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 Bury St Edmunds

Chronicle of Bury St Edmunds is in Late Medieval Books.

Chronicle of Bury St Edmunds. Edited with Introduction, Notes and Translation by Antonia Gransden, 1964.

On 13 June [1293], which was the Friday before Pentecost1, a fierce and terrible battle was fought at sea off the Pointe Saint-Mathieu between the English, Irish and men of Bayonne on one side and the Normans on the other. The Normans and their forces having been wiped out, some by drowning in the water, some felled by the sword, the English won a triumphant victory and took a huge spoil without any loss to their army. Nine score Norman ships were captured in the battle and distributed among the victors. Thirty of these ships were allotted to Yarmouth and were taken there laden with immense booty by way of prize. The rest of the ships were divided among the other belligerents according to their number and the amount of help they had supplied. Only three ships from Bayonne took part in the battle.

Note 1. Friday before Pentecost was on 15th May 1293.

An even fiercer sea-battle followed. The Normans allied themselves with German, Flemish and Lombard forces and their numerous ships. In the first clash between them and the men of the Cinque ports, Bayonne and Ireland many fell on the Englishside. But the soldiers at length recovered their strength and burnt, battered and trampled on the enemy forces so that they were utterly destroyed. And so the English side was victorious, though the victory was à bloody one and the English army suffered great loss. This took place on Tuesday, 26 May [1293], the feast of St Augustine; thus on Mars’s day a Martian feat was accomplished at sea.