Text this colour links to Pages. Text this colour links to Family Trees. Text this colour are links that disabled for Guests.
Place the mouse over images to see a larger image. Click on paintings to see the painter's Biography Page.
Mouse over links for a preview. Move the mouse off the painting or link to close the popup.
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.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
In or before 1597 [his father] Thomas Wood (age 31) and [his mother] Susanna Cranmer were married.
On or before 17th October 1597 Henry Wood 1st Baronet was born to [his father] Thomas Wood (age 32) and [his mother] Susanna Cranmer. He was baptised on 17th October 1597 at Hackney.
Around 1630 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 32) and Anne Webb were married.
Around 1643 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 45) was appointed Clerk of the Spicery.
In 1644 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 46) accompanied the Queen (age 34), Henrietta Maria, to France, as Treasurer to her Household, an office he retained till his death.
On 16th April 1644 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 46) was knighted at Oxford, Oxfordshire [Map].
In May 1649 [his father] Thomas Wood (age 84) died.
Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall
The Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall (Chronicon Anglicanum) is an indispensable medieval history that brings to life centuries of English and European affairs through the eyes of a learned Cistercian monk. Ralph of Coggeshall, abbot of the Abbey of Coggeshall in Essex in the early 13th century, continued and expanded his community’s chronicle, documenting events from the Norman Conquest of 1066 into the tumultuous reign of King Henry III. Blending eyewitness testimony, careful compilation, and the monastic commitment to record-keeping, this chronicle offers a rare narrative of political intrigue, royal power struggles, and social upheaval in England and beyond. Ralph’s work captures the reigns of pivotal figures such as Richard I and King John, providing invaluable insights into their characters, decisions, and the forces that shaped medieval rule. More than a simple annal, Chronicon Anglicanum conveys the texture of medieval life and governance, making it a rich source for scholars and readers fascinated by English history, monastic authorship, and the shaping of the medieval world.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
On 15th June 1649 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 51) was fined £273 for having been a Royalist.
In November 1651 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 54) and Mary Gardiner (age 24) were married at Paris [Map]. The difference in their ages was 29 years.
John Evelyn's Diary. 17th November 1651. I went to congratulate the marriage of [his wife] Mrs. Gardner (age 24), maid of honor, lately married to that odd person, Sir Henry Wood (age 54): but riches do many things.
Around 1657 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 59) was created 1st Baronet Wood.
There is no mention of this creation in Dugdale's Catalogue, but it is stated in the Family of Chester, of Chicheley, by R. E. Chester Waters (where there is a good account of the family of Wood), that Charles II created him a Baronet at the time when he had nothing but titles of honour to bestow. The date of his creation is unknown for his patent was never enrolled, but Sir Thomas Bond, the Comptroller of Queen Henrietta's Household, was made a Baronet 9 Oct. 1658, and it is not likely that the Queen's Treasurer, who had precedence of the Comptroller, would be passed over in the distribution of honours. Sir Henry's name does not occur in any list of Baronets which I have seen, but there is no doubt about his creation, for he is constantly styled Baronet in Royal Warrants after 1660, and is so described on his father's monument, and in his own will.
Around 1660 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 62) was appointed Clerk of the Green Cloth.
In 1661 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 63) was in attendance on Queen Catharine (age 22) on her voyage from Lisbon, and was subsequently a member of her Council.
In 1661 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 63) was elected MP Hythe which seat he held until his death in 1671.
In or after 1661 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 63) was appointed Clerk of the Green Cloth.
In or after 1661 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 63) was appointed Clerk of the Green Cloth.
Jean de Waurin's Chronicle of England Volume 6 Books 3-6: The Wars of the Roses
Jean de Waurin was a French Chronicler, from the Artois region, who was born around 1400, and died around 1474. Waurin’s Chronicle of England, Volume 6, covering the period 1450 to 1471, from which we have selected and translated Chapters relating to the Wars of the Roses, provides a vivid, original, contemporary description of key events some of which he witnessed first-hand, some of which he was told by the key people involved with whom Waurin had a personal relationship.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
In 1663 [his daughter] Mary Wood Duchess Southampton was born to Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 65) and [his wife] Mary Gardiner (age 35). She married 1679 Charles Fitzroy 1st Duke Southampton 2nd Duke Cleveland, son of King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland and Barbara Villiers 1st Duchess of Cleveland.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 26th October 1663. Thence to Westminster Hall [Map] with Creed, and spent the morning walking there, where, it being Terme time, I met several persons, and talked with them, among others James Pearce Surgeon, who tells me that the Queen (age 24) is in a way to be pretty well again, but that her delirium in her head continues still; that she talks idle, not by fits, but always, which in some lasts a week after so high a fever, in some more, and in some for ever; that this morning she talked mightily that she was brought to bed, and that she wondered that she should be delivered without pain and without spueing or being sicke, and that she was troubled that her boy was but an ugly boy. But the King (age 33) being by, said, "No, it is a very pretty boy".-"Nay", says she, "if it be like you it is a fine boy indeed, and I would be very well pleased with it". The other day she talked mightily of Sir H. Wood's (age 66) [his wife] lady's (age 36) great belly, and said if she should miscarry he would never get another, and that she never saw such a man as this Sir H. Wood in her life, and seeing of Dr. Pridgeon, she said, "Nay, Doctor, you need not scratch your head, there is hair little enough already in the place". But methinks it was not handsome for the weaknesses of Princes to be talked of thus.
On 17th March 1665 [his wife] Mary Gardiner (age 38) died of smallpox. On 1st April 1665 she was buried at Westminster Abbey [Map].
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 19th September 1666. Thence to White Hall, with Sir W. Batten (age 65) and Sir W. Pen (age 45), to Wilkes's; and there did hear the many profane stories of Sir Henry Wood (age 68) damning the parsons for so much spending the wine at the sacrament, cursing that ever they took the cup to themselves, and then another story that he valued not all the world's curses, for two pence he shall get at any time the prayers of some poor body that is worth a 1000 of all their curses; Lord Norwich drawing a tooth at a health. Another time, he and Pinchbacke and Dr. Goffe, now a religious man, Pinchbacke did begin a frolick to drink out of a glass with a toad in it that he had taken up going out to shit, he did it without harm. Goffe, who knew sacke would kill the toad, called for sacke; and when he saw it dead, says he, "I will have a quick toad, and will not drink from a dead toad".1 By that means, no other being to be found, he escaped the health.
Note 1. "They swallow their own contradictions as easily as a hector can drink a frog in a glass of wine".-Benlivoglio and Urania, book v., p. 92, 3rd edit. B.
In 1671 [his brother] Bishop Thomas Wood (age 64) was appointed Bishop of Lichfield.
On 25th May 1671 Henry Wood 1st Baronet (age 73) died without male issue. Baronet Wood extinct. On 31st May 1671 he was buried at Ufford, Suffolk. His daughter [his daughter] Mary Wood Duchess Southampton (age 8) was his heir. In view of the great wealth she was to inherit she was betrothed to [his future son-in-law] Charles Fitzroy 1st Duke Southampton 2nd Duke Cleveland (age 8), an illegitmate son of King Charles II of England Scotland and Ireland (age 40) and Barbara Villiers 1st Duchess of Cleveland (age 30). On her father's death she went to live with Barbara Villiers 1st Duchess of Cleveland. They, Mary Wood Duchess Southampton and Charles Fitzroy 1st Duke Southampton 2nd Duke Cleveland married 1679 but she died a year later from smallpox.