Adam Murimuth's Continuation and Robert of Avesbury’s 'The Wonderful Deeds of King Edward III'
This volume brings together two of the most important contemporary chronicles for the reign of Edward III and the opening phases of the Hundred Years’ War. Written in Latin by English clerical observers, these texts provide a vivid and authoritative window into the political, diplomatic, and military history of fourteenth-century England and its continental ambitions. Adam Murimuth Continuatio's Chronicarum continues an earlier chronicle into the mid-fourteenth century, offering concise but valuable notices on royal policy, foreign relations, and ecclesiastical affairs. Its annalistic structure makes it especially useful for establishing chronology and tracing the development of events year by year. Complementing it, Robert of Avesbury’s De gestis mirabilibus regis Edwardi tertii is a rich documentary chronicle preserving letters, treaties, and official records alongside narrative passages. It is an indispensable source for understanding Edward III’s claim to the French crown, the conduct of war, and the mechanisms of medieval diplomacy. Together, these works offer scholars, students, and enthusiasts a reliable and unembellished account of a transformative period in English and European history. Essential for anyone interested in medieval chronicles, the Hundred Years’ War, or the reign of Edward III.
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Paternal Family Tree: Compton
Maternal Family Tree: Hester Wotton Viscountess Campden 1615-1655
In 1647 [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 24] and [his step-mother] Isabella Sackville Countess Northampton [aged 24] were married. She by marriage Countess of Northampton. She the daughter of Richard Sackville 3rd Earl Dorset and Anne Clifford Countess Dorset and Pembroke [aged 56]. He the son of [his grandfather] Spencer Compton 2nd Earl of Northampton and [his grandmother] Mary Beaumont Countess of Northampton [aged 43]. They were half fourth cousins.
After 1647 [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 24] and [his mother] Mary Noel Countess Northampton were married. She by marriage Countess of Northampton. He the son of [his grandfather] Spencer Compton 2nd Earl of Northampton and [his grandmother] Mary Beaumont Countess of Northampton [aged 43].
On 18th October 1664 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton was born to [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 42] and [his mother] Mary Noel Countess Northampton.
John Evelyn's Diary. 6th September 1680. [his future father-in-law] He is generous, and lives very honourably, of a sweet nature, well-spoken, well-bred, and is so highly in his Majesty's [aged 50] esteem, and so useful, that being long since made a knight, he is also advanced to be one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and has the reversion of the Cofferer's place after Harry Brouncker [aged 53]. He has married his [his future wife] eldest daughter [aged 11] to my Lord Cornwallis [aged 15], and gave her £12,000, and restored that entangled family besides. He matched his son to Mrs. Trollop [aged 19], who brings with her (besides a great sum) near, if not altogether, £2,000 per annum. Sir Stephen's [his future mother-in-law] lady (an excellent woman) is sister to Mr. Whittle [aged 49], one of the King's chirurgeons. In a word, never was man more fortunate than Sir Stephen; he is a handsome person, virtuous, and very religious.
On 15th December 1681 [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton [aged 59] died. His son George [aged 17] succeeded 4th Earl of Northampton, 5th Baron Compton of Compton in Warwickshire.
On 7th March 1685 [his brother-in-law] Charles Sackville 6th Earl Dorset 1st Earl Middlesex [aged 42] and [his sister] Mary Compton Countess Dorset and Middlesex [aged 16] were married. She by marriage Countess Dorset, Countess Middlesex. The difference in their ages was 25 years. She the daughter of [his father] James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton and [his mother] Mary Noel Countess Northampton. He the son of Richard Sackville 5th Earl Dorset and Frances Cranfield Countess Dorset [aged 63]. They were half sixth cousins.
In 1686 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 21] and Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 17] were married. He the son of James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton and Mary Noel Countess Northampton.
On 2nd May 1687 [his son] James Compton 5th Earl of Northampton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 22] and [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 18]. He married 1716 Elizabeth Shirley Countess Northampton and had issue.
John Evelyn's Diary. 18th August 1688. My lady [aged 42] carried us to see Lord Northampton's [aged 23] Seat, a very strong, large house, built with stone, not altogether modern. They were enlarging the garden, in which was nothing extraordinary, except the iron gate opening into the park, which indeed was very good work, wrought in flowers painted with blue and gilded. There is a noble walk of elms toward the front of the house by the bowling green. I was not in any room of the house besides a lobby looking into the garden, where my Lord and his new [his wife] Countess [aged 19] (Sir [his father-in-law] Stephen Fox's [aged 61] daughter, whom I had known from a child) entertained the Countess and her daughter the Countess of Arran [aged 21] (newly married to the son [aged 30] of the Duke of Hamilton [aged 53]), with so little good grace, and so dully, that our visit was very short, and so we returned to Althorpe [Map], twelve miles distant.
On 11th April 1689 King William III of England, Scotland and Ireland [aged 38] and Mary Stewart II Queen England Scotland and Ireland [aged 26] were crowned II King England Scotland and Ireland at Westminster Abbey [Map].
John Ashburnham 1st Baron Ashburnham [aged 33] carried the canopy being one of the Barons of the Cinque Ports.
George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 24] bore the King's sceptre and cross at Westminster Abbey [Map].
On 6th August 1691 [his sister] Mary Compton Countess Dorset and Middlesex [aged 22] died of smallpox.
In 1692 [his son] George Compton 6th Earl of Northampton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 27] and [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 23].
After 1692 [his son] Charles Compton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 27] and [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 23]. He married Mary Lucy, daughter of Berkeley Lucy 3rd Baronet and Catherine Cotton, and had issue.
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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In 1702 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 37] was appointed Privy Council.
In 1713 George Thorold 1st Baronet [aged 47] and [his future wife] Elizabeth Rushout Countess Northampton were married.
In 1716 James Compton 5th Earl of Northampton [aged 28] and Elizabeth Shirley Countess Northampton [aged 21] were married. She by marriage Baroness Compton of Compton in Warwickshire. He by marriage Baron Ferrers of Chartley. He the son of George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 51] and Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 47].
On 10th June 1721 [his wife] Jane Fox Countess Northampton [aged 52] died.
On 3rd July 1726 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 61] and Elizabeth Rushout Countess Northampton were married. She by marriage Countess of Northampton. He the son of James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton and Mary Noel Countess Northampton.
On 15th April 1727 George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton [aged 62] died. His son James [aged 39] succeeded 5th Earl of Northampton. Elizabeth Shirley Countess Northampton [aged 32] by marriage Countess of Northampton.
On 15th January 1750 [his former wife] Elizabeth Rushout Countess Northampton died. She was buried in Blockley, Gloucestershire.
Letters of Horace Walpole. 20th July 1752. Arlington Street. To George Montagu Esq [aged 39].
You have threatened me with a messenger from the secretary's office to seize my papers; who would ever have taken you for a prophet? If Goody Compton [aged 60]320, your colleague, had taken upon her to foretell, there was enough of the witch and prophetess in her person and mysteriousness to have made a superstitious person believe she might be a cousin of Nostradamus, and heiress of some of her visions; but how came you by second sight? Which of the Cues matched in the Highlands? In short, not to keep you in suspense, for I believe you are so far inspired as to be ignorant how your prophecy was to be accomplished, as we were sitting at dinner t'other day, word was brought that one of the King's messengers was at the door. Every drop of ink in my pen ran cold; Algernon Sidney danced before my eyes, and methought I heard my Lord Chief-Justice Lee, in a voice as dreadful as Jefferies', mumble out, Scribere est agere. How comfortable it was to find that Mr. Amyand, who was at table, had ordered this appanage of his dignity to attend him here for orders! However, I have buried the Memoires under the oak in my garden, where they are to be found a thousand years hence, and taken perhaps for a Runic history in rhyme. I have part of another valuable MS. to dispose of, which I shall beg leave to commit to your care, and desire it may be concealed behind the wainscot in Mr. Bentley's Gothic house, whenever you build it. As the great person is living to whom it belonged, it would be highly dangerous to make it public; as soon as she is in disgrace, I don't know whether it Will not be a good way of making court to her successor, to communicate it to the world, as I propose doing, under the following title: "The Treasury of Art and Nature, or a Collection of inestimable Receipts, stolen out of the Cabinet of Madame de Pompadour [aged 30], and now first published for the use of his fair Countrywomen, by a true born Englishman and philomystic." * * * * * * * * * * * * *
So the pretty Miss Bishop [aged 24]321, instead of being my niece, is to be Mrs. Bob Brudenel [aged 25]. What foolish birds are turtles when they have scarce a hole to roost in! Adieu!
Note 320. The Hon. George Compton son of Lord Northampton, Mr. Montagu's colleague for Northampton.-E.
Note 321. Daughter of Sir Cecil Bishop [aged 51].
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Around 1758 Pompeo Batoni [aged 49]. Portrait of George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton.
[his daughter] Anne Compton Lady Rushout was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton and Jane Fox Countess Northampton. She married 1729 John Rushout 4th Baronet, son of James Rushout 1st Baronet and Alice Pitt Lady Rushout, and had issue.
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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[his daughter] Mary Compton was born to George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton and Jane Fox Countess Northampton. She married before 1739 William Gore, son of William Gore, and had issue.
Kings Wessex: Great x 19 Grand Son of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Kings Gwynedd: Great x 16 Grand Son of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd
Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 22 Grand Son of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth
Kings Powys: Great x 17 Grand Son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys
Kings Godwinson: Great x 19 Grand Son of King Harold II of England
Kings England: Great x 9 Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Kings Scotland: Great x 18 Grand Son of King Duncan I of Scotland
Kings Franks: Great x 25 Grand Son of Charles "Charlemagne aka Great" King of the Franks King Lombardy Holy Roman Emperor
Kings France: Great x 19 Grand Son of Hugh I King of the Franks
Kings Duke Aquitaine: Great x 23 Grand Son of Ranulf I Duke Aquitaine
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Compton 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Peter Compton
Great x 4 Grandmother: Werburga Brereton
Great x 2 Grandfather: Henry Compton 1st Baron Compton 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: George Talbot 4th Earl of Shrewsbury 
3 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Anne Talbot Countess Pembroke 4 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Walden
Great x 1 Grandfather: William Compton 1st Earl of Northampton 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: George Hastings 1st Earl Huntingdon 
4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Francis Hastings 2nd Earl Huntingdon 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Stafford Countess Huntingdon 
4 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 2 Grandmother: Frances Hastings Baroness Compton 6 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: Henry Pole 1st Baron Montagu 
4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Catherine Pole Countess Huntingdon 5 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: Jane Neville Baroness Montagu 
4 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
GrandFather: Spencer Compton 2nd Earl of Northampton 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Spencer 
Great x 2 Grandfather: John Spencer
Great x 1 Grandmother: Elizabeth Spencer Countess Northampton
Father: James Compton 3rd Earl of Northampton 8 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: George Beaumont 
4 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: William Beaumont 5 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandmother: George Pauncefote
Great x 2 Grandfather: Anthony Beaumont 6 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Bassett 
12 x Great Grand Son of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 3 Grandmother: Mary Bassett 13 x Great Grand Daughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England
Great x 1 Grandfather: Francis Beaumont 7 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Armstrong
Great x 2 Grandmother: Anne Armstrong
GrandMother: Mary Beaumont Countess of Northampton 8 x Great Grand Daughter of King Edward III of England
George Compton 4th Earl of Northampton 9 x Great Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Great x 4 Grandfather: James Noel 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Andrew Noel
Great x 2 Grandfather: Andrew Noel
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Hopton
Great x 3 Grandmother: Elizabeth Hopton
Great x 1 Grandfather: Edward Noel 2nd Viscount Campden
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Alexander Harrington 
Great x 3 Grandfather: James Harrington
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Moton
Great x 2 Grandmother: Mabel Harrington
Great x 4 Grandfather: William Sidney 
Great x 3 Grandmother: Lucy Sidney
Great x 4 Grandmother: Anne Pakenham
GrandFather: Baptist Noel 3rd Viscount Campden
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Hicks
Great x 3 Grandfather: Robert Hicks
Great x 2 Grandfather: Baptist Hicks 1st Viscount Campden
Great x 1 Grandmother: Juliana Hicks Viscountess Campden
Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard May
Great x 2 Grandmother: Elizabeth May Viscountess Campden
Mother: Mary Noel Countess Northampton
Great x 4 Grandfather: Edward Wotton of Boughton Place in Kent 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Wotton
Great x 2 Grandfather: Edward Wotton 1st Baron Wotton
Great x 1 Grandfather: Thomas Wotton 2nd Baron Wotton
GrandMother: Hester Wotton Viscountess Campden