Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke
Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.
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Bishop John Harley was born at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire [Map]. He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford University.
On 9th May 1550 Bishop John Harley was appointed Rector of Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire [Map]
On 30th September 1551 Bishop John Harley was appointed Rector of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire.
On 26th May 1553 Bishop John Harley was consecrated Bishop of Hereford.
Henry Machyn's Diary. 17th March 1554. The xvij day of Marche was deprevyd the bysshope of Harfford and the bysshope of Glosetur [aged 59]; commyssyonars that dyd depreyffe them my lord chansseler and my lord of Durram, my lord of Londun, my lord of Chechastur, and my lord of sant Asse.
On 19th March 1554 Bishop John Harley was deprived of his see of Bishop of Hereford for being a Protestant, and because he was married.
In 1558 Bishop John Harley died.