an extraordinary way, on the plains of Kildare, near Naas. Hence, certain stones exactly resembling the rest, and erected in the same manner, are seen there to the present day. It is wonderful bow these stones, in such numbers and of such vast size, couid ever be collected together on one spot, and raised upright, as well as by what mechanical contrivance others, not inferior in dimensions, were placed as lintels on top of the other massive and lofty piles, so that they appear suspended, and, as it were, hanging in the air, rather by some artificial contrivance than resting on the columns supporting them. According to the British History,1 Aurelius Ambrosius, king of Britain, caused these stones to be transported from Ireland to Britain by the divine aid of Merlin; and in order to leave some memorial of so great a deed, they were erected on the spot where, before that time, the flower of the youth of Britain died by the concealed knives of the Saxons, who fell upon them and slew them, under the guise of peace, with their treacherous weapons.

Note 1. "Chorea Gigantum," from "χορος" a dance, or company of dancers or singers. Giraldus refers, of course, to the celebrated monument on Salisbury Plain, called Stonehenge, which the old legends represent as Laving been brought from Ireland.