Jean de Waurin's Chronicle of England Volume 6 Books 3-6: The Wars of the Roses
Jean de Waurin was a French Chronicler, from the Artois region, who was born around 1400, and died around 1474. Waurin’s Chronicle of England, Volume 6, covering the period 1450 to 1471, from which we have selected and translated Chapters relating to the Wars of the Roses, provides a vivid, original, contemporary description of key events some of which he witnessed first-hand, some of which he was told by the key people involved with whom Waurin had a personal relationship.
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Grooms is in Gentlemen.
In 1542 William Sharington [aged 47] was appointed Groom of the Chamber.
In or before 1550 William Pickering [aged 32] was appointed Groom of the Chamber.
Before 1642 Thomas Blagge [aged 28] was appointed Groom of the Chamber.
In 1524 William Brereton was appointed Groom of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII of England and Ireland [aged 32].
by 1526 John Carey [aged 35] was appointed Groom of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII of England and Ireland [aged 34].
Around 1530 Walter Walsh was appointed Groom of the Privy Chamber by King Henry VIII of England and Ireland [aged 38].
In 1532 Mark Smeaton [aged 20] was appointed Groom of the Privy Chamber to King Henry VIII of England and Ireland [aged 40].
Wriothesley's Chronicle [1508-1562]. Item, the 12th daie of Maie, 1536, being Fridaie, their were arraygned at Westminster [Map]g Sir Frances Weston [aged 25], knight, Henrie Norrisy [aged 54] esquier, Brerton, and Markes [aged 24], being all fower of the Kinges Privie Chamberh, and their condemned of high treason against the Kinge [aged 44] for using fornication with Queene Anne [aged 35], wife to the Kinge, and also for conspiracie of the Kinges death, and their judged to be hanged, drawen, and quartered, their members cutt of and brent [burned] before theim, their heades cutt of and quartered; my Lord Chauncelor [aged 48] being the highest Commissioner he geving their judgment, with other lordes of the Kinges Counsell being presente at the same tyme.
Note g. They were tried by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer in Westminster Hall, after having been twice indicted. True bills were found by the two grand juries of the counties of Kent and Middlesex, the crimes they were charged with being said to be done in both counties.
Note h. Sir Francis Western and William Brereton, esq. of the King's Privy Chamber. Henry Norris, Groom of the Stole, and one Mark Smeton, a musician.
In 1551 Richard Cooke [aged 21] was appointed Groom of the Privy Chamber.
Before 1576 William Killigrew [aged 20] was appointed Groom of the Privy Chamber.
In 1584 Richard Drake [aged 49] was appointed Groom of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland [aged 50].
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 31st July 1663. Thence to my office doing business, and at noon to my viall maker's, who has begun it and has a good appearance, and so to the Exchange [Map], where I met James Pearce Surgeon, who tells me of his good luck to get to be Groom of the Privy Chamber to the Queen [aged 24], and without my Lord Sandwich's [aged 38] help; but only by his good fortune, meeting a man that hath let him have his right for a small matter, about £60, for which he can every day have £400.
Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke
Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.
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After 1520 Richard Cecil [aged 25] was appointed Groom of the Robes and Constable of Warwick Castle.
In 1540 William Sharington [aged 45] was appointed Groom of the Robes.