Text this colour links to Pages. Text this colour links to Family Trees. Text this colour are links that disabled for Guests.
Place the mouse over images to see a larger image. Click on paintings to see the painter's Biography Page.
Mouse over links for a preview. Move the mouse off the painting or link to close the popup.

Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall

The Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall (Chronicon Anglicanum) is an indispensable medieval history that brings to life centuries of English and European affairs through the eyes of a learned Cistercian monk. Ralph of Coggeshall, abbot of the Abbey of Coggeshall in Essex in the early 13th century, continued and expanded his community’s chronicle, documenting events from the Norman Conquest of 1066 into the tumultuous reign of King Henry III. Blending eyewitness testimony, careful compilation, and the monastic commitment to record-keeping, this chronicle offers a rare narrative of political intrigue, royal power struggles, and social upheaval in England and beyond. Ralph’s work captures the reigns of pivotal figures such as Richard I and King John, providing invaluable insights into their characters, decisions, and the forces that shaped medieval rule. More than a simple annal, Chronicon Anglicanum conveys the texture of medieval life and governance, making it a rich source for scholars and readers fascinated by English history, monastic authorship, and the shaping of the medieval world.

Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.

University College, Oxford University, Oxfordshire, South-Central England, British Isles

University College, Oxford University is in Oxford University.

In 1440 John "Butcher of England" Tiptoft 1st Earl of Worcester (age 12) was educated at University College, Oxford University.

In 1578 William Glynne (age 12) educated at University College, Oxford University.

Around 1600 John Paulett 1st Baron Paulett (age 15) educated at University College, Oxford University.

In 1635 Philip Packer (age 16) matriculated University College, Oxford University.

On 29th April 1636 John Tufton 2nd Baronet (age 13) was educated at University College, Oxford University.

On 19th December 1668 Christopher Wray 2nd and 6th Baronet (age 16) was educated at University College, Oxford University.

Around 1696 Jocelyn Sidney 7th Earl of Leicester (age 14) educated at University College, Oxford University.

On 1st December 1710 Fulke Greville 6th Baron Brooke (age 17) commened his education at University College, Oxford University.

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.

On 24th February 1711 Fulke Greville 6th Baron Brooke (age 18) died at University College, Oxford University. His brother William (age 16) succeeded 7th Baron Brooke of Beauchamps Court in Warwickshire.

On 19th June 1725 Charles Noel Somerset 4th Duke Beaufort (age 15) matriculated University College, Oxford University. He was awarded MA on 16th October 1727.

On 16th November 1726 Miles Stapylton 4th Baronet (age 18) matriculated University College, Oxford University.

On 10th October 1732 Charles Lyttelton (age 18) matriculated University College, Oxford University. He graduated BCL in March 1745.

In March 1771 Herbert Croft 5th Baronet (age 20) matriculated University College, Oxford University.

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Shelley (age 17) entered University College, Oxford, in April 1810, returned thence to Eton, and finally quitted the school at midsummer, and commenced residence in Oxford in October. Here he met a young Durham man, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, who had preceded him in the university by a couple of months; the two youths at once struck up a warm and intimate friendship. Shelley had at this time a love for chemical experiment, as well as for poetry, philosophy, and classical study, and was in all his tastes and bearing an enthusiast. Hogg was not in the least an enthusiast, rather a cynic, but he also was a steady and well-read classical student. In religious matters both were sceptics, or indeed decided anti-Christians; whether Hogg, as the senior and more informed disputant, pioneered Shelley into strict atheism, or whether Shelley, as the more impassioned and unflinching speculator, outran the easy-going jeering Hogg, is a moot point; we incline to the latter opinion. Certain it is that each egged on the other by perpetual disquisition on abstruse subjects, conducted partly for the sake of truth and partly for that of mental exercitation, without on either side any disposition to bow to authority or stop short of extreme conclusions. The upshot of this habit was that Shelley and Hogg, at the close of some five months of happy and uneventful academic life, got expelled from the university.