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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 or before 1020 [his father] Osbern the Steward and [his mother] Emma of Ivry were married.
Around 1020 William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford was born to [his father] Osbern the Steward and [his mother] Emma of Ivry.
Around 1040 [his father] Osbern the Steward was murdered by Barno of Glotis. See The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy.
On 14th October 1066 the Norman army led by King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 38) defeated the English army of King Harold II of England (age 44) at the 14th October 1066 Battle of Hastings fought at Senlac Hill Hastings. Aimery Thouars (age 42), [his future son-in-law] Ralph de Gael 2nd Earl East Anglia (age 24), Eustace II Count Boulogne (age 51), William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford (age 46), Geoffrey Chateaudun II Count Mortain III Count Perche, William Warenne 1st Earl of Surrey, [his future brother-in-law] Raoul Tosny, Robert Beaumont 1st Earl of Leicester Count Meulan (age 26), Hugh Grandesmil (age 34), Roger "The Great" Montgomery 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (possibly), Robert Mortain Count Mortain 1st Earl Cornwall (age 35) and Bishop Odo of Bayeux fought for William.
King Harold II of England was killed. Earl Wessex, Earl Hereford extinct.
Leofwine Godwinson 2nd Earl Kent (age 31) was killed. Earl Kent extinct.
His brothers Gyrth Godwinson Earl East Anglia (age 34) and Engenulphe Aigle (age 56) were killed.
In 1067 William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford (age 47) was created 1st Earl Hereford.
On 22nd February 1071 Battle of Cassel was fought between uncle Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders (age 38) and nephew Arnulf III Count Flanders (age 16), supported by his mother Richilde Countess Flanders and Hainault and Philip I King of the Franks (age 18), over the succession of Flanders.
Arnulf III Count Flanders was killed. His brother Baldwin (age 15) succeeded II Count Hainault. Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders was appointed I Count Flanders.
William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford (age 51) was killed. His son Roger succeeded 2nd Earl Hereford.
Eustace II Count Boulogne (age 56) and his son Eustace Flanders III Count Boulogne fought for Robert. During the battle Robert "The Frisian" I Count Flanders and Richilde Countess Flanders and Hainault were captured, and subsequently exchanged for each other.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 1070. Earl Baldwin (age 40) also died, and his son Arnulf (age 15) succeeded to the earldom. Earl William (age 50), in conjunction with the king of the Franks (age 17), was to be his guardian; but Earl Robert (age 37) came and slew his kinsman Arnulf and the earl, put the king to flight, and slew many thousands of his men.
The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy. Finally, in the year of the Lord 1070, he [William FitzOsbern] went with Philip, King of the Franks (age 18), into Flanders, wishing to assist Baldwin, nephew of Queen Matilda. But Robert the Frisian (age 38), supported by the army of Emperor Henry, attacked with his forces1 at dawn on the tenth day before the Kalends of March [20th February 1071], on Septuagesima Sunday, catching them unprepared; and while Philip fled with the French, he [Robert] slew Baldwin (age 16) [Arnulf2], his nephew, and Count William (age 51) with his own men’s weapons. Now let us return to the course of our history.
Denique anno ab Incarnatione Domini 1070 cum Philippo rege Francorum Flandriam perrexit, volens Balduino Mathildis reginæ nepoti subvenire. Robertus autem Frisio cum exercitu Henrici imperatoris sociato cuneis suis, x Kal. Martii, Dominico Septuagesimæ imparatos mane præoccupavit et Philippo cum Francis fugiente, Balduinum nepotem suum, et Willelmum comitem telis suorum occidit. Postea Flandriæ ducatum diu tenuit, moriensque filiis suis, Roberto Hierosolymitano et Philippo dereliquit. Nunc ad ordinem historiæ redeamus.
Note 1. William was killed at the Battle of Cassel.
Note 2. It was Arnulf, Count of Flanders, son of Baldwin VI Count of Flanders that was killed by his uncle Robert the Frisian at the Battle of Cassel.
Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. 17th February 1070. By the advice of William (age 50), earl of Hereford, and some others, king William (age 42), during Lent [17th February], caused all the monasteries of England to be searched, and the money deposited in them by the richer sort of the English, for security against his violence and rapacity, to be seized and carried to his own treasury.
Before 1071 William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford (age 50) and Adelise Tosny Countess Hereford were married. She by marriage Countess Hereford. She the daughter of Roger "The Spaniard" Tosny and Adelaide aka Godehildis Ramon.
In 1075 three Earls joined in rebellion against King William "Conqueror" I of England (age 47). The three Earls were: [his son] Roger de Breteuil Fitzosbern 2nd Earl Hereford, [his son-in-law] Ralph de Gael 2nd Earl East Anglia (age 33) and Waltheof Northumbria 1st Earl of Northampton 1st Earl Huntingdon. The ostensible cause of their rebellion was William's the marriage of [his daughter] Emma Fitzosbern Countess East Anglia, daughter of William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford, with Ralph de Gael 2nd Earl East Anglia. Possibly to do with she being Norman and he being British/English.
Roger de Breteuil Fitzosbern 2nd Earl Hereford forfeit Earl Hereford and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Flowers of History. 1075. Queen Edith (age 49) died on the fifth of April. The same year, king William (age 47) gave the [his daughter] daughter of William, the son of [his father] Osbert, to [his son-in-law] earl Radolph (age 33), as his wife, and gave him also the government of Norfolk and Suffolk. This Radolph was of British extraction, on his mother's side, and his father was an Englishman. He was born in Norfolk, and there he celebrated his marriage, which was the cause of destruction to many persons. At that wedding there were present [his son] earl Roger and earl Waltheof; and many bishops and abbots; and they took counsel how to expel king William from his kingdom. And this speedily became known to the king, who was in Normandy, and immediately the king returned to England, and took Waltheof, and Roger, who was his own kinsman, and threw them into prison. As to the rest who were present at the wedding, he deferred his determination.
William of Worcester's Chronicle of England
William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.
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The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy. Afterward, in opposition to the castle of Tillières, which the king had formerly taken from him, the duke built another stronghold no less formidable, which to this day is called Bréteuil, and he entrusted it to William, the son of Osbern, to guard against all who might oppose him. This William was a noble and generous man, and he had in marriage Adeline, the daughter of Roger of Tosny, by whom he fathered two sons, William and Roger1, named "the Defiant", and one daughter2, who later married Ralph, a count of Breton lineage, and journeyed with him to Jerusalem in the days of Pope Urban. This eminent man founded two monasteries of monks in honour of Saint Mary, Queen of Heaven: one at Lyre, where he buried his wife Adeline, and the other at Cormeilles, where he himself rests, and where his son Ralph, who from boyhood had become a monk, long served God. He also, together with Duke William, most strongly subdued the English, and by his wisdom and force held the county of Hereford with a great part of the kingdom.
Postea dux contra Tegulense castrum, quod rex illi dudum abstulerat, aliud oppidum non deterius, quod Bretolium usque hodie vocatur, instaurat, et Willelmo Osberni filio ad custodiendum contra cunctos sibi adversantes commendat. Hic legitimus et liberalis vir Adelisam Rogerii Toenit æ filiam in conjugio habuit, ex qua duos filios, Willelmum et Rogerium Contumacem procreavit et unam filiam, quæ postea Rodulfo comiti genere Britoni nupsit, atque cum codem in diebus Urbani papæ Hierusalem perrexit. Præfatus heros duo coenobia monachorum Sanctæ Mariæ cœli reginæ condidit. Unum apud Liram, ubi Adelisam conjugem suam sepelivit; et alterum apud Cormelias, ubi ipse quiescit et Rodulphus filius ejus a pueritia monachus Deo diu militavit. Ipse quoque cum Willelmo duce Anglos maxime perdomuit et comitatum Herfordiæ cum magna parte regni sensu et viribus obtinuit.
Note 1. [his son] Roger de Bretuil, 2nd Earl of Hereford, around 1056-1087+. In 1075 Roger rebelled against King William in a rebellion known as 'The Revolt of the Earls'. He was imprisoned for life.
Note 2. Emma, married in 1075, against the wishes of King William, Ralph de Gaël, Earl of East Anglia, around 1042–1100, who fought at the Battle of Hastings. Ralph and Emma's brother Roger, were leading figures in the The Revolt of the Earls in 1075. Ralph and Emma escaped to his estates around Gaël in Brittany.
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[his son] Roger de Breteuil Fitzosbern 2nd Earl Hereford was born to William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford and Adelise Tosny Countess Hereford.
[his daughter] Emma Fitzosbern Countess East Anglia was born to William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford and Adelise Tosny Countess Hereford. She married 1075 Ralph de Gael 2nd Earl East Anglia, son of Ralph "Staller" Gael 1st Earl East Anglia, and had issue.
The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy. William1, son of Osbern, a kinsman of Duke William, a powerful man and praiseworthy in both strength of mind and body, founded two monasteries in honour of the blessed Mother of God, Mary: one at Lyre, in which he later buried Adeline, his wife, the daughter of Roger of Tosny; and another at Cormeilles, in which he himself, after death, was laid to rest. Roger of Beaumont also, son of Humphrey of Vieilles, built on his estate at Préaux two monasteries: one for monks, and the other for nuns.
Willelmus viro filius Osberni, propinquus ducis Willelmi, vir potens et virtute tam animi quam corporis laudabilis, duo monasteria in honorem beatæ Dei genitricis Mariæ, unum apud Liram in quo Adelinam filiam Rogerii de Toenio uxorem suam postmodum sepelivit; alterum apud Cormelias, in quo ipse mortuus conditus est, fecit. Rogerius etiam de Bellomonte, filius Humfridi de Vetulis, in fundo suo Pratellis duo cœnobia ædificavit, unum monachorum, alterum sanctimonialium.
Note 1. William Fitz Osbern, 1011-1071, Earl of Hereford. One of the proven companions of Duke William at the Battle of Hastings. He was a second-cousin once-removed of Duke William; William's great grandmother Gunnora was William's great aunt. See Chapter 7.25 below.
[his son] William de Breteuil was born to William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford and Adelise Tosny Countess Hereford. He married before 1130 Adeline de Montfort sur Risle and had issue.
Agnes de la Marck Queen Consort Navarre [1]
King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland [1]
Joan of Burgundy Queen Consort France [1]
Blanche of Burgundy Queen Consort France [1]
Philip "Noble" III King Navarre [1]
Joan Évreux Queen Consort France [1]
Blanche Dampierre Queen Consort Norway and Sweden [1]
Joan Auvergne Queen Consort France [1]
Philippa of Lancaster Queen Consort Portugal [2]
Yolande of Bar Queen Consort Aragon [1]
King Richard II of England [1]
Philippa Lancaster Queen Consort Denmark [5]
Joan Beaufort Queen Consort Scotland [5]
Jacquetta of Luxemburg Duchess Bedford [2]
Mary of Guelders Queen Consort Scotland [1]
King Edward IV of England [18]
King Richard III of England [18]
Anne Neville Queen Consort England [28]
King Henry VII of England and Ireland [7]
Bianca Maria Sforza Holy Roman Empress [1]
Anne of Brittany Queen Consort France [1]
Philip "Handsome Fair" King Castile [2]
Germaine Foix Queen Consort Aragon [1]
Marguerite Valois Orléans Queen Consort Navarre [2]
Queen Anne Boleyn of England [32]
Queen Jane Seymour [39]
Catherine Parr Queen Consort England [31]
Anne of Cleves Queen Consort England [3]
Mary of Guise Queen Consort Scotland [7]
Catherine Medici Queen Consort France [1]
Queen Catherine Howard of England [31]
Maximilian Habsburg Spain II Holy Roman Emperor [6]
Jane Grey I Queen England and Ireland [55]
Louise Lorraine Queen Consort France [4]
King James I of England and Ireland and VI of Scotland [7]
Maximilian "The Great" Wittelsbach I Duke Bavaria I Elector Bavaria [9]
Maria Anna Wittelsbach Holy Roman Empress [9]
Marie de Medici Queen Consort France [6]
Electress Louise Juliana of the Palatine Rhine [1]
Ferdinand of Spain II Holy Roman Emperor [13]
George Wharton [299]
Margaret of Austria Queen Consort Spain [13]
Anna of Austria Holy Roman Empress [13]
John George Wettin Elector Saxony [9]
Frederick William "Great Elector" Hohenzollern Elector Brandenburg [9]
Eleonora Gonzaga Queen Consort Bohemia [15]
Maria Leopoldine Habsburg Spain Queen Consort Bohemia [13]
Hedwig Eleonora Queen Consort Sweden [9]
Marie Françoise Élisabeth of Savoy Queen Consort of Portugal [7]
Charlotte Amalie Hesse-Kassel Queen Consort Denmark and Norway [9]
Victor Amadeus King Sardinia [8]
Louise of Mecklenburg Güstrow Queen Consort Denmark and Norway [9]
Maria Anna Neuburg Queen Consort Spain [18]
Joseph I Holy Roman Emperor [18]
Charles Habsburg Spain VI Holy Roman Emperor [18]
Francis I Holy Roman Emperor [2]
Adolph Frederick King Sweden [9]
Elisabeth Therese Lorraine Queen Consort Sardinia [2]
President George Washington [15]
King George III of Great Britain and Ireland [18]
Charlotte Mecklenburg Strelitz Queen Consort England [9]
Caroline Matilda Hanover Queen Consort Denmark and Norway [18]
Marie Sophie Hesse-Kassel Queen Consort Denmark and Norway [27]
Caroline of Brunswick Queen Consort England [18]
Frederick William III King Prussia [9]
Frederica Mecklenburg Strelitz Queen Consort Hanover [18]
Queen Fredrika Dorotea Vilhelmina [18]
King Christian I of Norway and VIII of Denmark [27]
Frederick William IV King Prussia [18]
Frederick VII King of Denmark [45]
Queen Louise Hesse-Kassel of Denmark [54]
King Christian IX of Denmark [27]
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom [36]
Queen Sophia of Sweden and Norway [45]
Victoria Empress Germany Queen Consort Prussia [99]
King Edward VII of the United Kingdom [99]
Maria Christina of Austria Queen Consort Spain [27]
Brigadier-General Charles Fitz-Clarence [1289]
Victoria Mary Teck Queen Consort England [54]
Frederick Charles I King Finland [54]
Constantine I King Greece [27]
Alexandrine Mecklenburg-Schwerin Queen Consort Denmark [72]
Victoria Eugénie Mountbatten Queen Consort Spain [126]
Louise Mountbatten Queen Consort Sweden [153]
Ingrid Bernadotte Queen Consort Denmark [117]
Philip Mountbatten Duke Edinburgh [180]
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom [5218]
Carl XVI King Sweden [243]
Queen Consort Camilla Shand [1746]
Diana Spencer Princess Wales [15748]
Great x 1 Grandfather: Unknown Dane
GrandFather: Herfast aka Arfast de Crépon
Father: Osbern the Steward
William Fitzosbern 1st Earl Hereford
Mother: Emma of Ivry
GrandMother: Eremburga de Canville