The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy
The Gesta Normannorum Ducum [The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy] is a landmark medieval chronicle tracing the rise and fall of the Norman dynasty from its early roots through the pivotal events surrounding the Norman Conquest of England. Originally penned in Latin by the monk William of Jumièges shortly before 1060 and later expanded at the behest of William the Conqueror, the work chronicles the deeds, politics, battles, and leadership of the Norman dukes, especially William’s own claim to the English throne. The narrative combines earlier historical sources with firsthand information and oral testimony to present an authoritative account of Normandy’s transformation from a Viking settlement into one of medieval Europe’s most powerful realms. William’s history emphasizes the legitimacy, military prowess, and governance of the Norman line, framing their expansion, including the conquest of England, as both divinely sanctioned and noble in purpose. Later chroniclers such as Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni continued the history, extending the coverage into the 12th century, providing broader context on ducal rule and its impact. Today this classic work remains a foundational source for understanding Norman identity, medieval statesmanship, and the historical forces that reshaped England and Western Europe between 800AD and 1100AD.
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Paternal Family Tree: Guildford
Around 1448 [his father] John Guildford [aged 18] and [his mother] Alice Waller [aged 14] were married.
Around 1450 Richard Guildford was born to [his father] John Guildford [aged 20] and [his mother] Alice Waller [aged 16] at Cranbrook, Rolvenden.
In 1461 [his mother] Alice Waller [aged 27] died.
Around 1470 [his son] George Guildford was born to Richard Guildford [aged 20] and [his future wife] Ann Pympe [aged 16]. He married in or before 1501 Elizabeth Mortimer and had issue.
Around 1473 [his father] John Guildford [aged 43] and [his step-mother] Philippe Thornbury [aged 42] were married.
In or before 1474 Richard Guildford [aged 23] and Ann Pympe [aged 19] were married. His father [aged 43] had married, or would marry, her mother [aged 42] each as their second spouse.
Around 1474 [his son] Edward Guildford was born to Richard Guildford [aged 24] and [his wife] Ann Pympe [aged 20] at Offington Worthing. He married (1) before 1496 Eleanor West, daughter of Thomas West 8th Baron De La Warr 5th Baron West and Elizabeth Mortimer Baroness De La Warr and West, and had issue (2) before 1534 Joan Pidleston.
Around 1480 [his daughter] Philippa Guildford was born to Richard Guildford [aged 30] and [his wife] Ann Pympe [aged 26]. She married 14th April 1502 John Gage and had issue.
Around 1482 [his daughter] Frideswide Guildford was born to Richard Guildford [aged 32] and [his wife] Ann Pympe [aged 28]. She married in or before 1501 Matthew Browne and had issue.
Around November 1483 Thomas Grey 1st Marquess Dorset [aged 28] and Eleanor Bohun Countess Ormonde escaped to Henry VII in Brittany [Map]. Walter Hungerford [aged 19], Giles Daubeney 1st Baron Daubeney [aged 32] and Edward Courtenay 1st Earl Devon [aged 24] took part. The rebellion was suppressed by Richard Guildford [aged 33] and Robert Willoughby 1st Baron Willoughby 9th Baron Latimer [aged 31].
On 7th August 1485 King Henry VII of England and Ireland [aged 28] landed at Mill Bay Milford Haven [Map] with John Blount 3rd Baron Mountjoy [aged 35], John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne [aged 43], Richard Guildford [aged 35], John Welles 1st Viscount Welles [aged 35], Philibert Chandee 1st Earl Bath and Edward Courtenay 1st Earl Devon [aged 26] all of whom were knighted.
On 22nd August 1485 King Richard III of England [aged 32] was killed during the Battle of Bosworth. His second cousin once removed Henry Tudor [aged 28] succeeded VII King of England.
Humphrey Cotes [aged 35] died. It isn't clear on which side he was fighting.
Those supporting Henry Tudor included:
John Blount 3rd Baron Mountjoy [aged 35].
John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne [aged 43].
Richard Guildford [aged 35].
Walter Hungerford [aged 21].
Thomas Stanley 1st Earl of Derby [aged 50].
Edward Woodville Lord Scales [aged 29].
Edward Courtenay 1st Earl Devon [aged 26].
Rhys ap Thomas Deheubarth [aged 36].
Jasper Tudor 1st Duke Bedford [aged 53].
William Beaumont 2nd Viscount Beaumont [aged 47].
Giles Daubeney 1st Baron Daubeney [aged 34].
William Stanley [aged 50].
Roger Kynaston of Myddle and Hordley [aged 52].
Henry Marney 1st Baron Marney [aged 38].
William Brandon [aged 29] was killed.
James Harrington [aged 55] was killed.
John Howard 1st Duke of Norfolk [aged 60] was killed and attainted. He was buried firstly at Thetford Priory, Norfolk [Map] and therafter at Church of St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham [Map]. Duke Norfolk, Baron Mowbray, Baron Segrave, Baron Howard forfeit.
John Sacheverell [aged 85] was killed.
Philibert Chandee 1st Earl Bath
William Norreys [aged 44], Gilbert Talbot [aged 33], John de Vere 13th Earl of Oxford [aged 42] and John Savage [aged 41] commanded,.
Robert Poyntz [aged 35] was knighted.
Those who fought for Richard III included:
John Bourchier 6th Baron Ferrers of Groby [aged 47].
John Conyers [aged 74].
Thomas Dacre 2nd Baron Dacre Gilsland [aged 17].
William Berkeley 1st Marquess Berkeley [aged 59].
Richard Fitzhugh 6th Baron Fitzhugh [aged 28].
John Scrope 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton [aged 48].
Thomas Scrope 6th Baron Scrope of Masham [aged 26].
Henry Grey 4th or 7th Baron Grey of Codnor [aged 50].
Edmund Grey 1st Earl Kent [aged 68].
Ralph Neville 3rd Earl of Westmoreland [aged 29].
John de la Pole Earl Lincoln 1st [aged 23].
Humphrey Stafford [aged 59].
George Talbot 4th Earl of Shrewsbury [aged 17].
Thomas Howard 2nd Duke of Norfolk [aged 42] was wounded, captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London [Map] for three years. He was attainted; Earl Surrey forfeit.
Francis Lovell 1st Viscount Lovell [aged 29] fought and escaped.
John Zouche 7th Baron Zouche Harringworth [aged 26] was captured.
John Babington [aged 62], William Alington [aged 65], Robert Mortimer [aged 43], Robert Brackenbury, Richard Ratclyffe [aged 55] and Richard Bagot [aged 73] were killed
Walter Devereux Baron Ferrers of Chartley [aged 53] was killed.
William Catesby [aged 35] was executed at Leicester, Leicestershire [Map] after the battle.
George Stanley 9th Baron Strange Knockin 5th Baron Mohun Dunster [aged 25] held as a hostage by Richard III before the Battle of Bosworth.
Henry Percy 4th Earl of Northumberland [aged 36] betrayed King Richard III of England by not committing his forces at the Battle of Bosworth.
John Iwardby [aged 35] was killed.
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Around 1487 [his daughter] Maria Guildford was born to Richard Guildford [aged 37] and [his wife] Ann Pympe [aged 33]. She married before 1515 William Haute and had issue.
Around 1488 [his daughter] Elizabeth Guildford was born to Richard Guildford [aged 38] and [his wife] Ann Pympe [aged 34]. She married in or before 1500 Thomas Isley and had issue.
William of Worcester's Chronicle of England
William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.
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In 1489 [his son] Henry Guildford was born to Richard Guildford [aged 39] and [his future wife] Joan Vaux "Mother Guildford" [aged 26]. He married (1) May 1512 Margaret Bryan, daughter of Thomas Bryan and Margaret Bourchier 1st Baroness Bryan (2) 1527 Mary Wotton.
Around 1490 [his wife] Ann Pympe [aged 36] died.
After 1490 Richard Guildford [aged 40] and Joan Vaux "Mother Guildford" [aged 27] were married.
In 1493 [his father] John Guildford [aged 63] died.
Before 1496 [his son] Edward Guildford [aged 21] and [his daughter-in-law] Eleanor West [aged 14] were married.
On 17th June 1497 the Cornish rebel army was destroyed at the Battle of Blackheath aka Deptford Bridge.
Richard Guildford [aged 47] was created Knight Banneret.
Edward Stafford 2nd Earl Wiltshire [aged 27], Henry Willoughby [aged 46], Edward Belknapp of Blackfriars in London and Thomas Fiennes 8th Baron Dacre Gilsland [aged 25] fought at Deptford, Kent [Map].
Giles Brugge 6th Baron Chandos [aged 35], John Hussey 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford [aged 32], Robert Sheffield [aged 36], Edward Stanhope 1462-1487, John Peche [aged 47] and Robert Constable [aged 19] were knighted by King Henry VII of England and Ireland [aged 40].
Thomas West 8th Baron De La Warr 5th Baron West [aged 40] commanded.
James Tuchet 7th Baron Audley, 4th Baron Tuchet [aged 34] was captured by Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Thomas Deheubarth [aged 19].
In or before 1500 [his son-in-law] Thomas Isley [aged 13] and [his daughter] Elizabeth Guildford [aged 11] were married.
In or before 1501 [his son] George Guildford [aged 30] and [his daughter-in-law] Elizabeth Mortimer [aged 22] were married.
In or before 1501 [his son-in-law] Matthew Browne [aged 24] and [his daughter] Frideswide Guildford [aged 18] were married.
On 14th April 1502 [his son-in-law] John Gage [aged 22] and [his daughter] Philippa Guildford [aged 22] were married.
Around 1503 Richard Guildford [aged 53] was appointed 254th Knight of the Garter by King Henry VII of England and Ireland [aged 45].
The Antiquarian Repertory. 11th February 1503. Remembrance for the enterment of the right high right excellent and most Christen Princese Elizabeth Queene of England and of France Lady of Ireland [aged 37] and the Eldest daughter of king Edward the fourth wife to the most hygh most puyssant and most victorious king Henry the viith [aged 46] our most dread Souveraigne Lord the which deceased in childbed in the Tower of London [Map] the xith day of Februarye which was upon Saturday and the xviiith yeare of the reigne of our said Soveraigne Lord the king her most dearest husband whose departing was as heveye and dolorous to the kings highuess as hath been sene or heard of. And also in likeyse to all the Estates of this Realme as well Citizens as Comnyns for she was one of the most gracious and best, beloved princesses in the world in her tyme beinge.
Then the king of his wisdom ordeyned certaine of his Counsell for the ordering of her buryall to be at Westminster. That is to say The Erle of Surry [aged 60] Treasurer of England and Sr Richard Guilford [aged 53] Comptrowler of his noble household And himselfe tooke with him certain of his secretest and prevely departed to a solitary place to passe his sorrows and would no man should resort to him but such his grace appointed untill such tyme it should please him to showe his pleasure and over yt every Officer to give their Attendance upon the said Councellours And over yt in his Departing ordeyned Incontinent the next day following for vi [6] Hundredth and xxxvi hole masses said in London and by Sr Charles Somerset [aged 43] and Sr Richard Guilford sent the best comfort to all the Queens servants that hath bene sene of a soveraigne Lord with as good words.
Also then were ronngen the bells of London everye one and after that through out the Realme with solomne Dyrgies and Masses of Requiems and everye Religious place collegs and Churches.
Before 6th September 1533 Anthony Poyntz and [his former wife] Joan Vaux "Mother Guildford" [aged 70] were married.
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.
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On 4th September 1538 [his former wife] Joan Vaux "Mother Guildford" [aged 75] died.