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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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MP Hertfordshire is in Member Parliament.
In 1448 Robert Wingfield (age 45) was pardoned as MP Hertfordshire.
In 1529 Philip Boteler (age 37) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1539 Henry Parker (age 26) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1539 Philip Boteler (age 47) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1545 John Cock (age 39) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1547 John Cock (age 41) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1547 Henry Parker (age 34) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
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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In 1553 John Brocket (age 40) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In April 1554 John Cock (age 48) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In November 1554 John Cock (age 48) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1555 John Brocket (age 42) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In November 1555 John Cock (age 49) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1572 John Brocket (age 32) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1589 Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury (age 25) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1593 Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury (age 29) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
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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In 1597 Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury (age 33) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1601 Robert Cecil 1st Earl Salisbury (age 37) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1601 Henry Carey 1st Viscount Falkland (age 26) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1604 Henry Carey 1st Viscount Falkland (age 29) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1621 Henry Carey 1st Viscount Falkland (age 46) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1625 John Boteler 1st Baron Boteler (age 59) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1626 John Boteler 1st Baron Boteler (age 60) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1660 Henry Caesar (age 29) was elected MP Hertfordshire.
In 1669 Bernard Hale was elected MP Hertfordshire at a by-election in 1669, after James Cecil (age 21) succeeded as Earl of Salisbury.
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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In 1802 Peniston Lamb (age 31) was elected MP Hertfordshire which seat he held until his death in 1805.
In 1835 Rowland Alston of Pishiobury in Hertfordshire was elected MP Hertfordshire which seat he held until 1841.
In 1841 Granville Dudley Ryder (age 41) was elected MP Hertfordshire which seat he held until 1846.
In 1852 Edward George Bulwer-Lytton 1st Baron Lytton (age 48) was elected MP Hertfordshire which seat he held until 186.