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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Close Rolls Edward II 1307-1313 is in Close Rolls Edward II.
6th August 1307 King Edward II [aged 23]. Dumfries [Map]. To the treasurer and the barons of the Exchequer. Order to discharge the Abbot of Hayles of £50 Yearly, which he used to pay for the town of Leechelade [Map] to the late Edmund Earl of Cornwall, and, after his death, to the late King, the king having granted the earldom of Cornwall and all the lands of the said Edmund to Peter de Gavaston [aged 23], knight.
To the like favour of Michael de Meldon for 4 marks annually for his lands in Worton.
12th December 1307 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Westminster Palace [Map]. To John de Brittania, Earl of Richmond, [keeper] of Scotland. Order to restore to Aymer de Valencia [aged 32], Earl of Pembrok, his lands, etc., in the counties of Sellekyrk [Selkirkshire] and Twedale and in the forest of Sellekyrk, which he has seized into the king's hands because the men and tenants of the same had late traitoroursly adhered to Robert de Brus [aged 33], the king's enemy and rebel.
8th January 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23] To the Sheriff of Leicester. Order to cause a coroner for that county to be elected in place of John de Noveray, of Burton, lately elected in the late King's reign, who is insufficiently qualified.
Memorandum, that on Sunday before the Feast of St Vincent the Martyr [22 Jan], at Dover, Kent [Map] in the King's chamber in the Priory of St Martin, Dover [Map], in the evening (crepsusculo noctis), in the presence of William Inge, knight, William de Melton and Adam de Osgoodby, clerks, Bishop John Langton, the King's Chancellor, delivered under his seal to the said King his great seal; and the King received the said seal in his own hands, and delivered it to Sir William Melton [aged 33] to be carried with him in the wardrobe beyond sea; and the King straightaway delivered by his own hand another seal of his shortly before made anew at London for the government of the realm in the King's absence in a red bag (bursa) sealed with the seal of William Inge to the chancellor. With which seal the chancellor caused writs to be sealed, after the King's passage, in the hospital of Domus Dei, under the testimony of Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24] then Keeper of the realm of England, on the Monday next following, on which day the King in the early morning (summo mane) passed the sea at Dover, Kent [Map].
22nd January 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Dover, Kent [Map]. Robert Terry, of Whytefield, imprisoned at Northampton [Map] for the death of Galianus de Bek, has letters to the Sheriff of Nottingham to bail him until the first assize. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24].
22nd January 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Dover, Kent [Map] To the Sheriff of Kent. Order to provide 75 thousands of wood and 200 quarters of charcoal for the expenses of the King's household on his return from parts beyond the sea, so that he have at Dover, Kent [Map] against the King's return 25 thousands of wood and 30 quarters of coal, and at Canterbury, Kent [Map] 30 thousands of wood and 100 quarters of coal, and at Rochester, Kent [Map] (Rofham) 20 thousands of wood and 70 quarters of coal; to be delivered by indenture to John de Sumery, scullion (scutell') of the king's household, or such as supply his place. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24].
24th January 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Canterbury, Kent [Map]. To the Sheriffs of London. Order to deliver John de la Dune, Roger de Hopton, Richard le Harpour, Roger de Soppewalle, Roger le Keu, Rober le Hunt, Thomas de Sydenham, Henry le Gardener, Thomas de la More, Philip Kemp, John le Wayt, and John le Wodeward, the men and servants of Adam de Kyngeshemede, in the King's prison of Newgate [Map] for a trespass committed by them upon the King's men at Westminster [Map], from prison upon their finding sufficient mainpernor's to have them before the King or his Lieutenant in the quinzaine of the Purification of St Mary to stand to right concerning the said trespass. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24].
24th January 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Westminster Palace [Map]. To John Sampson [aged 61], constable of the king's castle of Scardeburgh [Map]. Order to permit Henry Percy [aged 34] and his consort and their household to dwell in the houses within the said castle, provided that the castle be safely guarded.
3rd February 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Ewell, Surrey [Map]. To the Treasurer and the Barons of the Exchequer. Whereas the king lately commanded them to put into execution all the writs of the late King pending in the exchequer, and although the late King commanded his treasurer and barons of the exchquer, at the supplication of the burgesses of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk [Map], by his writ now in the exchequer, as the said burgesses assert, to allow them 1,000 marks in which the late king was bound to them for a loan in the time when John de Kirkeby was his treasurer, and 1,£760 for the arrears of the wages of divers men sent by them to the late King's command into Gascony for the expedition of this war and for remaining there for a great time, and also for £250which they expended, by the order of the late King, in the making of two galleys (galiarum) in the said town, and also £780 for the wages of certain sailors and divers other costs expended by them at divers times for the expedition of the war in Scotland, to be allowed to them out of the debts owing by them to the said late King, as well as the tenth, eleventh, sixth, seventh, twentieth, and thirtieth granted by the community of the kingdom to the late King, as from other causes whatsoever; they are ordered to execute the said writs. Witness: Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24].
8th February 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Dover, Kent [Map]. To William Leybourne. Order to attend the king's coronation with his wife on Sunday next after the feast of St Valentine.
The like to seventy others in various counties.
9th February 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Dover, Kent [Map]. To Alice, late wife of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Marshall of England. Order to meet the king at Dover, Kent [Map] on his return from France with his consort about Sunday next after the Feast of the Purification of St Mary. Witnessed by Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 24].
The like to:
Elizabeth, Countess of Hereford and Essex [aged 25].
Henry de Lancastre [aged 27].
Robert de Monte Alto.
Almaric de Sancto Amando[Ibid].
To R Archbishop of Canterbury [aged 63]. Order to attend the king's coronaion on Sunday next after the feast of St Valentine [14 Feb] at Westminster [Map], to execute what pertains to his office.
To the Sheriff of Surrey. Order to proclaim in market towns, etc., that no knight, esquire, or other shall, under pain of forfeiture, pressure to tourney or make jousts or bordices (torneare, justos seu burdseicas facere), or otherwise go armed at Croydon, Surrey [Map] or elsewhere before the king's coronation.
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The History of William Marshal was commissioned by his son shortly after William’s death in 1219 to celebrate the Marshal’s remarkable life; it is an authentic, contemporary voice. The manuscript was discovered in 1861 by French historian Paul Meyer. Meyer published the manuscript in its original Anglo-French in 1891 in two books. This book is a line by line translation of the first of Meyer’s books; lines 1-10152. Book 1 of the History begins in 1139 and ends in 1194. It describes the events of the Anarchy, the role of William’s father John, John’s marriages, William’s childhood, his role as a hostage at the siege of Newbury, his injury and imprisonment in Poitou where he met Eleanor of Aquitaine and his life as a knight errant. It continues with the accusation against him of an improper relationship with Margaret, wife of Henry the Young King, his exile, and return, the death of Henry the Young King, the rebellion of Richard, the future King Richard I, war with France, the death of King Henry II, and the capture of King Richard, and the rebellion of John, the future King John. It ends with the release of King Richard and the death of John Marshal.
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6th March 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Westminster Palace [Map]. To Thomas de la Hide, late steward of Cornwall and Sheriff of the same. Order to deliver to Peter de Gavaston [aged 24], knight, all the farms, rents, and issues of the said County from Michaelmas last, and of the lands of the late Edmund Earl of Cornwall, the king having granted to the said Peter the county of Cornwall, and all the lands of the said Edmund.
The like to John de Tresimple, for the ferms, etc., of the manor, etc.
The like to Walter de Gloucester, escheator this side of Trent, for the ferms, etc., of the manors.
17th March 1308 King Edward II of England [aged 23]. Westminster Palace [Map]. To John Sampson [aged 61], constable of the king's castle of Scardeburgh [Map]. Order to permit Henry Percy and his consort and their household to dwell in the houses within the said castle, provided that the castle be safely guarded.
On 1st August 1309 King Edward II of England [aged 25]. Stamford [Map]. Order to proclaim in his full county [court] and elsewhere that no merchant or other, shall, under pain of forfeiture, carry armour, corn, meat, or other victuals to the king's enemies the Scots, who have brokern the truce, or communicate with them in any way.
To all like sheriffs in England.
On 16th January 1310 King Edward II of England [aged 25]. Stamford [Map]. To the Sheriff of York. Order to proclaim that the king does not intend to change the money current in the Kingdom in the late King's time, as had been rumoured, and to forbid anyone from thinking little of it, whereby victuals and other necessaries may be sold more dearly.
The like to all the Sheriffs of England [Ibid].
Enrolment of deed of Peter de Gavaston [aged 26], knight, surrendering to the king the castle, manor, and honour of Knaresborough [Map], with the free chase of Knaresborough, and the manors of Routheclyve and Auldburgh, lately granted to him by the King for his lifetime. Witnesses: Gilbert de Clare 8th Earl Gloucester 7th Earl Hertford [aged 18], Henry Lacy 4th Earl Lincoln, Earl Salisbury [aged 59], John Warenne 7th Earl of Surrey [aged 23], John de Brittania, Earl of Richmond, Hugh "Elder" Despencer 1st Earl Winchester [aged 48], Henry Percy 9th and 1st Baron Percy [aged 36], Robert son of Walter, Robert son of Payn, William de Burford, William Inge. Dated at Stamford [Map] July 26, 3 Edward II.
Enrolment of like surrender by the said Peter of the county of Gaure and the castles of Talanon, Tantalon, and Mauleon, the provostships (preposituras) and Camparian(um) called 'la Cointal' and of the city of Bayonne, the manor of Erebafaveyra, Born, Comtad, Salmun, Dagenes, and the island of Oleron, and the lands of Marempne and of Lancras in Saintogne, and all rights, appurtenances, etc., etc., thereto pertaining to the king, which the king lately granted him for life. Witnesses as above. Dated August 4, 3 Edward II.
Memorandum, that this deed was delivered to the king in his chamber in the House of the Friars Preachers, Stamford [Map] at Stamford, by the hands of the said Peter and the king delivered the said deed to J his chancellor, to be enrolled in the chancery, and it was afterwards delivered to Ingelard de Warle, keeper of the King's Wardrobe to be kept in the king's wardrobe, but the king's charters that the said Peter hereof were not then restored.[CONTINUES].
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16th January 1310 King Edward II of England [aged 25]. The Grove, Watford [Map]. To the Treasurer and the Barons of the Exchequer. Order to discharge the Abbot of Hayles of £100 yearly, the rent of the manor of Lychelad [Map], as the King granted it to Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 26] and Margaret his wife.
To the same. Order to discharge the men of Wallingford, Oxfordshire [Map] of the ferm of that town from August 5 last, to Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall and Margaret his wife.