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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Effigy of Philippa Duchess of York is in Monumental Effigies of Great Britain.
WAS the daughter of John Lord Mohun, of Dunster, in the county of Somerset, who died towards the latter end of the fourteenth century, leaving as his heirs three daughters, Philippa, Elizabeth, the wife of William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, (of whom we have already treated,) and Maud, wife of John Lord Strange, of Knockyn, in the county of Salop. Philippa, represented by this effigy, married Edward Plantagenet, son and heir of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, fifth son of Edward the Third, who succeeded to his father's honours, and was by Richard the Second created Earl of Rutland, of Cork, Duke of Albemarle, or Aumarle, and Constable of England. By this marriage there was no issue, and Edmund Duke of York was slain in the memorable battle of Azincourt, A. D. 1415. Philippa was afterwards espoused to Sir Walter Fitzwalter [Note. There is some confusion here since Walter Fitzwalter, who died in 1386, is understood to have been Philippa's first husband?], Knight, whose arms are impaled with hers in the chapel of St. Nicholas, in the Abbey Church of Westminstera, where she was buried, with this inscription on her tombb.
Philippa, filia et cohæeres Johannis D'ni Mohun de Dunster, uxor Edwardi Ducis Eboracensis, moritur anno D'ni M.CCCC.XXXIII.
Note a. Camden gives her another husband, Sir John Golofre, making him the second, and Edward Plantagenet the last. Among the escutcheons on her tomb is certainiy the coat attributed to Goiofre, impaling Mohun.
Note b. Her last will was dated in the Isle of Wight, in the 3d of Henry V. She had a grant of the Lordship of Wight, which had been before granted to her husband the Duke of York.
