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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Paternal Family Tree: Villiers
Maternal Family Tree: Anne Pakenham 1485-1544
Around 1612 [her father] Edward Villiers [aged 27] and [her mother] Barbara St John were married.
In May 1622 Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk was born to [her father] Edward Villiers [aged 37] and [her mother] Barbara St John. She was baptised at Westinster Abbey on 1st June 1622.
On 7th September 1626 [her father] Edward Villiers [aged 41] died.
On 28th April 1627 [her brother-in-law] Robert Douglas 8th Earl Morton [aged 11] and [her sister] Elizabeth Villiers Countess Morton [aged 18] were married. He the son of William Douglas 7th Earl Morton [aged 45] and Anne Keith Countess Morton.
On 29th December 1630 Oliver St John 1st Viscount Grandison [aged 71] died. His great nephew [her brother] William [aged 16] succeeded 2nd Viscount Grandison. [her future sister-in-law] Mary Bayning Countess Anglesey [aged 7] by marriage Viscountess Grandison.
On 3rd June 1640 Theophilus Howard 2nd Earl Suffolk [aged 57] died at Suffolk House, Suffolk Street. He was buried at Waldon Priory and Abbey [Map]. His son [her future husband] James [aged 21] succeeded 3rd Earl Suffolk, 3rd Baron Howard de Walden.
Before 27th November 1640 [her brother] William Villiers 2nd Viscount Grandison [aged 26] and [her sister-in-law] Mary Bayning Countess Anglesey [aged 17] were married. She the heiress of a fortune of £180,000.
On 1st December 1640 [her future husband] James Howard 3rd Earl Suffolk [aged 21] and Susannah Rich Countess Suffolk [aged 12] were married. She by marriage Countess Suffolk. She the daughter of Henry Rich 1st Earl Holland [aged 50] and Isabel Cope Countess Holland. He the son of Theophilus Howard 2nd Earl Suffolk and Elizabeth Home Countess Suffolk. They were fifth cousins.
Before 1646 Richard Wenman [aged 23] and Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk [aged 23] were married.
Before 1646 [her husband] Richard Wenman [aged 23] died.
Jean de Waurin's Chronicle of England Volume 6 Books 3-6: The Wars of the Roses
Jean de Waurin was a French Chronicler, from the Artois region, who was born around 1400, and died around 1474. Waurin’s Chronicle of England, Volume 6, covering the period 1450 to 1471, from which we have selected and translated Chapters relating to the Wars of the Roses, provides a vivid, original, contemporary description of key events some of which he witnessed first-hand, some of which he was told by the key people involved with whom Waurin had a personal relationship.
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On 7th August 1648 William Douglas 7th Earl Morton [aged 66] died. His son [her brother-in-law] Robert [aged 32] succeeded 8th Earl Morton. [her sister] Elizabeth Villiers Countess Morton [aged 39] by marriage Countess Morton.
Around February 1650 James Howard 3rd Earl Suffolk [aged 30] and Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk [aged 27] were married. She by marriage Countess Suffolk. He the son of Theophilus Howard 2nd Earl Suffolk and Elizabeth Home Countess Suffolk.
Before 15th December 1654 [her sister] Elizabeth Villiers Countess Morton [aged 45] died.
In 1660 Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk [aged 37] was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber to Catherine of Braganza Queen Consort England [aged 21] which position she held until 1681.
Around 1661 John Villiers 3rd Viscount Grandison died. His brother George [aged 44] succeeded 4th Viscount Grandison. Mary Leigh Viscountess Grandison by marriage Viscountess Grandison.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 26th July 1662. Thence to Mrs. Sarah, and there looked over my Lord's lodgings, which are very pretty; and White Hall garden and the Bowling-ally (where lords and ladies are now at bowles), in brave condition. Mrs. Sarah told me how the falling out between my [her niece] Baroness Castlemaine's [aged 21] and her Lord was about christening of the child lately1, which he would have, and had done by a priest: and, some days after, she had it again christened by a minister; the King [aged 32], and Lord of Oxford, and Duchesse of Suffolk, being witnesses: and christened with a proviso, that it had not already been christened. Since that she left her Lord, carrying away every thing in the house; so much as every dish, and cloth, and servant but the porter. He is gone discontented into France, they say, to enter a monastery; and now she is coming back again to her house in Kingstreet. But I hear that the Queen [aged 23] did prick her out of the list presented her by the King;2 desiring that she might have that favour done her, or that he would send her from whence she come: and that the King was angry and the Queen discontented a whole day and night upon it; but that the King hath promised to have nothing to do with her hereafter. But I cannot believe that the King can fling her off so, he loving her too well: and so I writ this night to my Lady to be my opinion; she calling her my lady, and the lady I admire. Here I find that my Lord hath lost the garden to his lodgings, and that it is turning into a tennis-court. Hence by water to the Wardrobe to see how all do there, and so home to supper and to bed.
Note 1. The boy was born in June at Baroness Castlemaine's house in King Street. By the direction of Lord Castlemaine, who had become a Roman Catholic, the child was baptized by a priest, and this led to a final separation between husband and wife. Some days afterwards the child was again baptized by the rector of St. Margaret's, Westminster [Map], in presence of the godparents, the King, Aubrey De Vere [aged 35], Earl of Oxford, and Barbara, Countess of Suffolk [aged 40], first Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen and Baroness Castlemaine's aunt. The entry in the register of St. Margaret's [Map] is as follows: "1662 June 18 Charles Palmer Ld Limbricke, s. to ye right honorble Roger Earl of Castlemaine by Barbara" (Steinman's "Memoir of Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland", 1871, p. 33). The child was afterwards called Charles Fitzroy, and was created Duke of Southampton in 1674. He succeeded his mother in the dukedom of Cleveland in 1709, and died 1730.
Note 2. By the King's command Lord Clarendon [aged 54], much against his inclination, had twice visited his royal mistress with a view of inducing her, by persuasions which he could not justify, to give way to the King's determination to have Baroness Castlemaine's of her household.... Lord Clarendon has given a full account of all that transpired between himself, the King and the Queen, on this very unpleasant business ('Continuation of Life of Clarendon,' 1759, ff. 168-178). Steinman's Memoir of Duchess of Cleveland, p. 35. The day at length arrived when Baroness Castlemaine's was to be formally admitted a Lady of the Bedchamber. The royal warrant, addressed to the Lord Chamberlain [aged 61], bears date June 1, 1663, and includes with that of her ladyship, the names of the Duchess of Buckingham [aged 24], the Countesses of Chesterfield and Bath [aged 22], and the Countess Mareshall. A separate warrant of the same day directs his lordship to admit the Countess of Suffolk as Groom of the Stole and first Lady of the Bedchamber, to which undividable offices she had, with the additional ones of Mistress of the Robes and Keeper of the Privy Purse, been nominated by a warrant dated April 2, 1662, wherein the reception of her oath is expressly deferred until the Queen's household shall be established. We here are furnished with the evidence that Charles would not sign the warrants for the five until Catherine had withdrawn her objection to his favourite one. Addenda to Steinman's Memoir of Duchess of Cleveland (privately printed), 1874, p. i.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 22nd July 1663. Thence to my Lord Crew's. My Lord not being come home, I met and staid below with Captain Ferrers, who was come to wait upon my Lady Jemimah to St. James's, she being one of the four ladies that hold up the mantle at the christening this afternoon of the Duke's [aged 29] child (a boy). In discourse of the ladies at Court, Captain Ferrers tells me that my [her niece] Baroness Castlemaine's [aged 22] is now as great again as ever she was; and that her going away was only a fit of her own upon some slighting words of the King [aged 33], so that she called for her coach at a quarter of an hour's warning, and went to Richmond; and the King the next morning, under pretence of going a-hunting, went to see her and make friends, and never was a-hunting at all. After which she came back to Court, and commands the King as much as ever, and hath and doth what she will. No longer ago than last night, there was a private entertainment made for the King and Queen [aged 24] at the Duke of Buckingham's [aged 35], and she: was not invited: but being at my Lady Suffolk's [aged 41], her aunt's (where my Lady Jemimah and Lord Sandwich [aged 37] dined) yesterday, she was heard to say, "Well; much good may it do them, and for all that I will be as merry as they:" and so she went home and caused a great supper to be prepared. And after the King had been with the Queen at Wallingford House, he came to my Baroness Castlemaine's, and was there all night, and my Lord Sandwich with him, which was the reason my Lord lay in town all night, which he has not done a great while before. He tells me he believes that, as soon as the King can get a husband for Mrs. Stewart [aged 16] however, my Baroness Castlemaine's nose will be out of joynt; for that she comes to be in great esteem, and is more handsome than she. I found by his words that my Lord Sandwich finds some pleasure in the country where he now is, whether he means one of the daughters of the house or no I know not, but hope the contrary, that he thinks he is very well pleased with staying there, but yet upon breaking up of the Parliament, which the King by a message to-day says shall be on Monday next, he resolves to go.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 19th October 1663. Coming to St. James's, I hear that the Queen [aged 24] did sleep five hours pretty well to-night, and that she waked and gargled her mouth, and to sleep again; but that her pulse beats fast, beating twenty to the King's or my Lady Suffolk's [aged 41] eleven; but not so strong as it was. It seems she was so ill as to be shaved and Pigeons put to her feet, and to have the extreme unction given her by the priests, who were so long about it that the doctors were angry. The King [aged 33], they all say; is most fondly disconsolate for her, and weeps by her, which makes her weep1; which one this day told me he reckons a good sign, for that it carries away some rheume from the head.
Note 1. "The Queen was given over by her physicians,..., and the good nature of the King was much affected with the situation in which he saw! a princess whom, though he did not love her, yet he greatly esteemed. She loved him tenderly, and thinking that it was the last time she should ever speak to him, she told him 'That the concern he showed for her death was enough to make her quit life with regret; but that not possessing charms sufficient to merit his tenderness, she had at least the consolation in dying to give place to a consort who might be more worthy, of it and to whom heaven, perhaps, might grant a blessing that had been refused to her.' At these words she bathed his hands with some tears which he thought would be her last; he mingled his own with hers, and without supposing she would take him at his word, he conjured her to live for his sake".-Grammont Memoirs, chap. vii.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 16th September 1667. Up, and several come to me, among others Mr. Yeabsly of Plymouth, Devon [Map], to discourse about their matters touching Tangier, and by and by Sir H. Cholmly [aged 35], who was with me a good while; who tells me that the Duke of York's [aged 33] child is christened, the Duke of Albemarle [aged 58] and the Marquis of Worcester [aged 38] godfathers, and my Lady Suffolke [aged 45] godmother; and they have named it Edgar, which is a brave name. But it seems they are more joyful in the Chancellor's [aged 58] family, at the birth of this Prince, than in wisdom they should, for fear it should give the King [aged 37] cause of jealousy.
Before 1670 [her brother-in-law] Henry Howard 5th Earl Suffolk [aged 42] and Mary Stewart [aged 29] were married. He the son of Theophilus Howard 2nd Earl Suffolk and Elizabeth Home Countess Suffolk.
In 1672 [her mother] Barbara St John died.
John Evelyn's Diary. 22nd December 1674. Was at the repetition of the "Pastoral", on which occasion Mrs. Blagg [aged 22] had about her near £20,000 worth of jewels, of which she lost one worth about £80, borrowed of the Countess of Suffolk [aged 52]. The press was so great, that it is a wonder she lost no more. The Duke [aged 41] made it good.
The History of William Marshal was commissioned by his son shortly after William’s death in 1219 to celebrate the Marshal’s remarkable life; it is an authentic, contemporary voice. The manuscript was discovered in 1861 by French historian Paul Meyer. Meyer published the manuscript in its original Anglo-French in 1891 in two books. This book is a line by line translation of the first of Meyer’s books; lines 1-10152. Book 1 of the History begins in 1139 and ends in 1194. It describes the events of the Anarchy, the role of William’s father John, John’s marriages, William’s childhood, his role as a hostage at the siege of Newbury, his injury and imprisonment in Poitou where he met Eleanor of Aquitaine and his life as a knight errant. It continues with the accusation against him of an improper relationship with Margaret, wife of Henry the Young King, his exile, and return, the death of Henry the Young King, the rebellion of Richard, the future King Richard I, war with France, the death of King Henry II, and the capture of King Richard, and the rebellion of John, the future King John. It ends with the release of King Richard and the death of John Marshal.
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Before 1675. Remigius van Leemput [aged 67]. Portrait of Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk [aged 52].
Before 18th December 1676 [her son-in-law] Thomas Felton 4th Baronet [aged 27] and Elizabeth Howard Lady Felton were married. She by marriage Lady Felton of Playford in Suffolk. She the daughter of James Howard 3rd Earl Suffolk [aged 57] and Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk [aged 54]. They were fifth cousins.
On 13th December 1680 Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk [aged 58] died.
Before 8th May 1682 [her former husband] James Howard 3rd Earl Suffolk [aged 63] and Anne Montagu Countess Suffolk [aged 15] were married. She by marriage Countess Suffolk. The difference in their ages was 47 years. She the daughter of Robert Montagu 3rd Earl Manchester [aged 48] and Anne Yelverton Countess Manchester [aged 52]. He the son of Theophilus Howard 2nd Earl Suffolk and Elizabeth Home Countess Suffolk.
On 7th January 1689 [her former husband] James Howard 3rd Earl Suffolk [aged 69] died at Great Chesterford. He was buried at Waldon Priory and Abbey [Map]. Baron Howard de Walden abeyant. His brother [her former brother-in-law] George [aged 63] succeeded 4th Earl Suffolk. Anne "Mary" Wroth Countess Suffolk by marriage Countess Suffolk.
[her daughter] Elizabeth Howard Lady Felton was born to James Howard 3rd Earl Suffolk and Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk. She married before 18th December 1676 her fifth cousin Thomas Felton 4th Baronet, son of Henry Felton 2nd Baronet and Susanna Tollemache Lady Felton, and had issue.
Kings Wessex: Great x 18 Grand Daughter of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Kings Gwynedd: Great x 15 Grand Daughter of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd
Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 21 Grand Daughter of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth
Kings Powys: Great x 16 Grand Daughter of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys
Kings Godwinson: Great x 19 Grand Daughter of King Harold II of England
Kings England: Great x 9 Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Kings Scotland: Great x 17 Grand Daughter of King Duncan I of Scotland
Kings Franks: Great x 25 Grand Daughter of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Kings France: Great x 18 Grand Daughter of Hugh I King of the Franks
Kings Duke Aquitaine: Great x 22 Grand Daughter of Ranulf I Duke Aquitaine
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Villiers 
Great x 3 Grandfather: John Villiers
Great x 2 Grandfather: John Villiers
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Villiers of Brooksby Leicestershire
GrandFather: George Villiers of Brokesby
Great x 2 Grandfather: Richard Clarke
Great x 1 Grandmother: Collette Clarke
Father: Edward Villiers
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Saunders of Harrington Northamptonshire
GrandMother: Audrey Saunders
Barbara Villiers Countess Suffolk 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Oliver St John 
7 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: John St John 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Scrope 
6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 2 Grandfather: John St John 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Iwardby
Great x 3 Grandmother: Joan Iwardby
Great x 1 Grandfather: Nicholas St John 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: James Carew 
3 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Carew 4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Eleanor Hoo 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Margaret Carew 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Robert Oxenbridge
Great x 3 Grandmother: Malyn Oxenbridge
GrandFather: John St John 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Blount 
10 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Blount of Iver in Buckinghamshire 11 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 2 Grandfather: Richard Blount of Mapledurham in Oxfordshire 12 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Elizabeth Blount 13 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Mother: Barbara St John 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Walter Hungerford 
7 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Edward Hungerford 8 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Bulstrode
Great x 2 Grandfather: Walter Hungerford 1st Baron Hungerford Heytesbury 9 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Zouche 7th Baron Zouche Harringworth 
9 x Great Grand Son of King John of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Jane Zouche 9 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Joan Dynham Baroness Zouche Harringworth 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England
Great x 1 Grandfather: Walter Hungerford 10 x Great Grand Son of King Henry III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Danvers 
Great x 3 Grandfather: John Danvers
Great x 2 Grandmother: Susan Danvers
GrandMother: Lucy Hungerford 11 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Dormer of Thame and West Wycombe 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Robert Dormer of Wing
Great x 2 Grandfather: William Dormer
Great x 1 Grandmother: Anne Dormer
Great x 4 Grandfather: Nicholas Sidney 
Great x 3 Grandfather: William Sidney
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Brandon 
Great x 2 Grandmother: Mary Sidney
Great x 4 Grandfather: Hugh Pakenham
Great x 3 Grandmother: Anne Pakenham