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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Paternal Family Tree: Holland
In 1283 Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand was born to [his father] Robert de Holand of Upholland (age 41) at Lancashire.
Before 1310 Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand (age 26) and Maud Zouche Baroness Holand were married.
Around 1310 [his daughter] Maud Holland 3rd Baroness Holand, Baroness Lovel was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand (age 27) and [his wife] Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England. She married (1) before 26th February 1322 her fourth cousin John Mowbray 3rd Baron Mowbray, son of John Mowbray 2nd Baron Mowbray and Aline de Braose Baroness Mowbray (2) in or before 1375 her fourth cousin John Lovell 5th Baron Lovel, Baron Holand, son of John Lovell 3rd Baron Lovel and Isabel Zouche, and had issue.
Around 1311 [his son] Robert Holland 2nd Baron Holand was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand (age 28) and [his wife] Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. He a great x 4 grandson of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.
On 7th October 1311 [his father] Robert de Holand of Upholland (age 69) died.
In 1314 Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand (age 31) was created 1st Baron Holand by writ of summons to Parliament. [his wife] Maud Zouche Baroness Holand by marriage Baroness Holand.
Around 1314 [his son] Thomas Holland 1st Earl Kent was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand (age 31) and [his wife] Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. He a great x 4 grandson of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England. He married March 1340 his fourth cousin once removed Joan "Fair Maid of Kent" Princess Wales, daughter of Edmund of Woodstock 1st Earl Kent and Margaret Wake Countess Kent, and had issue.
Around 1316 [his son] Otho Holland was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand (age 33) and [his wife] Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. He a great x 4 grandson of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.
Before 26th February 1322 [his son-in-law] John Mowbray 3rd Baron Mowbray (age 11) and [his daughter] Maud Holland 3rd Baroness Holand, Baroness Lovel (age 12) were married. The marriage was later declared void. They were fourth cousins. He a great x 4 grandson of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.
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.
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Chronicle of Henry Knighton. [Before March 1322] For indeed, all the other persecutors of the earl met with a violent death. When Robert de Holland (age 39) heard that the earl had fled, he surrendered himself to the king at Derby and was sent into custody at Dover Castle. Everyone regarded him with hatred, for he had betrayed his lord, who had loved him deeply, and had, as it were, raised him from nothing to a great man
Nam et cateræ quilibet comitis persecutores violentam mortem nacti sunt. Robertus de Holande cum audisset fugisse comitem, reddidit se regi apud Derbeyam, missusque est in custodiam ad castrum de Dover, quem omnes habebant exosum pro eo quod deceperat sic dominum suum qui eum nimis dilexerat, et, quasi de nihilo in magnum virum erexerat.
Chronicle of Henry Knighton. In the same year, Lord Robert de Holland was captured [7th October 1328] in a wood near London. This Robert (age 45) had been raised from a poor knight to a high and wealthy baron by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. But at the time when discord arose between his lord, the Earl Thomas, and the king, Robert de Holland, in his lord's greatest moment of need, when Thomas was most relying on his arrival with the promised support of the people, abandoned his lord in his unavoidable distress and surrendered himself to the king, thereby betraying him. Because of this act of disloyalty, all the nobles and magnates of the realm hated him; and with the greatest dishonour, his head was cut off [15th October 1328]. It was sent to Henry, Earl of Lancaster, at Waltham Holy Cross, by a certain knight named Thomas Wyther, along with other secret followers of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster.
Eoden anno captus est dominus Robertus de Holande in uno bosco citra Londonias. Iste Robertus erectus est de paupere milite in sublimem et divitem baronem per comitem Lancastriæ Thomam. Eo tempore quo discordia increvit inter dominum suum comitem Thomam et regem, ipse Robertus Holande in summa necessitate domini sui quando dominus suus maxime confidebat de ejus adventu cum sauxilio populi promisso, relicto domino suo in sua angustia inevitabili reddidit se regi, decipiens dominum suum, quam ob infidelitatem omnes proceres et magnates regni odio eum habebant; et cum maximo vituperio caput ejus abscissum est, ad comitem Lancastriæ Henricum apud Waltham sanctæ crucis transmissum est per quendam militem Thomam Wyther nomine, et alios secretos Thomæ comitis Lancastriæ.
On 7th October 1328 Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand (age 45) was captured at Boreham, Essex [Map]. He was beheaded on the 15th October 1328. His son Robert (age 17) succeeded 2nd Baron Holand.
[his daughter] Isabel Holland was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand and Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.
[his daughter] Eleanor Holland was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand and Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.
[his daughter] Margaret Holland was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand and Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England. She married in or before 1329 John la Warr 2nd Baron de la Warr, son of Roger la Warr 1st Baron de la Warr, and had issue.
[his son] Alan Holland was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand and Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. He a great x 4 grandson of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.
[his daughter] Elizabeth Holland was born to Robert Holland 1st Baron Holand and Maud Zouche Baroness Holand. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England. She married Henry Fitzroger and had issue.
Joan Beaufort Queen Consort Scotland [1]
King Richard III of England [1]
Anne Neville Queen Consort England [1]
King Henry VII of England and Ireland [1]
Catherine Parr Queen Consort England [1]
Jane Grey I Queen England and Ireland [2]
George Wharton [5]
Brigadier-General Charles Fitz-Clarence [34]
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom [121]
GrandFather: Thurstan de Holland
Father: Robert de Holand of Upholland