William of Worcester's Chronicle of England
William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.
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Illustrations of Scottish History is in Victorian Books.
The following account of the capture and execution of Wallace is transcribed from the Arundel MS. 220, fol. 287, b. From internal evidence the volume appears to have been written about the year 1320, or shortly after.
In the year 1305 [5th August 1305], William Wallace was captured. He had first been a scoundrel and a thief, and later, during the Scottish war, was made a knight by the Scots and became their leader. He invaded Northumbria, which he largely burned, including even the noble church of Hexham. However, he was captured in the house of a certain Rowe Ra by Lord John of Menteith and brought to London by Lord John de Segrave. There, having received judgment, he was first drawn as a traitor, then hanged as a thief, then, while still alive, cut down and beheaded as a banished man. Afterward, he was disembowelled and his entrails were burned, just as he had burned churches full of men and women. Then his body was divided into four parts, just as he had wished to divide the people of Scotland from their king, Edward. His head was placed on display in London on the bridge; his right hand on the bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne above the public latrines; his right foot at Berwick; his left hand at Stirling; and his left foot at Perth, that is, the town of St. John.
Anno MCCC quinto, captus est Willelmus Waleys, qui primo fuit ribaldus et latro, et postea in guerra Scociae factus miles a Scotis, et ductor eorum factus, intravit Northumbriam, quam pro magna parte conbussit, sed etiam illam nobilem ecclesiam de Exilsham. Captus autem erat in domo cujusdam Rowe Ra per dominum Johannem de Menethet, et ductus Londonias per dominum Johannem de Segrave, ibique accepto judicio, ibique primo tractus tanquam traytour, postea suspensus tanquam latro, et vivus post deorsum dimissus decapitatus est tanquam forbannitus, deinde exentratus et viscera sua combusta sunt, sicut et ipse ecclesiam hominum et mulierum conbusserat. Post hoc in quatuor partes divisus, sicut et ipse gentem Scottorum voluit a rege suo Edwardo divisisse, caputque ejus suspensum est Londoniis super pontem, manus dextra super pontem apud Novum Castrum super Tynam ultra cloacas communes, pes dexter apud Berewyk, manus sinistra apud Strivelyn, et pes sinister apud Perth, id est villam Sancti Johannis.