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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Paternal Family Tree: Wessex
Around 893 [his father] King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons [aged 19] and Ecgwynn Unknown Queen Consort Anglo Saxons were married. He the son of [his grandfather] King Alfred "The Great" of Wessex [aged 44] and [his grandmother] Æalhswith of Mercia Queen Consort of England.
Around 900 [his father] King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons [aged 26] and Aelfflaed Wiltshire Queen Anglo Saxons [aged 30] were married. She the daughter of Æthelhelm Earldorman Wiltshire. He the son of [his grandfather] King Alfred "The Great" of Wessex and [his grandmother] Æalhswith of Mercia Queen Consort of England.
Around 919 [his father] King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons [aged 45] and [his mother] Eadgifu Kent Queen Anglo Saxons were married. She by marriage Queen Anglo Saxons. He the son of [his grandfather] King Alfred "The Great" of Wessex and [his grandmother] Æalhswith of Mercia Queen Consort of England.
In 921 King Edmund I of England was born to [his father] King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons [aged 47] and [his mother] Eadgifu Kent Queen Anglo Saxons.
On 17th July 924 [his father] King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons [aged 50] died. He was buried in St Oswald's Priory [Map]. His son [his half-brother] Æthelstan [aged 30] succeeded King Anglo Saxons. His son Æthelstan succeeded I King Anglo Saxons.
In 929 [his brother-in-law] Otto I King Germany I King Italy Holy Roman Emperor [aged 16] and [his half-sister] Eadgyth Wessex Queen Consort Germany were married. She the daughter of [his father] King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons and Aelfflaed Wiltshire Queen Anglo Saxons [aged 59]. He the son of Henry "Fowler" I King East Francia [aged 53] and Matilda Ringelheim Queen Consort East Francia.
Around 932 Æthelstan Half King [aged 22] was appointed Earldorman East Anglia by [his half-brother] King Æthelstan I of England [aged 38].
In 933 [his half-brother] Edwin the Ætheling was drowned at sea. The circumstances of his death are unclear. Some sources say a storm caused the ship to sink, some say his brother King Æthelstan I of England [aged 39] sent him to sea in a leaky boat.
On 2nd July 936 Henry "Fowler" I King East Francia [aged 60] died. His son [his brother-in-law] Otto [aged 23] succeeded I King Germany, I Duke Saxony. [his half-sister] Eadgyth Wessex Queen Consort Germany by marriage Queen Consort Germany.
In 937 [his half-brother] King Æthelstan I of England [aged 43] and his son Edmund [aged 16] defeated the Scottish, Irish Viking and Strathclyde army at the Battle of Brunanburh. Two of Æthelstan's cousins, Æthelwine Wessex and Aelfwine Wessex were killed.
Archbishop Oda was present although there are no contemporary records of Oda's appearance at the battle. He is said to have miraculously provided a sword to the king when the king's own sword slipped out of its scabbard.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 938. Here [his half-brother] Athelstan king [aged 44], of earls the lord, rewarder of heroes, and his brother eke, Edmund atheling, elder of ancient race, slew in the fight, with the edge of their swords, the foe at Brumby! The sons [aged 17] of Edward their board-walls clove, and hewed their banners, with the wrecks of their hammers. So were they taught by kindred zeal, that they at camp oft 'gainst any robber their land should defend, their hoards and homes. Pursuing fell the Scottish clans; the men of the fleet in numbers fell; 'midst the din of the field the warrior swate. Since the sun was up in morning-tide, gigantic light! glad over grounds, God's candle bright, eternal Lord!- 'till the noble creature sat in the western main: there lay many of the Northern heroes under a shower of arrows, shot over shields; and Scotland's boast, a Scythian race, the mighty seed of Mars! With chosen troops, throughout the day, the West-Saxons fierce press'd on the loathed bands; hew'd down the fugitives, and scatter'd the rear, with strong mill-sharpen'd blades, The Mercians too the hard hand-play spared not to any of those that with Anlaf over the briny deep in the ship's bosom sought this land for the hardy fight. Five kings lay on the field of battle, in bloom of youth, pierced with swords. So seven eke of the earls of Anlaf; and of the ship's-crew unnumber'd crowds. There was dispersed the little band of hardy Scots, the dread of northern hordes; urged to the noisy deep by unrelenting fate! The king of the fleet with his slender craft escaped with his life on the felon flood;- and so too Constantine, the valiant chief, returned to the north in hasty flight. The hoary Hildrinc cared not to boast among his kindred. Here was his remnant of relations and friends slain with the sword in the crowded fight. His son too he left on the field of battle, mangled with wounds, young at the fight. The fair-hair'd youth had no reason to boast of the slaughtering strife. Nor old Inwood and Anlaf the more with the wrecks of their army could laugh and say, that they on the field of stern command better workmen were, in the conflict of banners, the clash of spears, the meeting of heroes, and the rustling of weapons, which they on the field of slaughter played with the sons of Edward. The northmen sail'd in their nailed ships, a dreary remnant, on the roaring sea; over deep water Dublin [Map] they sought, and Ireland's shores, in great disgrace. Such then the brothers both together king and atheling, sought their country, West-Saxon land, in right triumphant. They left behind them raw to devour, the sallow kite, the swarthy raven with horny nib, and the hoarse vultur, with the eagle swift to consume his prey; the greedy gos-hawk, and that grey beast the wolf of the weald. No slaughter yet was greater made e'er in this island, of people slain, before this same, with the edge of the sword; as the books inform us of the old historians; since hither came from the eastern shores the Angles and Saxons, over the broad sea, and Britain sought,- fierce battle-smiths, o'ercame the Welsh, most valiant earls, and gained the land.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 939. This year [his half-brother] King Athelstan [aged 45] died in Gloucester [Map], on the sixth day before the calends of November, about forty-one winters, bating one night, from the time when King Alfred died. And Edmund Atheling [aged 18] took to the kingdom. He was then eighteen years old. King Athelstan reigned fourteen years and ten weeks. This year the Northumbrians abandoned their allegiance, and chose Anlaf of Ireland for their king.
On 27th October 939 [his half-brother] King Æthelstan I of England [aged 45] died in Gloucester [Map]. His half brother Edmund [aged 18] succeeded King of England.
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 940 Archbishop Oda arranged a truce between Olaf III Guthfrithson, King of Dublin and York, and King Edmund I of England [aged 19].
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 942. Here Edmund king [aged 21], of Angles lord, protector of friends, author and framer of direful deeds. o'erran with speed the Mercian land. whete'er the course of Whitwell-spring, or Humber deep, The broad brim-stream, divides five towns. Leicester and Lincoln. Nottingham and Stamford, and Derby eke. In thraldom long to Norman Danes they bowed through need, and dragged the chains of heathen men; till, to his glory, great Edward's heir, Edmund the king, refuge of warriors, their fetters broke.
In or before 943 King Edmund I of England [aged 21] and Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury Queen Consort England were married. She by marriage Queen Consort England. He the son of King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons and Eadgifu Kent Queen Anglo Saxons.
Around 943 [his son] King Edgar I of England was born to King Edmund I of England [aged 22] and [his wife] Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury Queen Consort England at Winchester, Hampshire [Map]. He married 962 Aelfthryth Queen Consort England, daughter of Ordgar Earldorman Devon, and had issue.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 943. This year Anlaf stormed Tamworth, Staffordshire [Map]; and much slaughter was made on either hand; but the Danes had the victory, and led away with them much plunder. There was Wulfrun [aged 8] taken, in the spoiling of the town. This year King Edmund [aged 22] beset King Anlaf and Archbishop Wulfstan in Leicester; and he might have conquered them, were it not that they burst out of the town in the night. After this Anlaf obtained the friendship of King Edmund, and King Edmund then received King Anlaf in baptism; and he made him royal presents. And the same year, after some interval, he received King Reynold at episcopal hands. This year also died King Anlaf.
In 944 [his wife] Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury Queen Consort England died.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 944. This year King Edmund [aged 23] reduced all the land of the Northumbrians to his dominion, and expelled two kings, Anlaf [aged 17] the son of Sihtric, and Reynold the son of Guthferth.
In or after 944 King Edmund I of England [aged 23] and Æthelflæd of Damerham Queen Consort of England were married. She by marriage Queen Consort England. He the son of King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons and Eadgifu Kent Queen Anglo Saxons.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 945. This year King Edmund [aged 24] overran all Cumberland; and let it all to Malcolm king of the Scots, on the condition that he became his ally, both by sea and land.
On 26th January 946 [his half-sister] Eadgyth Wessex Queen Consort Germany died.
On 26th May 946 King Edmund I of England [aged 25] was murdered by Leofa, an exiled thief, whilst attending mass at Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire. He was buried at Glastonbury Abbey [Map]. His brother Eadred succeeded I King of England.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 26th May 946. This year King Edmund [aged 25] died, on St. Augustine's mass day. That was widely known, how he ended his days: that Leof stabbed him at Pucklechurch. And [his wife] Ethelfleda of Damerham, daughter of Alderman Elgar, was then his queen. And he reigned six years and a half: and then succeeded to the kingdom Edred Atheling his brother, who soon after reduced all the land of the Northumbrians to his dominion; and the Scots gave him oaths, that they would do all that he desired.
Chronicle of Athelward Chapter 6. 26th May 946. In the same period also died king Edmund [aged 25] on the solemnity of Augustine the Less, who also was the apostle of the English: and he held the kingdom six years and a half.
Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. 24th June 1070. The feast of St. John the Baptist being near, earl Asbiorn sailed to Denmark with the fleet which had wintered in the Humber; but his brother Sweyn [aged 51] outlawed him, because he had accepted money from king William [aged 42], to the great regret of the Danes. Edric, surnamed the Forester, a man of the most resolute courage, of whom we have spoken before, was reconciled with king William. After this, the king summoned from Normandy Lanfranc [aged 65], abbot of Caen, a Lombard by birth, a man of unbounded learning, master of the liberal arts, and of both sacred and secular literature, and of the greatest prudence in counsel and the administration of worldly affairs; and on the day of the Assumption of St. Mary, appointed him archbishop of Canterbury, causing him to be consecrated at Canterbury on the feast of St. John the Baptist, being Sunday. He was consecrated by Giso, bishop of Wells, and Walter, bishop of Hereford, who were both ordained at Rome by pope Nicholas, when Aldred, archbishop of York, received the pallium,—for he evaded being ordained by Stigand, who then held the archbishopric of Canterbury, knowing him not to have received the pallium canonically. Bishop Heriman, who had already transferred the seat of his bishopric from Sherbourne to Salisbury, also assisted at his consecration, with some others. Afterwards, Lanfranc consecrated Thomas, archbishop of York. The suit of the reverend Wulfstan [aged 62], bishop of Worcester, was again prosecuted, there being now a bishop who could advocate the cause of the church of York; and the affair was, by the aid of God's grace, decided at a council held at a place called Pedred, before the king, archbishop Lanfranc, and the bishops, abbots, earls, and lords of all England. All the groundless assertions by which Thomas and his abettors strove to humble the church of Worcester, and reduce her to subjection and servitude to the church of York, were, by God's just judgement, entirely refuted and negatived by written documents, so that Wulfstan not only recovered the possessions he claimed, but, by God's goodness, and the king's assent, regained for his see all the immunities and privileges freely granted to it by its first founders, the holy king Ethered, Oshere, sub-king of the Hwiccas, and the other kings of Mercia, Cenred, Ethelbald, Offa, Kenulf, [his father] Edward the Elder, [his half-brother] Athelstan, Edmund, Edred, and Edgar.
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.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
[his son] King Eadwig I of England was born to King Edmund I of England and Aelfgifu of Shaftesbury Queen Consort England. He married in or before 958 Ælfgifu Queen Consort of England.
Kings Wessex: Son of King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons
Great x 4 Grandfather: Eafa Wessex
Great x 3 Grandfather: Ealmund King of Kent
Great x 2 Grandfather: King Egbert of Wessex
Great x 1 Grandfather: King Æthelwulf of Wessex
GrandFather: King Alfred "The Great" of Wessex
Great x 2 Grandfather: Oslac
Great x 1 Grandmother: Osburgh Queen Consort Wessex
Father: King Edward "Elder" of the Anglo Saxons
Great x 1 Grandfather: Æthelred Mucel Mercia Earldorman Gaini
GrandMother: Æalhswith of Mercia Queen Consort of England
Great x 1 Grandmother: Eadburh of Mercia
GrandFather: Sigehelm Earldorman Kent
Mother: Eadgifu Kent Queen Anglo Saxons