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.
1950-Present is in 20th Century Events.
On 6th February 1952 King George VI of the United Kingdom [aged 56] died at Sandringham Estate, Norfolk. He was buried at King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle [Map]. His daughter Elizabeth [aged 25] succeeded II Queen of the United Kingdom; she was at her Kenyan home Sagana Lodge.
On 2nd June 1953 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom [aged 27] was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom by Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher [aged 66] at Westminster Abbey [Map].
Her ladies in waiting were:
Mistress of the Robes: Mary Alice Gascoyne-Cecil Duchess Devonshire [aged 57]
Maids of Honour:
Mary Baillie-Hamilton [aged 19]
Jane Antonia Frances Vane-Tempest-Stewart [aged 20]
Nancy Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby [aged 18]
Anne Veronica Coke Baroness Glenconner [aged 20]
Moyra Kathleen Hamilton [aged 23]
On 9th December 1960 the soap opera Coronation Street was first broadcast.
On 12th April 1961 Russian astronaunt Yuri Gagarin completed the first manned space flight.
On 10th December 1962 Lawrence of Arabia received its premiere in London at the Odeon Cinema Leicester Square. The event was attended by Philip Mountbatten Duke Edinburgh [aged 41] and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom [aged 36]. Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, David Lean (Director), Sam Spiegel (Producer) and Freddie Young (cameraman) attended. In the audience were Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Attenborough, his wife and son. Noël Coward attended the after-party.
On 16th December 1962 Lawrence of Arabia received its premiere in New York at the Criterion Cinema New York. Alec Guiness, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, David Lean (Director) and Sam Spiegel (Producer) attended.
On 23rd November 1963 the first episode of the British science fiction television series Dr Who was first broadcast.
On 25th November 1963 the funeral of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy [deceased] was held.
On 8th April 1968 BOAC Flight 712 suffered an engine failure on takeoff that quickly led to a major fire; the engine detached from the aircraft in flight. After the aircraft had made a successful emergency landing, confusion contributed to the deaths of 5 of the 127 on board. The direct cause of the fire was the failure of a compressor wheel, due to metal fatigue.
This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
On 31st January 1971 Apollo 14 launched from the Kennedy Space Center. The astronauts were Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell.
Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation.
From left to right they are: Command Module pilot, Stuart A. Roosa, Commander, Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Lunar Module pilot Edgar D. Mitchell. The Apollo 14 mission emblem is in the background.
Antares lifted off from the Moon on February 6, 1971.
The command module Kitty Hawk splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean on February 9, 1971 approximately 1,400 km south of American Samoa.
On 4th February 1974 a bomb planted by Judith Ward of the Provisional Irish Republican Army hidden inside the luggage locker of a coach carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel and their family members exploded killing twelve people (nine soldiers and three civilians) and injuring thirty-eight others aboard the vehicle.
On 8th August 1974 American President Richard Nixon made a televised speech to the American people announcing his decision to resign the following day as a consequence of the "long and difficult period of Watergate".
On 9th August 1974 Preseident Nixon sent his resignation letter to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; he remains the only American president to resign from office.
On 27th May 1975, a coach carrying elderly passengers crashed at the bottom of a steep hill at Dibbles Bridge, North Yorkshire [Map], over the River Dibb, near Hebden. Thirty-three people on board were killed, including the driver, and thirteen others injured. It was the worst-ever road accident in the United Kingdom by number of fatalities. An inquest at Skipton Town Hall, in July 1975, recorded a verdict of accidental death on the victims. Jury foreman John Mitchell said the accident was caused by the inability of the driver to negotiate the bend, owing to deficient brakes on the coach, due to possible lack of care in the maintenance of the braking system.
On 16th August 1977 Elvis Presley [aged 42] died at his Graceland estate at the age of 42. He was scheduled on an evening flight out of Memphis to Portland, Maine, to begin another tour. That afternoon, however, his fiancée Ginger Alden discovered him unresponsive on the bathroom floor of his Graceland mansion. Attempts to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead by his personal doctor Dr. George Nichopoulos at Baptist Memorial Hospital at 3:30 p.m.
On 18th August 1977 Elvis Presely's [deceased] funeral was held at Graceland. Outside the gates, a car plowed into a group of fans, killing two young women and critically injuring a third. About 80,000 people lined the processional route to Forest Hill Cemetery, where Presley was buried next to his mother.
On 27th August 1979 Louis Mountbatten 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma [aged 79] was killed by an IRA bomb aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo. His daughter Patricia [aged 55] succeeded 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma. John Knatchbull 7th Baron Brabourne [aged 54] by marriage Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Nicholas Timothy Knatchbull [aged 14] was killed.
Pauk Maxwell, a local boy, was killed.
On 28th August 1979 Doreen Browne Baroness Brabourne [aged 83] died from wounds in hospital the day after the bombing.
On 8th December 1980 at around ten to eleven in the evening John Lennon [aged 40] was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman outside of The Dakota, Upper West Side, Manhattan where he lived. Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital Midtown West Manhattan where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
19th December 1981. The Penlee lifeboat disaster occurred off the coast of Cornwall, England when RNLI lifeboat Solomon Browne, from Penlee Lifeboat Station near Mousehole, went to the aid of the vessel Union Star after its engines failed in heavy seas. After the lifeboat had rescued four people, both vessels were lost with all hands. Sixteen people died, including eight volunteer lifeboatmen.
On 11th May 1985 a fire broke out during a game at Bradford Football Club. Fifty-six people were killed and more than three hundred injured.
After 11th May 1985. Memorial at Bradford Cathedral [Map] to the Bradford City Football Ground Disaster.
Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans
Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
On 13th July 1985 Live Aid was two Concerts held in London and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which raised around £150 million for famine relief.
In the morning of 12th December 1988 the Clapham Junction rail crash occurred when a crowded British Rail passenger train crashed into the rear of another train that had stopped at a signal just south of Clapham Junction railway station in London, England, and subsequently hit an empty train travelling in the opposite direction. A total of 35 people died in the collision, while 484 were injured.
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on 15th April 1989 that occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens within the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters.
On 31st August 1997 Diana Spencer Princess Wales [aged 36] died at Pitié-Salpetrière Hospital. She was buried at Althorp House, Northamptonshire [Map].
On 6th May 2023 Prince Charles [aged 74] was crowned King Charles III of the United Kingdom. Queen Consort Camilla Shand [aged 75] was crowned Queen Consort of the United Kingdom.
On 7th June 2024 Hugh Grosvenor 7th Duke of Westminster [aged 33] and Olivia Henson were married at Chester Cathedral [Map]. He the son of Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor 6th Duke Westminster and Natalia Phillips Duchess of Westminster [aged 65].
William Prince of Wales [aged 41] attended.
Guests included Edwina Grosvenor [aged 42] and her husband Dan Snow.
The city's annual Summer Flowers project has been funded by the couple, with 100,000 flowers planted as part of the wedding celebrations and they have also paid for free ice cream and sorbet from three local independent businesses to be given to visitors to Chester city centre through the day. BBC.