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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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Before 1570 [his father] John Clifton (age 31) and [his mother] Anne Stanley (age 37) were married.
Around 1570 Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton was born to [his father] John Clifton (age 32) and [his mother] Anne Stanley (age 38) in Barrington Court.
In 1591 Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton (age 21) and Katherine Darcy (age 20) were married. They were half fifth cousin once removed.
In 1591 [his mother] Anne Stanley (age 59) died.
Around 1592 [his daughter] Katherine Clifton Duchess Lennox was born to Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton (age 22) and [his wife] Katherine Darcy (age 21). She married (1) 1609 Esmé Stewart 3rd Duke Lennox, son of Esme Stewart 1st Duke Lennox and Catherine Balsac Duchess Lennox, and had issue (2) 1627 James Hamilton 2nd Earl Abercorn, son of James Hamilton 1st Earl Abercorn and Marion Boyd Countess Abercorn, and had issue.
In April 1593 [his father] John Clifton (age 55) died.
In 1608 Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton (age 38) was created 1st Baron Clifton of Leighton Bromswold in Huntingdonshire by writ of summons enabling descent by the female line.
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 1609 [his son-in-law] Esmé Stewart 3rd Duke Lennox (age 30) and [his daughter] Katherine Clifton Duchess Lennox (age 17) were married. He the son of Esme Stewart 1st Duke Lennox and Catherine Balsac Duchess Lennox.
On 17th March 1617 Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton (age 47) was prosecuted by the Star Chamber and moved to Fleet Prison [Map].
On 30th December 1617 Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton (age 47) was imprisoned in the Tower of London [Map] for having threatened Francis Bacon 1st Viscount St Alban (age 56) when Francis ordered a survey of Gervase's lands.
Letters of the Court of James I 1618. 5th October 1618. London. Reverend Thomas Lorkin to Thomas Puckering 1st Baronet (age 26).
This day, news arrived of my Lord de la War's death, in his voyage to Virginia. This day was fatal to my Lord Clifton (age 48), who, at his lodgings in Holborn, stabbed and murdered himself. The last week, the French agent [Le Clerc] was interdicted the court, for being appeached by a companion of his, already in prison for the same crime, to have projected and offered means of Sir Walter Raleigh's (age 64) escape; and, though he protested against it, and sought to justify himself by writing, yet served it not his turn; for in the same terms he remains still, and hath (as I hear) written the news thereof to the king his master, petitioning either for a revocation or a reintegration, by his means, into his former condition.
On 14th October 1618 Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton (age 48) stabbed himself to death in the Fleet Prison [Map]. His daughter [his daughter] Katherine (age 26) succeeded 2nd Baroness Clifton of Leighton Bromswold in Huntingdonshire. According to a letter from Reverend Thomas Lorkin the date was the 5th of October and the location "at his lodgings in Holborn" - see Letter.
In August 1637 [his former wife] Katherine Darcy (age 66) died.
Kings Wessex: Great x 16 Grand Son of King Edmund "Ironside" I of England
Kings Gwynedd: Great x 13 Grand Son of Owain "Great" King Gwynedd
Kings Seisyllwg: Great x 19 Grand Son of Hywel "Dda aka Good" King Seisyllwg King Deheubarth
Kings Powys: Great x 14 Grand Son of Maredudd ap Bleddyn King Powys
Kings Godwinson: Great x 16 Grand Son of King Harold II of England
Kings England: Great x 6 Grand Son of King Edward III of England
Kings Scotland: Great x 15 Grand Son of King Duncan I of Scotland
Kings Franks: Great x 12 Grand Son of Louis VII King of the Franks
Kings France: Great x 16 Grand Son of Robert "Pious" II King of the Franks
Kings Duke Aquitaine: Great x 20 Grand Son of Ranulf I Duke Aquitaine
Great x 1 Grandfather: John Clifton of Walsingham Parva 
GrandFather: William Clifton of Barrington
Father: John Clifton
Gervase Clifton 1st Baron Clifton 6 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandfather: John Stanley 
9 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 3 Grandfather: Thomas Stanley 1st Baron Stanley 10 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Harrington 
Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Stanley 1st Earl of Derby 4 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandfather: Robert Goushill
Great x 3 Grandmother: Jane Goushill Baroness Stanley 3 x Great Grand Daughter of
Great x 4 Grandmother: Elizabeth Fitzalan Duchess Norfolk 
2 x Great Grand Daughter of
Great x 1 Grandfather: Edward Stanley 1st Baron Monteagle 3 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandfather: Ralph Neville 1st Earl of Westmoreland 
5 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 3 Grandfather: Richard Neville Earl Salisbury Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandmother: Joan Beaufort Countess of Westmoreland 
Grand Daughter of
Great x 2 Grandmother: Eleanor Neville Baroness Stanley 2 x Great Grand Daughter of
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas Montagu 1st Count Perche 4th Earl Salisbury 
3 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 3 Grandmother: Alice Montagu 5th Countess of Salisbury 3 x Great Grand Daughter of
Great x 4 Grandmother: Eleanor Holland 
2 x Great Grand Daughter of
GrandFather: Thomas Stanley 2nd Baron Monteagle 4 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandfather: Roger Vaughan of Bredwardine 
7 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 3 Grandfather: Roger Vaughan 8 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandmother: Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam "Star of Abergavenny" Brecon
Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Vaughan 9 x Great Grand Son of
Great x 4 Grandfather: Thomas ab Philip Vychan Unknown
Great x 3 Grandmother: Denise or Cecily Vaughan
Great x 1 Grandmother: Elizabeth Vaughan Baroness Grey Wilton 10 x Great Grand Daughter of
Mother: Anne Stanley 5 x Great Grand Daughter of