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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Around 1400 William Gregory was born to [his father] Roger Gregory of Mildenhall.
Chronicle of Gregory [1400-1467]. 1451. Mayor of London. Gregory (age 51) Skynner. Sheriffs. Warter and Phylyppe.
In 1451 William Gregory (age 51) was elected Lord Mayor of London.
In January 1467 William Gregory (age 67) died. He was buried at St Anne and St Agnes Church, Gresham Street.
Chronicle of Gregory [1400-1467]. But who was this penman and chronicler? In a modern note written on a fly-leaf at the end of the book it is said that the author of the Chronicle was one Gregory Skinner (meaning William Gregory of the Skinners' Company) who was Mayor of London in 1451, the thirtieth year of Henry VI. And when we turn to the Chronicle itself the fact seems to be pretty well borne out by what the author himself says in the record of that year. For the words he uses are as follows:
And that year came a legate from the Pope of Rome with great pardon, for that pardon was the greatest pardon that eyer come to England from the Conquest unto this time of my year being mayor of London.
Chronicle of Gregory [1400-1467]. When it is considered that "Gregory Skinner, Mayor of London Anno xxx" stands at the end of this paragraph, the inference appears to be sufficiently obvious that he was the author of the Chronicle, and, therefore, that the whole contents of the volume are in his handwriting. This opinion, indeed, seemed to me to rest upon so sure a basis that I had no hesitation in calling the narrative "Gregory^ Chronicle," with which title I have printed it in this volume. But at the last moment, while seeking for materials for Gregory's life, I was fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to discover evidence the most conclusive that he died a year or two before our Chronicle comes to an end; for his will, which I have printed at the end of this Introduction, was proved on the 23rd January, 1466 (or, according to the modern computation, 1467), while the Chronicle is continued in the same hand to the ninth year of Edward IV. (1469). It is quite clear, therefore, that, if William Gregory wrote the part relating to his own mayoralty, he could not have been the author of the whole Chronicle or the writer of the MS.