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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Before 1823 [his father] Robert Surtees of Redworth Hall (age 40) and [his mother] Elizabeth Cookson (age 39) were married.
On 13th November 1823 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees was born to [his father] Robert Surtees of Redworth Hall (age 41) and [his mother] Elizabeth Cookson (age 40).
In 1845 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 21) was appointed Lieutenant of the 10th Royal Hussars.
In 1847 [his mother] Elizabeth Cookson (age 64) died.
In 1847 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 23) was appointed Captain of the 10th Royal Hussars.
On 25th August 1855 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 31) and Bertha Chauncey (age 22) were married.
In 1857 [his father] Robert Surtees of Redworth Hall (age 75) died.
On 13th January 1858 [his son] Brigadier-General Herbert Conyers Surtees was born to Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 34) and [his wife] Bertha Chauncey (age 25). He married 1887 Madeline Augusta Crabbe.
In 1865 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 41) was elected MP South Durham.
In 1873 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 49) was appointed High Sheriff of Durham.
In 1873 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 49) was appointed Colonel of the 3rd Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.
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 5th November 1882 [his wife] Bertha Chauncey (age 49) died.
In 1887 [his son] Brigadier-General Herbert Conyers Surtees (age 28) and [his daughter-in-law] Madeline Augusta Crabbe were married.
On 22nd December 1906 Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (age 83) died at the Charing Cross Hotel.
On 27th December 1906 the funeral of Colonel Charles Freville Surtees (deceased) was held at Long Ditton, Surrey attended by Countess Walburga Ehrengarde Helena von Hohenthal (age 67), [his son] Brigadier-General Herbert Conyers Surtees (age 48),
GrandFather: Lieutenant Crosier Surtees
Father: Robert Surtees of Redworth Hall
GrandMother: Jane Surtees
Colonel Charles Freville Surtees
Mother: Elizabeth Cookson