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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Archaeologia Volume 16 Section VIII is in Archaeologia Volume 16.
Copy of a Roll of the Expenses of King Edward the First at Rhuddlan Castle [Map], in Wales, in the tenth and eleventh years of his reign [1281-1282], remaining among the Records in the Tower, communicated by Samuel Lysons, Esq. F. R. S. Director: with a Translation, by the Rev. John Brand, M. A. Secretary. Read Nov. 27, 1806.
Imprimis the said Richard (de Bures) charges himself with having received from the King's Wardrobe in his tenth year, at several times £858 6s 8d.
From the same, by Peter de Welles £37 4s 0d.
From the same, by the Mayor of York £233 6s 8d.
In the same year, by the fine of Lady de Baliol for her Welsh service £26 13s 4d.
By the fine of the Baron of Greystock £80 0s 0d.
By the fine of the Abbot of Glastonbury £23 6s 8d.
The same acknowledges that he has received from the King's Wardrobe in his eleventh year £934 2s ½d.
From Sir William de Perton £40 0s 0d.
Total of Receipt £2232 19s 8½d.
Necessary Expenses. Carpenters.
On Friday next after the feast of the assumption of the blessed Mary at Rothelan, paid to Master Richard Lengingam receiving by the day 12 d. for his wages, and the wages of three overseers of twenty, each receiving 6d. per diem, and sixty-three carpenters, each receiving 4d. by the day, going to Anglesey for sixteen days; viz. from Sunday the 23d of August to the 7th day of September, each day being reckoned .. £18 16s 0d.
On the Sunday next ensuing, paid to Master Peter de Brompton, for the wages of an hundred carpenters, each receiving 4d. per diem, and their constable receiving 8d. by the day; of which, five are overseers of twenty, and each receives 6d. per diem for his wages, from Sunday 23d of August, for the seven following days £12 3s 9d.
Sunday the 30th of August, paid to forescore and six carpenters of the above number, with their overseers of twenties, for their wages, from Sunday August 30th, for the seven following days, and for the wages of Master Henry of Oxford, carpenter, their captain, receiving 8d. per diem for the same time, by the hands of P. de Brompton. £10 10s 0d.
Sunday the 6th of September, paid to Master Henry of Oxford, and forescore and fourteen carpenters, with their overseers of twenties, from Sunday the 6th of September, for the seven following days, by the hands of Master P. de Brompton £11 8s 8d.
For the wages of seven carpenters newly received, by the hands of John of London, for the said seven days, one of them receiving 6d. and each of the others 4d. 17s 6d.
For the wages of fifteen carpenters and shoeing-smiths, each receiving 4d. a day, except one, who only received 3d. per diem, from Sunday 30th of August, for the seven following days. £1 14s 5d.
Sum £55 10s 5d.
Continues.