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.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire
Homington, Wiltshire
Longford, Wiltshire
Longford Castle, Wiltshire
Odstock, Wiltshire
Stratford Tony, Wiltshire
Cawdon Hundred, Wiltshire is in Wiltshire.
The River Eble rises around two kilometres west of Alvediston, Wiltshire [Map] through which it then flows, then Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire [Map], Broad Chalke, Wiltshire [Map], Bishopstone, Wiltshire [Map], Stratford Tony, Wiltshire [Map], Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire [Map], Homington, Wiltshire [Map], Odstock, Wiltshire [Map] after which it joins the Wiltshire River Avon.
The River Eble rises around two kilometres west of Alvediston, Wiltshire [Map] through which it then flows, then Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire [Map], Broad Chalke, Wiltshire [Map], Bishopstone, Wiltshire [Map], Stratford Tony, Wiltshire [Map], Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire [Map], Homington, Wiltshire [Map], Odstock, Wiltshire [Map] after which it joins the Wiltshire River Avon.
In 1573 Thomas Gorges of Longford Castle (age 37) acquired the manor of Longford, Wiltshire [Map] which had been owned by the Servington aka Cervington family. In 1576 after his marriage to Helena Snakenbourg Marchioness Northampton (age 24) they commissioned the building of a house on the triangular Swedish style on the banks of the Wiltshire River Avon with money from a shipwreck of the Spanish Armada.
Longford Castle, Wiltshire is also in Castles in Wiltshire.
Henry Chaplin A Memoir: Youth I. The Chaplins had been squires in Lincolnshire since the year 1658, when on the marriage of John Chaplin with Elizabeth Hamby, only daughter and heiress of Sir John Hamby of Tathwell in that county, they removed thence from Wiltshire. John Chaplin's father, Sir Francis Chaplin of the Clothworkers' Company, was Lord Mayor of London, and lies buried in the Church of St. Catherine Cree in the City, close to the grave of Sir William de Bouverie. It is a curious coincidence that at about the same time as the Chaplins left Wiltshire, Sir William de Bouverie's son Edward bought Longford Castle [Map], almost adjoining their former property; and nearly 200 years later, a daughter of the Chaplins (Helen, Countess of Radnor (age 79) — Henry Chaplin's sister) married another Pleydell-Bouverie [William Pleydell-Bouverie 5th Earl Radnor], and thus linked two families which had been long before near neighbours.
Prodigy House. A large house built in the Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean periods defined by their use of glass. Prodigy houses include: Longford Castle, Wiltshire [Map], Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, Longleat House, Burghley House, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire [Map] and Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire [Map].
The Wiltshire River Avon is formed from the confluence of the River Avon West, Wiltshire and River Avon East, Wiltshire one kilometre before Upavon, Wiltshire [Map] after which it flows broadly south past East Chisenbury, Wiltshire [Map], Enford, Wiltshire [Map], Fifield, Wiltshire [Map], Fittleton, Wiltshire [Map], Netheravon, Wiltshire [Map], Figheldean, Wiltshire [Map], Durrington Walls, around Amesbury, Wiltshire [Map] and past Amesbury Abbey, Wiltshire [Map], Wilsford, Wiltshire [Map], Great Durnford, Wiltshire [Map], Middle Woodford, Wiltshire [Map], Little Durnford, Wiltshire [Map], Old Sarum [Map], Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire [Map], through Salisbury where it is joined by the River Nadder
After Salisbury the Wiltshire River Avon flows south in multiple channels past Longford Castle, Wiltshire [Map], after which it is joined by the River Eble, then Charlton-All-Saints, Wiltshire [Map], Downton, Wiltshire [Map], Breamore, Hampshire [Map], Burgate, Hampshire [Map], Fordingbridge, Hampshire [Map], Bickton, Hampshire [Map], Ibsley, Hampshire [Map], Ringwood, Hampshire [Map], Bistern, Hampshire [Map], Sopley, Hampshire [Map], Avon, Dorset [Map] and Christchurch, Dorset [Map] before reaching Christchurch Harbour where it joins the English Channel.
The River Eble rises around two kilometres west of Alvediston, Wiltshire [Map] through which it then flows, then Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire [Map], Broad Chalke, Wiltshire [Map], Bishopstone, Wiltshire [Map], Stratford Tony, Wiltshire [Map], Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire [Map], Homington, Wiltshire [Map], Odstock, Wiltshire [Map] after which it joins the Wiltshire River Avon.
The River Eble rises around two kilometres west of Alvediston, Wiltshire [Map] through which it then flows, then Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire [Map], Broad Chalke, Wiltshire [Map], Bishopstone, Wiltshire [Map], Stratford Tony, Wiltshire [Map], Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire [Map], Homington, Wiltshire [Map], Odstock, Wiltshire [Map] after which it joins the Wiltshire River Avon.