Deeds of King Henry V

Henrici Quinti, Angliæ Regis, Gesta, is a first-hand account of the Agincourt Campaign, and subsequent events to his death in 1422. The author of the first part was a Chaplain in King Henry's retinue who was present from King Henry's departure at Southampton in 1415, at the siege of Harfleur, the battle of Agincourt, and the celebrations on King Henry's return to London. The second part, by another writer, relates the events that took place including the negotiations at Troye, Henry's marriage and his death in 1422.

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Biography of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford 1593-1641

Paternal Family Tree: Wentworth

1641 Trial and Execution of the Earl of Strafford

1664 Long Parliament

1680 Trial and Execution of William Howard 1st Viscount Stafford

In or before 1591 [his father] William Wentworth 1st Baronet [aged 28] and [his mother] Anne Atkins Baroness Wentworth Woodhouse [aged 23] were married. She by marriage Lady Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire.

On 13th April 1593 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford was born to [his father] William Wentworth 1st Baronet [aged 31] and [his mother] Anne Atkins Baroness Wentworth Woodhouse [aged 26].

Around 1609 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 15] educated at St John's College, Cambridge University [Map].

On 22nd July 1611 [his mother] Anne Atkins Baroness Wentworth Woodhouse [aged 44] died in Wentworth.

In February 1612 [his father] William Wentworth 1st Baronet [aged 50] died at Wentworth. His son Thomas [aged 18] succeeded 2nd Baronet Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire.

In or before 1622 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 28] and Margaret Clifford were married. She the daughter of Francis Clifford 4th Earl of Cumberland [aged 62] and Grisold Hughes Countess Cumberland. They were fifth cousin once removed.

In 1622 [his wife] Margaret Clifford died.

Letters of John Chamberlain Volume 2.315. [19th January 1622] Sir Thomas Wentworth [aged 28] of Yorkeshire is saide to be lately made Vicount Rabie, but on what conditions I know not. Here is speach of divers other Lords to be made out of hand, and the Lord Treasurer with the Lord Digbie [aged 41] to be created earles. The archbishop of Yorke is reported once more to be dead. Sir Henry Savile [aged 72] is here in towne so far gon of the scorbut that some doubt he will hardly recover. Master Nicolas Hare that was at Padoua died here the last weeke and made Captain John Harvie his executor, which is saide to be three or fowre thousand pound in his way: he requested me two dayes since to intreat your Lordship for a copie of the picture you have of Master Hare, and that yt may be drawne by Michaell Jansen or some other goode hand, for that he meanes to make some monument wherin he shall have use of yt; the sooner you please to favour him in yt the better welcome yt wilbe. I understand him alwayes en payant. Your cousen Lytton [aged 35] hath at last remembred himself and sent me the monie. So with the remembrance of my best service to my goode Lady I commend you to the protection of the Almighty. From London this 19th of January 1622.

Your Lordships most assuredly at commaund

John Chamberlain [aged 69].

To the right honorable Sir Dudley Carleton knight Lord Ambassador for his Majestie with the States of the United Provinces at the Hagh.

In February 1625 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 31] and Arabella Holles were married. She the daughter of John Holles 1st Earl de Clare [aged 60] and Anne Stanhope Countess de Clare [aged 49]. They were sixth cousins.

On 8th June 1626 [his son] William Wentworth 2nd Earl Strafford was born to Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 33] and [his wife] Arabella Holles at Wentworth. He married 27th February 1654 his fourth cousin Henriette Stanley Countess Strafford, daughter of James Stanley 7th Earl of Derby and Charlotte Thouars Countess Derby.

Memoires of Jacques du Clercq

This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.

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On 4th September 1626 [his brother-in-law] John Holles 2nd Earl de Clare [aged 31] and Elizabeth Vere Countess Clare were married. She by marriage Countess Clare. He the son of [his father-in-law] John Holles 1st Earl de Clare [aged 62] and [his mother-in-law] Anne Stanhope Countess de Clare [aged 50]. They were second cousin once removed.

On 22nd July 1628 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 35] was created 1st Baron Wentworth.

In 1629 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 35] was created 1st Viscount Wentworth.

On 8th October 1629 [his daughter] Anne Wentworth Baroness Rockingham was born to Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 36] and [his wife] Arabella Holles at Wentworth. She married 13th November 1654 her fifth cousin once removed Edward Watson 2nd Baron Rockingham, son of Lewis Watson 1st Baron Rockingham and Eleanor Manners Baroness Rockingham, and had issue.

After 8th October 1629 [his daughter] Arabella Wentworth was born to Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 36] and [his wife] Arabella Holles at Wentworth. She married before 1st July 1694 Justin McCarthy 1st Viscount Mountcashel, son of Donough MacCarty 1st Earl Clancarty and Ellen Butler Countess Clancarty.

In 1631 [his wife] Arabella Holles died in childbirth.

On 12th January 1632 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 38] was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland arriving in Dublin [Map] in July 1633.

In October 1632 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 39] and Elizabeth Rhodes Countess Strafford [aged 26] were married.

In 1633 Anthony Van Dyck [aged 33]. Portrait of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 39].

Around 1635 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 41] prosecuted Richard Boyle 1st Earl Cork [aged 68] for misappropriating the funds of Youghal College; and ordered him to take down the tomb of his first wife in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, making another lifelong enemy.

The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel Volume 1 Chapters 1-60 1307-1342

The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel offer one of the most vivid and immediate accounts of 14th-century Europe, written by a knight who lived through the events he describes, and experienced some of them first hand. Covering the early decades of the Hundred Years’ War, this remarkable chronicle follows the campaigns of Edward III of England, the politics of France and the Low Countries, and the shifting alliances that shaped medieval warfare. Unlike later historians, Jean le Bel writes with a strong sense of eyewitness authenticity, drawing on personal experience and the testimony of fellow soldiers. His narrative captures not only battles and sieges, but also the realities of military life, diplomacy, and the ideals of chivalry that governed noble society. A key source for Jean Froissart, Le Bel’s chronicle stands on its own as a compelling and insightful work, at once historical record and literary achievement. This translation builds on the 1905 edition published in French by Jules Viard, adding extensive translations from other sources Rymer's Fœdera, the Chronicles of Adam Murimuth, William Nangis, Walter of Guisborough, a Bourgeois of Valenciennes, Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke and Richard Lescot to enrich the original text and Viard's notes.

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On 12th November 1635 Richard Burke 4th Earl Clanricarde 1st Earl St Albans [aged 63] died. His son Ulick [aged 31] succeeded 5th Earl Clanricarde, 2nd Earl St Albans. Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 42] was blamed for his death making an enemy of Ulick Burke 1st Marquess Clanricarde and his half-brother (they shared the same mother Frances Walsingham Countess Essex) Robert Devereux 3rd Earl Essex [aged 44].

Around 1636 Anthony Van Dyck [aged 36]. Portrait of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 42].

In 1640 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 46] was appointed 438th Knight of the Garter by King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland [aged 39].

On 12th January 1640 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 46] was created 1st Earl Strafford. [his wife] Elizabeth Rhodes Countess Strafford [aged 34] by marriage Countess Strafford.

Trial and Execution of the Earl of Strafford

On 13th April 1641 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 48] was attainted by 204 votes to 59 ostensibly for his authoritarian rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland. Despite his promise not to King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland [aged 40] signed the death warrant on the 10th May 1641 in the light of increasing pressure from Parliament and the commons.

Wenceslaus Hollar [aged 33]. Engraving of the Trial of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford with the following marked:

A. King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland.

C. Henrietta Maria Bourbon Queen Consort England [aged 31].

D. King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland [aged 10].

E. Thomas Howard 14th or 21st Earl of Arundel 4th Earl of Surrey 1st Earl Norfolk [aged 55], Lord High Steward.

F. Henry Montagu 1st Earl Manchester [aged 78], Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.

G. John Paulet 5th Marquess Winchester [aged 43].

H. Robert Bertie 1st Earl Lindsey [aged 58], Lord Chamberlain.

I. Philip Herbert 4th Earl Pembroke 1st Earl Montgomery [aged 56], Lord Chamberlain of the Household.

V. Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford.

Z. Alethea Talbot Countess Arundel, Surrey and Norfolk [aged 56].

On 12th May 1641 Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 48] was beheaded at Tower Hill [Map]. Earl Strafford, Viscount Wentworth, Baron Wentworth, Baronet Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire forfeit. His execution was attended by an enormous crowd.

Wenceslaus Hollar [aged 33]. Engraving of the execution of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford marked as C with James Ussher [aged 60] marked as A.

John Evelyn's Diary. 15th April 1641 I repaired to London to hear and see the famous trial of the Earl of Strafford, Lord-Deputy of Ireland [aged 48], who, on the 22nd of March, had been summoned before both Houses of Parliament, and now appeared in Westminster Hall [Map], which was prepared with scaffolds for the Lords and Commons, who, together with the King [aged 40], Queen [aged 31], Prince [aged 10], and flower of the noblesse, were spectators and auditors of the greatest malice and the greatest innocency that ever met before so illustrious an assembly. It was Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surrey [aged 55], Earl Marshal of England, who was made High Steward upon this occasion; and the sequel is too well known to need any notice of the event.

John Evelyn's Diary. 12th May 1641. I beheld on Tower-hill [Map] the fatal stroke which severed the wisest head in England from the shoulders of the Earl of Strafford [aged 48], whose crime coming under the cognizance of no human law, or statute, a new one was made, not to be a precedent, but his destruction. With what reluctancy the King [aged 40] signed the execution, he has sufficiently expressed; to which he imputes his own unjust suffering - to such exorbitancy were things arrived.

On 21st April 1641 Henry Mildmay [aged 48] voted against the attainder of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford [aged 48].

John Evelyn's Diary. 5th October 1649. Dined with Sir George Ratcliffe, the great favorite of the late Earl of Stratford, formerly Lord Deputy of Ireland, decapitated.

Long Parliament

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 25th March 1664. Lady-day. Up and by water to White Hall, and there to chappell; where it was most infinite full to hear Dr. Critton [aged 71]. Being not knowne, some great persons in the pew I pretended to, and went in, did question my coming in. I told them my pretence; so they turned to the orders of the chappell, which hung behind upon the wall, and read it; and were satisfied; but they did not demand whether I was in waiting or no; and so I was in some fear lest he that was in waiting might come and betray me. The Doctor preached upon the thirty-first of Jeremy, and the twenty-first and twenty-second verses, about a woman compassing a man; meaning the Virgin conceiving and bearing our Saviour. It was the worst sermon I ever heard him make, I must confess; and yet it was good, and in two places very bitter, advising the King [aged 33] to do as the Emperor Severus did, to hang up a Presbyter John (a short coat and a long gowne interchangeably) in all the Courts of England. But the story of Severus was pretty, that he hanged up forty senators before the Senate house, and then made a speech presently to the Senate in praise of his owne lenity; and then decreed that never any senator after that time should suffer in the same manner without consent of the Senate: which he compared to the proceeding of the Long Parliament against my Lord Strafford. He said the greatest part of the lay magistrates in England were Puritans, and would not do justice; and the Bishopps, their powers were so taken away and lessened, that they could not exercise the power they ought. He told the King and the ladies plainly, speaking of death and of the skulls and bones of dead men and women1, how there is no difference; that nobody could tell that of the great Marius or Alexander from a pyoneer; nor, for all the pains the ladies take with their faces, he that should look in a charnels-house could not distinguish which was Cleopatra's, or fair Rosamond's, or Jane Shoare's.

Note 1. The preacher appears to have had the grave scene in "Hamlet" in his mind, as he gives the same illustration of Alexander as Hamlet does.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 4th November 1667. Thence home, and there met Sir H. Cholmly [aged 35], and he and I to the Excise Office to see what tallies are paying, and thence back to the Old Exchange [Map], by the way talking of news, and he owning Sir W. Coventry [aged 39], in his opinion, to be one of the worthiest men in the nation, as I do really think he is. He tells me he do think really that they will cut off my Chancellor's [aged 58] head, the Chancellor at this day showing as much pride as is possible to those few that venture their fortunes by coming to see him; and that the Duke of York [aged 34] is troubled much, knowing that those that fling down the Chancellor cannot stop there, but will do something to him, to prevent his having it in his power hereafter to avenge himself and father-in-law upon them. And this Sir H. Cholmly fears may be by divorcing the Queen [aged 28] and getting another, or declaring the Duke of Monmouth [aged 18] legitimate; which God forbid! He tells me he do verily believe that there will come in an impeachment of High Treason against my Lord of Ormond [aged 57]; among other things, for ordering the quartering of soldiers in Ireland on free quarters; which, it seems, is High Treason in that country, and was one of the things that lost the Lord Strafford his head, and the law is not yet repealed; which, he says, was a mighty oversight of him not to have it repealed, which he might with ease have done, or have justified himself by an Act. From the Exchange [Map] I took a coach, and went to Turlington, the great spectacle-maker, for advice, who dissuades me from using old spectacles, but rather young ones, and do tell me that nothing can wrong my eyes more than for me to use reading-glasses, which do magnify much.

Trial and Execution of William Howard 1st Viscount Stafford

John Evelyn's Diary. 30th November 1680. The signal day begun the trial (at which I was present) of my Lord Viscount Stafford [aged 66], (for conspiring the death of the King [aged 50], second son to my Lord Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Earl Marshal of England, and grandfather to the present Duke of Norfolk [aged 52], whom I so well knew, and from which excellent person I received so many favors. It was likewise his birthday, The trial was in Westminster Hall [Map], before the King, Lords, and Commons, just in the same manner as, forty years past, the great and wise Earl of Strafford (there being but one letter differing their names) received his trial for pretended ill government in Ireland, in the very same place, this Lord Stafford's father being then High Steward. The place of sitting was now exalted some considerable height from the paved floor of the hall, with a stage of boards. The throne, woolsacks for the Judges, long forms for the Peers, chair for the Lord Steward, exactly ranged, as in the House of Lords. The sides on both hands scaffolded to the very roof for the members of the House of Commons. At the upper end, and on the right side of the King's state, was a box for his Majesty, and on the left others for the great ladies, and over head a gallery for ambassadors and public ministers. At the lower end, or entrance, was a bar, and place for the prisoner, the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, the ax-bearer and guards, my Lord Stafford's two daughters, the Marchioness of Winchester being one; there was likewise a box for my Lord to retire into. At the right hand, in another box, somewhat higher, stood the witnesses; at the left, the managers, in the name of the Commons of England, namely, Serjeant Maynard [aged 76] (the great lawyer, the same who prosecuted the cause against the Earl of Strafford forty years before, being now near eighty years of age), Sir William Jones [aged 49], late Attorney-General, Sir Francis Winnington [aged 46], a famous pleader, and Mr. Treby, now Recorder of London, not appearing in their gowns as lawyers, but in their cloaks and swords, as representing the Commons of England: to these were joined Mr. Hampden, Dr. Sacheverell, Mr. Poule, Colonel Titus [aged 57], Sir Thomas Lee [aged 45], all gentlemen of quality, and noted parliamentary men. The first two days, in which were read the commission and impeachment, were but a tedious entrance into matter of fact, at which I was but little present. But, on Thursday, I was commodiously seated among the Commons, when the witnesses were sworn and examined. The principal witnesses were Mr. Oates [aged 31] (who called himself Dr.), Mr. Dugdale [aged 40], and Turberville [aged 32]. Oates swore that he delivered a commission to Viscount Stafford from the Pope, to be Paymaster-General to an army intended to be raised; Dugdale, that being at Lord Aston's, the prisoner dealt with him plainly to murder his Majesty; and Turberville, that at Paris he also proposed the same to him.

John Evelyn's Diary. 12th December 1680. This evening, looking out of my chamber window toward the west, I saw a meteor of an obscure bright color, very much in shape like the blade of a sword, the rest of the sky very serene and clear. What this may portend, God only knows; but such another phenomenon I remember to have seen in 1640, about the trial of the great Earl of Strafford, preceding our bloody Rebellion. I pray God avert his judgments! We have had of late several comets, which though I believe appear from natural causes, and of themselves operate not, yet I cannot despise them. They may be warnings from God, as they commonly are forerunners of his animadversions. After many days and nights of snow, cloudy and dark weather, the comet was very much wasted.

Around 1712. Charles D'Agar [aged 43]. Portrait of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford.

Royal Ancestors of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford 1593-1641

Kings Wessex: Great x 18 Grand Son of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England

Kings Gwynedd: Great x 15 Grand Son of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd

Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 21 Grand Son of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth

Kings Powys: Great x 16 Grand Son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys

Kings Godwinson: Great x 18 Grand Son of King Harold II of England

Kings England: Great x 8 Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Kings Scotland: Great x 17 Grand Son of King Duncan I of Scotland

Kings Franks: Great x 24 Grand Son of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor

Kings France: Great x 18 Grand Son of Hugh I King of the Franks

Kings Duke Aquitaine: Great x 22 Grand Son of Ranulf I Duke Aquitaine

Royal Descendants of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford 1593-1641
Number after indicates the number of unique routes of descent. Descendants of Kings and Queens not included.

Queen Consort Camilla Shand [1]

Ancestors of Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford 1593-1641

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Wentworth

Great x 3 Grandfather: William Wentworth 9 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Redman 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas "Golden Thomas" Wentworth 10 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Fitzwilliam 11 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Isabel Fitzwilliam 12 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 1 Grandfather: William Wentworth 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Woodruffe

Great x 2 Grandmother: Beatrix Woodruffe 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Fitzwilliam 10 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Beatrix Fitzwilliam 7 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Margaret Dymoke 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

GrandFather: Thomas Wentworth 10 x Great Grand Son of King Edward I of England

Father: William Wentworth 1st Baronet 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: William Gascoigne 4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 3 Grandfather: William Gascoigne 4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Margaret Percy 3 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England

Great x 2 Grandfather: William Gascoigne 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Alice Frognall

Great x 1 Grandfather: William Gascoigne 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: Richard Fitzwilliam 11 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Fitzwilliam 12 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England

Great x 2 Grandmother: Margaret Fitzwilliam 4 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: John Neville 1st Marquess Montagu 2 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

Great x 3 Grandmother: Lucy Neville 3 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandmother: Isabel Ingaldsthorpe 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward I of England

GrandMother: Margaret Gascoigne 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England

Great x 4 Grandfather: William Tempest of Broughton

Great x 3 Grandfather: John Tempest of Borughton

Great x 2 Grandfather: Roger Tempest of Broughton

Great x 1 Grandmother: Beatrice Tempest

Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl Strafford 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England

GrandFather: Robert Atkins

Mother: Anne Atkins Baroness Wentworth Woodhouse