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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Our Ancient Monuments by Charles Kains-Jackson is in Prehistory.
Our ancient monuments and the land around them. By Charles Philip Kains-Jackson; with a preface by Sir John Lubbock. 1880.
The Danes came from Northamptonshire, and they are reputed to have been told that should they come to see Hoarstone [Map] (seven miles S.S.E. of Rollrich) they would be lords of England. Hooknorton, the entrenched position of the Saxons, was stormed by the Danes. Hooknorton lies about midway between Rollrich and Bunbury. The Saxon defeat was very severe, but the battle seems to have checked the Danish advance. There is no proof that their army ever went to Rollrich. Why they should drag the bodies of the slain of Hooknorton five miles from the battle-field is difficult to say. One word more on Professor Fergusson, and we have done. The little legend of the Danes' wish to reach the mystic dolmen of Hoar, the Hoar-stone, is well known to local tradition. It bears the imprint of truth, itis too simple and unpretentious for invention. It embodies a most common idea of early warfare and invasion. It may fairly be admitted, and if admitted it shows a stone close to and precisely similar to those of Rollrich, to have been already old to tradition at the time when the Danes first penetrated into Oxfordshire.