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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On 16th February 1645 Archbishop John Sharp was born.
In 1681 Archbishop John Sharp [aged 35] was appointed Dean of Norwich.
John Evelyn's Diary. 25th June 1686. Now his Ma* [aged 52], beginning with Dr Sharp [aged 41] and Tully, proceeded to silence and suspend divers excellent divines for preaching against Popery.
John Evelyn's Diary. 8th September 1686. Dr. Compton, Bishop of London [aged 54], was on Monday suspended, on pretense of not silencing Dr. Sharp [aged 41] [NOTE. Assumed to be the subsequent Archbishop?] at St. Giles's [Map], for something of a sermon in which he zealously reproved the doctrine of the Roman Catholics. The Bishop having consulted the civilians, they told him he could not by any law proceed against Dr. Sharp without producing witnesses, and impleaded according to form; but it was overruled by my Lord Chancellor [aged 41], and the Bishop sentenced without so much as being heard to any purpose. This was thought a very extraordinary way of proceeding, and was universally resented, and so much the rather for that two Bishops, Durham [aged 53] and Rochester [aged 51], sitting in the commission and giving their suffrages the Archbishop of Canterbury [aged 69] refused to sit among them. He was only suspended ab officio, and that was soon after taken off. He was brother to the Earl of Northampton, had once been a soldier, had traveled in Italy, but became a sober, grave, and excellent prelate.
In 1689 Archbishop John Sharp [aged 43] was appointed Dean of Canterbury.
John Evelyn's Diary. 30th January 1689. The anniversary of King Charles I's MARTYRDOM; but in all the public offices and pulpit prayers, the collects, and litany for the King [aged 38] and Queen [aged 30] were curtailed and mutilated. Dr. Sharp [aged 43] preached before the Commons, but was disliked, and not thanked for his sermon.
In 1691 Archbishop John Sharp [aged 45] was appointed Archbishop of York.
On 12th December 1693 [his son] Archdeacon Thomas Sharp was born to Archbishop John Sharp [aged 48]. He married 19th June 1722 Judith Wheler and had issue.
John Evelyn's Diary. 1st April 1694. Dr. Sharp [aged 49], Archbishop of York, preached in the afternoon at the Tabernacle, by Soho.
Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans
Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.
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John Evelyn's Diary. 26th April 1696. Dr. Sharp [aged 51] preached at the Temple. His prayer before the sermon was one of the most excellent compositions I ever heard.
On 2nd February 1714 Archbishop John Sharp [aged 68] died in Bath, Somerset [Map].
Vesta Monumenta. 1731. Corrected versions of the tables of gold and silver English coins first created by John Sharp, Archbishop of York, in 1697. Engravings by George Vertue [aged 47] after Sharp's original tables.
