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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Paternal Family Tree: Bardolf
Maternal Family Tree: Sibylla Tregoz Baroness Grandison
Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley was born to [her father] Thomas Bardolf 2nd Baron Bardolf and [her mother] Agnes Grandison Baroness Bardolf.
In September 1304 [her grandfather] Hugh Bardolf 1st Baron Bardolf (age 44) died. His son [her father] Thomas (age 21) succeeded 2nd Baron Bardolf of Wormegay in Norfolk.
In 1306 John Northwoode and [her mother] Agnes Grandison Baroness Bardolf (age 17) were married.
In 1331 [her father] Thomas Bardolf 2nd Baron Bardolf (age 48) and [her mother] Agnes Grandison Baroness Bardolf (age 42) were married. She by marriage Baroness Bardolf of Wormegay in Norfolk.
Before 23rd August 1334 [her brother-in-law] Adam Welles 3rd Baron Welles (age 30) and [her sister] Margaret Bardolf Baroness Welles (age 22) were married. She by marriage Baroness Welles.
In 1345 [her sister] Margaret Bardolf Baroness Welles (age 32) died.
Before 6th March 1345 William Morley 4th Baron Marshal 3rd Baron Morley (age 26) and Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley were married.
Before 1349 [her brother] John Bardolf 3rd Baron Bardolf (age 34) and [her sister-in-law] Elizabeth Damory Baroness Bardolf (age 30) were married. She by marriage Baroness Bardolf of Wormegay in Norfolk.
On 23rd November 1349 [her mother] Agnes Grandison Baroness Bardolf (age 60) died at Ruskington.
Around 1354 [her son] Thomas Morley 5th Baron Marshal 4th Baron Morley was born to [her husband] William Morley 4th Baron Marshal 3rd Baron Morley (age 35) and Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley. He married (1) before 3rd April 1374 his half sixth cousin Joan Hastings Baroness Marshal and Morley and had issue (2) before 10th June 1380 Elizabeth Unknown Baroness Marshal Baroness Morley (3) before 21st October 1390 his fourth cousin once removed Anne Despencer Baroness Hastings, Marshal and Morley, daughter of Edward Despencer 1st Baron Despencer, Baron Burghesh and Elizabeth Burghesh 3rd Baron Burghesh.
This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
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On 11th December 1357 [her father] Thomas Bardolf 2nd Baron Bardolf (age 75) died. His son [her brother] John (age 43) succeeded 3rd Baron Bardolf of Wormegay in Norfolk.
In 1360 [her father-in-law] Robert Morley Baron Marshal, 2nd Baron Morley died. In 1360 His son [her husband] William (age 41) succeeded 4th Baron Marshal, 3rd Baron Morley. Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley by marriage Baroness Marshal, Baroness Morley.
On 29th July 1363 [her brother] John Bardolf 3rd Baron Bardolf (age 49) died at Assisi. His son [her nephew] William (age 13) succeeded 4th Baron Bardolf of Wormegay in Norfolk. Agnes Poynings Baroness Bardolf by marriage Baroness Bardolf of Wormegay in Norfolk.
Before 3rd April 1374 [her son] Thomas Morley 5th Baron Marshal 4th Baron Morley (age 20) and [her daughter-in-law] Joan Hastings Baroness Marshal and Morley (age 17) were married. They were half sixth cousins. He a great x 5 grandson of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.
In 1379 [her husband] William Morley 4th Baron Marshal 3rd Baron Morley (age 60) died. He was buried at Austin Friars, Norwich [Map]. In 1379 His son [her son] Thomas (age 25) succeeded 5th Baron Marshal, 4th Baron Morley. [her daughter-in-law] Joan Hastings Baroness Marshal and Morley (age 22) by marriage Baroness Marshal, Baroness Morley.
Before 10th June 1380 [her son] Thomas Morley 5th Baron Marshal 4th Baron Morley (age 26) and [her daughter-in-law] Elizabeth Unknown Baroness Marshal Baroness Morley were married. She by marriage Baroness Marshal, Baroness Morley.
On 23rd November 1386 Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley died. She was buried at Austin Friars, Norwich [Map].
Engravings of Sepulchral Brasses Volume 1. Sir Bryan and Lady Stapleton, at Ingham, 1438.
Blomefield's Norf, ix. 321. Gough's Sepulch. Monum. i. 119.
Sir Bryan, son of the late-mentioned Sir Miles and Ela Stapleton, was, according to Blomefield, born in 1378. In the registers of the Order of the Garter, given by Anstis, in his second volume, I find a Sir Bryan Stapleton, one of the knights of that order, from the seventh to the fourteenth of Richard II but what relation he bore to the knight of the same name, at Ingham, I do not know. The latter married Cecilia, daughter of Lord William Bardolf, whom he survived two years. In their effigies, which, till within twenty years, lay on the north side of the chancel, there is nothing remarkable, excepting that the knight is the first who has steel flaps to his cuirass instead of mail tasses,1 and his lady has the beginning of the mitre head-dress. The care too which has perpetuated the memory of the knight has perpetuated that of his dog also, whose name, Yai, is recorded on the monument. Above the canopy was Stapleton impaling Ufford; Lord Bardolf, Azure, three cinquefoils pierced or, impaling Barry of six, a bend over all, Lord Ponyngs, perhaps; and Stapleton impaling Bardolf.
The the inscription the date of his death, 1438, is lost.
Note 1. The tasses were never of mail, but sometimes what was termed a petticoat of mail was at a later period attached to the lowest tace. These are indeed the tuiles in their incipient state, and as there are four hinges, it seems probable that the artist forgot to put the dividing line between them.—S.R.M.
Note 2. Drawn by John Sell Cotman (age 33) in 1816.
Bryan Stapleton: Bryan Stapleton and Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley were married. Around 1379 he was born to Miles Stapleton at Ingham, Norfolk. On 7th August 1438 Bryan Stapleton died.
Bryan Stapleton and Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley were married.
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Bardolf 
GrandFather: Hugh Bardolf 1st Baron Bardolf
Great x 1 Grandmother: Juliane Gournay
Father: Thomas Bardolf 2nd Baron Bardolf
Cecily Bardolf Baroness Marshal and Morley
Great x 1 Grandfather: Pierre Grandison
GrandFather: William Grandison 1st Baron Grandison
Mother: Agnes Grandison Baroness Bardolf
GrandMother: Sibylla Tregoz Baroness Grandison