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 [aged 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 [aged 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 [aged 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 [aged 42]; and after his death the Earl of Anjou [aged 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 [aged 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 [aged 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.
The History of William Marshal was commissioned by his son shortly after William’s death in 1219 to celebrate the Marshal’s remarkable life; it is an authentic, contemporary voice. The manuscript was discovered in 1861 by French historian Paul Meyer. Meyer published the manuscript in its original Anglo-French in 1891 in two books. This book is a line by line translation of the first of Meyer’s books; lines 1-10152. Book 1 of the History begins in 1139 and ends in 1194. It describes the events of the Anarchy, the role of William’s father John, John’s marriages, William’s childhood, his role as a hostage at the siege of Newbury, his injury and imprisonment in Poitou where he met Eleanor of Aquitaine and his life as a knight errant. It continues with the accusation against him of an improper relationship with Margaret, wife of Henry the Young King, his exile, and return, the death of Henry the Young King, the rebellion of Richard, the future King Richard I, war with France, the death of King Henry II, and the capture of King Richard, and the rebellion of John, the future King John. It ends with the release of King Richard and the death of John Marshal.
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On 28th July 1667 Abraham Cowley [aged 49] died in Porch House. He was buried in Westminster Abbey [Map] where John Sheffield 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby [aged 19] subsequently commissioned a monument.
