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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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Chertsey, Surrey is in Surrey.
On 1st July 1175 Reginald de Dunstanville Fitzroy 1st Earl Cornwall (age 65) died at Chertsey, Surrey. He was buried at Reading Abbey, Berkshire [Map]. Earl Cornwall extinct. His son appears to have predeceaseed him by months.
Archaeologia Volume 35 1853 XXXIII. On the following day, the 16th of April [1358], Isabella (age 63) set out on a journey from Hertford, and the movements of her household are recorded to have been - on the 16th to Tottenham; on the 17th to London; on the 20th to Shene [Map]; on the 21st to Upton ( near Windsor ), the Queen herself going, it is stated, to Chertsey; on the 26th to Shene again; and on the 30th to London, where it remained till the 13th of May.
Chertsey Abbey is also in Abbeys in England.
In 666 Bishop Earconwald founded Chertsey Abbey [Map] for men and Barking Abbey [Map] for women. He served as Abbot Chertsey Abbey whilst his sister Æthelburh of Barking served as Abbess of Barking.
Bede. 674. This man, before he was made bishop, had built two famous monasteries, the one [Map] for himself, and the other [Map] for his sister Ethelberga, and established them both in regular discipline of the best kind. That for himself was in the county of Surrey, by the river Thames, at a place called Ceortesei [Map], that is, the Island of Ceorot; that for his sister in the province of the East Saxons, at the place called Bercingum [Map], wherein she might be a mother and nurse of devout women. Being put into the government of that monastery, she behaved herself in all respects as became the sister of such a brother, living herself regularly, and piously, and orderly, providing for those under her, as was also manifested by heavenly miracles.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 964. This year drove King Edgar (age 21) the priests of Winchester out of the old minster, and also out of the new minster; and from Chertsey [Map]; and from Milton [Map]; and replaced them with monks. And he appointed Ethelgar abbot to the new minster, and Ordbert to Chertsey, and Cyneward to Milton [Map].
In 989 Archbishop Ælfstan aka Lyfing was appointed Abbot Chertsey Abbey.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1110. This year also died Earl Elias, who held Maine in fee-tail140 of King Henry (age 42); and after his death the Earl of Anjou (age 21) succeeded to it, and held it against the king. This was a very calamitous year in this land, through the contributions which the king received for his daughter's (age 7) portion, and through the badness of the weather, by which the fruits of the earth were very much marred, and the produce of the trees over all this land almost entirely perished. This year men began first to work at the new minster at Chertsey [Map].
Note 140. That is, the territory was not a "fee simple", but subject to "taillage" or taxation; and that particular species is probably here intended which is called in old French "en queuage", an expression not very different from that in the text above.
English Historical Literature in the Fifteenth Century Appendix 13. [21st May 14711] In the same year, Henry VI, formerly called King of England, died in the Tower of London, and was buried in the monastery of Chertsey [Map], near the Thames, in the diocese of Winchester. And thus, no one remains among the living who may claim the crown from his line.
Eodem anno decessit Henricus sextus, olim dictus rex Anglie, apud turrim London., et sepultus est in monasterio de Chertesey iuxta Tamisiam, Winton. diocesis. Et sic nemo relinquitur in humanis qui ex illo stipite coronam petat.
Note 1. The date inferred from the following paragraph.
A Brief Latin Chronicle. 21st May 1471. Immediately after this battle, more than forty knights were created; and Henry (age 49), the former king, was returned to the Tower of London, and dying there happily on the Eve of the Ascension of the Lord, was transported by boat along the Thames to the abbey of Chertsey [Map], where he was buried."
Creati sunt statim post istud bellum plures quam xl milities; et Henricus nuper Rex reponitur in Turim London., et in Vigilia Ascensionis Dominice, ibidem feliciter moriens, per Tamisiam navicula usque ad abbahiam de Cheltesye deductus, ibi sepultus est.
Chertsey Bridge [Map] is on the River Thames.
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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On 28th July 1667 Abraham Cowley (age 49) died in Porch House. He was buried in Westminster Abbey [Map] where John Sheffield 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby (age 19) subsequently commissioned a monument.
