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.
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In 1189 Bishop William Longchamp was appointed Lord Chancellor for which office he had paid £3000.
On 15th September 1189 King Richard "Lionheart" I of England [aged 32] held a Council meeting at Pipewell [Map] at which he appointed a number of Bishops:
Bishop William Longchamp was elected Bishop of Ely.
Bishop Godfrey Lucy was elected Bishop of Winchester.
Bishop Richard Fitzneal [aged 59] was elected Bishop of London.
Archbishop Hubert Walter [aged 29] was elected Bishop of Salisbury.
On 31st December 1189 two of Richard I's new bishops were consecrated...
Bishop William Longchamp was consecrated Bishop of Ely.
Bishop Richard Fitzneal [aged 59] was consecrated Bishop of London.
On 6th January 1190 Bishop William Longchamp was enthroned Bishop of Ely at Ely Cathedral [Map].
In 1191 regent Bishop William Longchamp removed the offices of High Sheriff of Lincolnshire and Constable of Lincoln Castle from Nichola de la Haie [aged 41] and her husband Gerard Canville [aged 59].They refused to hand over the castle. While Camville stayed with Prince John at Nottingham, Nicola held out against a month-long siege. Having failed to take the castle, Longchamp reached a compromise with Camville and restored him to his two posts, but then had him excommunicated. When King Richard returned from crusade and captivity in 1194, he removed Camville from both posts.
After 1191 Archbishop Geoffrey Plantagenet [aged 39] was imprisoned by Bishop William Longchamp at Dover Castle [Map].
Flowers of History by Roger of Wendover 1191. He [Bishop William Longchamp, the Chancellor] thence went to Canterbury, and took the cross of the holy pilgrimage, laying aside that of the legateship, which he had borne for a year and a half after the death of pope Clement, to the detriment as well of the Roman as the English church. After doing this he went to Dover, attended by Gilbert bishop of Rochester, and Henry de Cornhill, sheriff of Kent, and thinking he could blind the eyes of the sailors there, he invented a new kind of fraud ; he converted the man into the woman, inasmuch as he exchanged the priest's robe for the harlot's gown. He clothed himself in a woman's green gown, with a cape of the same colour, and with a hood over his head, he went down to the beach carrying some linen cloth as if for sale. As the priest thus disguised was sitting on a rock near the shore waiting for a fair wind, a sailor who wished for some sport with the woman, was astonished to find breeches on a female, and immediately shouted aloud, "Come here, all of you, come here !" said he, " and look at a man in woman's dress ! " A number of idle women assembled, and eagerly inquired the price of the cloth which he carried for sale : he made them no answer, as not understanding the English language, on which they consulted amongst themselves ; and suspecting him to be an impostor, they laid hands on the veil which covered his mouth, and pulling it down from his nose backward, they discovered the features of a man, dark, and lately shaved. Immediately they shouted to each other, saying, "Come, let us stone this monster who is a disgrace to both sexes." A crowd of men and women got together there, and, tearing the hood from his head, they threw him down and dragged him ignominiously by his sleeves and cape over the sand and stones, injuring the prelate much. At length his followers came up to release him, but without success, for the people followed him up with insatiable eagerness, reviled him, assailed him with blows, spat on him, and after dragging him through the streets, shut him up as a prisoner in a cellar. And thus he became an object of derision to the populace, and would that he had only disgraced himself and not the whole priesthood; he who had dragged the archbishop of York to prison was himself dragged to prison, the captor was made captive, the binder was himself bound, the incarcerator was incarcerated; so that the degree of punishment may be considered as commensurate with that of the offence. At length, regardless of the hostages he had left, and the oath he had made not to leave the kingdom of England before the castles were surrendered, the said chancellor crossed sea into Normandy on the 29th of October [1191].
In December 1193 Eleanor of Aquitaine Queen Consort Franks and England [aged 71] left Orford [Map] with her son Richard's [aged 36] ranson of 100,000 marks in silver and 200 hostages. She was accompanied by Archbishop Walter de Coutances and Bishop William Longchamp. Hubert Walter Bishop of Salisbury [aged 33] was Regent of England in her absence.
Images of Histories by Ralph Diceto. Walter, archbishop of Rouen, who for two years and the fourth part of a third had administered the affairs of the kingdom as special justiciar of England, did not walk in great matters, shaking off the influence of gifts, nor judging complaints with partial scales. When summoned by the king, he set out on a journey into Germany. The king's mother, Queen Eleanor, also made the journey, keeping the feast of the Epiphany at Cologne during her passage.
"1194. Walter, archbishop of Rouen, to Ralph [Decito], dean of London."
"Let your love know that after we had come to our most beloved lord, the illustrious king of the English, we wrote to no one in England, nor up to the morrow [4th February 1194] of Saint Blaise did we hear anything worth reporting and worthy to be written to you. But on that day the merciful Lord visited his people at Mainz in the liberation of our lord the king. For while we were standing by the lord king until the ninth hour, the archbishops of Mainz and Cologne,1 speaking before the lord emperor and the lord king and the duke of Austria concerning the king's release, after many anxieties and labors, the same archbishops, who had devoted the greatest effort to securing the king's release, came before the lady queen, and before us, and the bishops of Bath, Ely, and Saintes,2 and many other nobles, and approached the lord king, bringing him a brief but joyful word. It was this: that the lord emperor signified to him that, though he had long held him in his custody, yet he now released him and set him free, that henceforth he might have power over himself."
Free and released, restored to his own desires.
Note 1. Adolf of Altona, archbishop of Cologue, aud Conrad of Wittelsbach, archbishop of Meutz.
Note 2. Savaric bishop of Bath, William Longchamp of Ely, and Henry bishop of Salntes.
Walterus Rothomagensis archicpiscopus dum per annos duos et anni tortii quartam partem administrasset regni negotia, specialis Angliæ justiciarius, non ambulavit in magnis, a munere manus excutiens, clamores nequa lance dijudicans. Qui vocante rege transitum fecit in Alemanniam. Transitum etiam fecit et mater regis Alienor regina, sub ipso transitu suo Coloniæ celebrantes Epiphaniam.
MCXCIIII. "Walterus Rothomagensis archieioiscopus Radulfo Luiidonionsi decano."
"Noverit dilectio vestra, quod postquam ad dominum nostrum karissimum illustrem regem Anglorum accessimus nemini scripsimus in Anglia, nec aliqua usque ad crastinum Sancti Blasii audivimus quæ essent digna relatu et vobis scribere deberemus. Eo vero die misericors Dominus populum Suum apud Maguntiam in liberatione domini regis visitavit. Nobis enim domino regi eadem die usque ad horam nonam assistentibus, Maguntinus et Coloniensis archiepiscopi inter dominum imperatorem et dominum regem et ducem Austria, pro liberatione regia verba proferentibus, post multas anxietates et labores, idem archiepiscopi qui studio maximo ad liberationem regiam operam adhibucrant, coram domina regina, et nobis, et Bathonicnsi, et Elyensi, et Sanctonensi episcopis, et multis aliis magnatibiis, ad dominum regem accesserunt, ei breve yerbum et jocundum proferentes. Erat siquidcm quod dominus imperator ei siguificavit, quod cum in custodia sua diu tenucrat, sed eum liberum dimittobat et absolutum ut sui ipsius de cætero haberet potestatem,"
"Liber et explicitus ad sua vota suus."
Chronicle of Roger de Hoveden. 30th March 1194. On the thirtieth day of March, a Wednesday, Richard, King of England, held the first day of his council at Nottingham. Present at this council were: Queen Eleanor [aged 72], his mother, Hubert [aged 34], Archbishop of Canterbury, who sat on the king's right, Geoffrey [aged 42], Archbishop of York, who sat on the king's left, Hugh [aged 69], Bishop of Durham, Hugh [aged 54], Bishop of Lincoln, William, Bishop of Ely, the king's chancellor, William, Bishop of Hereford, Henry, Bishop of Worcester, Henry [aged 46], Bishop of Exeter, John, Bishop of Whithorn (Candida Casa), Count David [aged 42], brother of the King of Scotland, Hamelin [aged 65], Earl of Warenne, Ranulf [aged 24], Earl of Chester, William [aged 26], Earl of Ferrers, William [aged 18], Earl of Salisbury, Roger Bigod [aged 50].
Tricesima die mensis Martii, feria quarta, Ricardus rex Angiiæ celebravit primum conciJii sui diem apud Notingliam; cui interfueiunt Alienor regina mater ejus, et Hubertus Cantuariensis arcbiepiscopus, qui in dextris regis sedebat in concilio illo, et Gaufridus Eboracensis arcbiepiscopus, qui a sinistris ejus sedebat, et Hugo Dunelmensis, et Hugo Lincolniensis, et Willelmus Eliensis regis cancellarius, et Willelmus Herefordensis, et Henriecus Wigornensis, et Henricus Exoniensis, et Johannes Candidæ Casæ episcopi; et comes David frater regis, Scotiæ, et Hamelinus comes de Warenna, et Ranulfus comes Cestriæ, et Willelmus comes de Ferreres, et Willelmus comes de Salesbiria, et Rogerus Bigot.
In 1197 Bishop William Longchamp died.