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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In July 1856 [her father] Abraham Pullen (age 22) and [her mother] Sarah Eagle (age 23) were married.
In 1873 Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen was born to [her father] Abraham Pullen (age 39) and [her mother] Sarah Eagle (age 40).
Frederick Leighton Biography. 1877. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 46). "The Music Lesson". Model originally Connie Gilchrist (age 11) who was replaced by Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 4). See The Life, Letters and Work of Frederic Leighton.
Frederick Leighton Biography. 1880. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 49). "Sister's Kiss". Model Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 7).
1880. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 49). "Yasmeenah". Model Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 7).
Frederick Leighton Biography. 1880. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 49). "Letty". Model Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 7).
Frederick Leighton Biography. 1880. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 49). "The Light of the Harem". Model Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 7).
Frederick Leighton Biography. 1884. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 53). "Cymon and Iphigenia". Models sisters [her sister] Ada Alice "Dorothy Dene" Pullen (age 25) and Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 11).
Frederick Leighton Biography. 1884. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 53). "Kittens". Model Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 11).
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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Frederick Leighton Biography. Around 1895. Frederick Leighton 1st Baron Leighton (age 64). "Cleobouline". Model Isabella Helena "Lena" Pullen (age 22).
Frederick Leighton Biography. Meanwhile four of these beautiful children became useful to him as models. From the second daughter [[her sister] Edith Ellen Pullen], who afterwards married an artist, Leighton painted "Memories," reproduced here; from the third, [her sister] Hetty, he painted "Simœtha the Sorceress" and "Farewell"; but it was the youngest, Lina, quite a small child, who delighted him most, and who had a rare, refined charm which must have captivated any child-lover. She took the place of little Connie Gilchrist of the "Cleobouline," the "Music Lesson," and other of the earlier paintings, in the later pictures. She sat for "Sister's Kiss," "The Light of the Harem," "Letty," the sleeping group in "Cymon and Iphigenia," "Kittens," in the friezes "The Dance" and "Music," and "A little girl with golden hair and pale blue eyes" -
"Yellow and pale as ripened corn
Which Autumn's kiss frees—grain from sheath
Such was her hair, while her eyes beneath,
Showed Spring's faint violets freshly born."
Robert Browning.