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All About History Books
The 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. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
Ampthill, Bedfordshire is in Bedfordshire.
On 19th November 1516 Elizabeth Hussey Countess Kent died at Ampthill, Bedfordshire.
Wriothesley's Chronicle [1508-1562]. 14th July 1541. The 14th daie of Julie the Kinges Grace sent to the Lord Major of Londona from Anthill, by Philiper, one of his Yeomen of [the] Grarde, a great stagge and tow fatt buckes, to make merie with his brethren the Aldermen; wherfore, the sevententh daie of this month, being Soundaie, my lord major had to dynner with him at his house nynetene aldermen besides himself, which made twentithe, and divers of their wiffes, to eate the venery; and that daie after dinner at his table, sittinge [as host], chose Mr. Rowland Hill (age 43), mercer, and a Comminer, sherive for the Kinge for the next yeare, according to the old custome of this citie.
Note a. Sir William Roche.
Ampthill Castle, Bedfordshire, Home Counties, England, British Isles [Map]
Ampthill Castle, Bedfordshire is also in Castles in Bedfordshire.
After 1415 Ampthill Castle, Bedfordshire [Map] was commissioned by John Cornwall 1st Baron Fanhope 1st Baron Milbroke (age 51) paid for with ransoms from the the Battle of Agincourt.
On 11th December 1443 John Cornwall 1st Baron Fanhope 1st Baron Milbroke (age 79) died at Ampthill Castle, Bedfordshire [Map]. He was buried at Blackfriars Priory, Ludgate. Baron Fanhope, Baron Milbroke extinct.
Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic Henry VIII 1528. 9th July 1528. R. O. St. P. I. 312. 4486. Hennege (age 48) to Wolsey.
I delivered the King your letters, for which he thanks you, especially for the good news out of Italy from Dr. Stevyns. He has heard that my Lady Marquese of Exeter (age 25) is sick of the sweat, and he will therefore remove upon Saturday to Ampthill [Map]. He has ordered all who were in the Marquis's company to depart. He is glad you have made your will, "and ordered yourself anenst God," as he has done. He intends to send his will to you, by which you will perceive his hearty mind towards you above all men living. By the death of one of his chapel, divers gifts have fallen, which he desires may be stayed until you have further knowledge of his pleasure. "Also he desireth your Grace that he may hear every second day from you how you do; for I assure you every morning, as soon as he cometh from the Queen, he asketh whether I hear anything from your Grace." He has told Herytage what alterations he desires here. Tittenhanger [Map], 9 July.
Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic Henry VIII 1528. 22nd July 1528. R. O. 4546. Hennege to Wolsey.
This day I received your letter, with one to the chapter of Lincoln, in favour of my brother, the archdeacon of Oxford, for the deanery of Lincoln; which, without your aid, had not taken effect. As the plague is at Grafton [Map], the King will not go there. As for your wish that Wilson should have some promotion, the King is in doubt whether he shall give the archdeaconry of Oxford to Mr. Wilson or Dr. Bell. The King cannot write, in consequence of his head, and begs you will send him the presentation of the prebend of Ripon, as you promised him. The vicarage you gave to Dr. Wilson was resigned to Dr. Daycots for a pension five years ago. The King wishes you to dispatch the earl of Angus's servant. He will not fail to send you "these letters of Ireland" in two or three days, but his head is not the best, or he would have dispatched them now. He desires you to be good lord to his barber Penne, for the daughter and ward unto your Grace, of one Chevall, within the liberties of St. Alban's, for his money. It is not in value above £12 a year, her father hath tangled it so, and laid it to mortgage for £60. Cade can inform you of the truth. Ampthill [Map], 22 July, about 7 in the afternoon. Signed.
Pp. 2. Add. Endd. Wolsey has written at the back "intangellyd."
Wriothesley's Chronicle [1508-1562]. Around 8th April 1533. And the Wednesdaie before the good Queene Katherinf was deposed at Hanthill [Map]a by the Duke of Norfolke (age 60), the Duke of Suffolke (age 49), and Lord Marques of Exceter (age 37), my Lorde of Oxforde (age 62), Lord Chamberlaine of the Kinges howse, Mr. Treasorer and Mr. Controwler of the Kinges howse. And from that dale after to be called Ladie Catherin, wife of Prince Arthur, dowarie of Englande,b she to have by yearelie pencion for her dowarie eight thousand poundes sterlinge.
Note f. The general opinion in England was distinctly adverse to the divorce. See Calendar of State Papers preserved in the Archives of Venice, vol. iv. 1532-3.
Note a. Ampthill [Map], in Bedfordshire, to which place Queen Katharine retired while the question of her dirorce was under discussion. This castle had been erected by Lord Fanhope, and reverted with the manor to the Crown in the reign of Edward IV, by whom it was conferred on Lord Grey of Ruthin, Earl of Kent, from whose descendants it passed again to the Crown about 1530, and became a palace of Henry VIII (age 41).
Note b. Princess Dowager of Wales, which designation was displeasing to the ex-queen, who refused to resign herself to the judgment passed. She went so far as to obliterate with her own pen the words "Princess Dowager" whererer they had been written by her Chamberlain, Mountjoy (age 55), in his report to the King.
Ellis' Letters. 17th June 1533. Thomas Cranmer archbishop of Canterbury, to Mr Hawkyns the Ambassador at the Emperors Court; upon the divorce of Queen Catherine, and the Coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn. A. D. 1533.
[MS. HARL. BRIT. MUS. 6148.]
In my most hartie wise I commende me unto you and even so woulde be right gladd to here of your welfare, &c. Thes be to advertise you that inasmoche as you nowe and than take some paynes in writyng vnto me, I woulde be lothe you shuld thynke your Labour utterly lost and forgotten for lake of wrytyng agayne; therefore and by cause I reken you be somedele desirous of suche newis as hathe byn here with us of late in the Kyngis Graces matters, I entend to enforme you a parte therof accordyng to the tenure and purporte vsyd in that behalf.
Ande fyrste as towchyng the small determynacion and concludyng of the matter of devorse betwene my Lady Kateren and the Kyngs Grace, whiche said matter after the Convocacion in that behalf hadde determyned and aggreed accordyng to the former consent of the Vniversites, yt was thowght convenient by the Kyng and his lernyd Councell that I shuld repayre unto Dunstable, which ys within iiij. myles vnto Amptell [Map], where the said Lady Kateren (age 47) kepeth her howse, and there to call her before me, to here the fynall Sentance in this said mateir. Notwithstandyng she would not att all obey therunto, for whan she was by doctour Lee cited to appear by a daye, she utterly refused the same, sayinge that inasmoche as her cause was before the Pope she would have none other judge; and therfore woulde not take me for her judge.
Nevertheless the viij th daye of Maye [8th May 1533], accordyng to the said appoyntment, I came vnto Dunstable, my Lorde of Lyncoln (age 60) beyng assistante vnto me, and my Lorde of Wyncehester (age 50), Doctour Bell, Doctour Claybroke, Doctour Trygonnel, Doctour Hewis, Doctour Olyver, Doctour Brytten, Mr. Bedell, with diuerse other lernyd in the Lawe beyng councellours in the Lawe for the King's parte: and soo there at our commyng kepte a Courte for the apperance of the said Lady Kateren, where were examyned certeyn witnes whiche testified that she was lawfully cited and called to appere, whome for fawte of apperance was declared contumax; procedyng in the said cause agaynste her in pænam contumaciam as the processe of the Lawe thereunto belongeth; whiche contynewed xv. dayes after our cummyng thither. And the morow after Assension daye I gave finall Sentance therin, howe that it was indispensable for the Pope to lycense any suche marieges.
This donne, and after our reiornynga1 home agayne, the Kings Highnes prepared al thyngs convenient for the Coronacion of the Queene, whiche also was after suche a maner as foloweth.
Notes. The following Letter from Cranmer (age 43) to the English ambassador at the Emperor's court, is taken from the archbishop's rough copy-book of his own Letters.
The passage in it which concerns the secret marriage of Henry (age 41) and Anne Boleyn (age 32) is, perhaps, the most important of the whole; as tending to throw light upon the real time of a transaction on which our historians have differed.
Hall and Hollinshed both name ST. ERKENWALD's day for the marriage, November the fourteenth; the very day on which Henry and Anne arrived at Dover from the Interview with Francisa. But this was a time ill-adapted to concealment; and was probably fixed upon at a later moment, only that the world might believe that the fruit of the marriage was conceived in wedlockb
Stow fixes the twenty-fifth of January following, that is ST. PAUL'S day, for the time; and says the ceremony was performed by Dr . Rowland Lee, afterwards bishop of Chesterc. Cranmer merely says it was much about ST. PAUL'S day.
At all events the marriage was celebrated before even Cranmer's divorce had been pronounced. Lord Herbert asserts, with what truth the present Letter will declare, that Cranmer himself was at the marriaged.
Whether the following Account of this transaction came from the fictions of Sanders, or from the manuscript History of the Divorce presented to Queen Mary thirty years before the work of Sanders was published, matters not: it is to be regretted that, uncorroborated, it should have found its way into a work, in many points of view so valuable as Lingard's History of England.
"On the 25th of January at an early hour, Dr. Rowland Lee, one of the royal chaplains, received an order to celebrate mass in a garret at the western end of the palace at Whitehall. There he found the King attended by Norris and Heneage, two of the grooms of chamber, and Anne Boleyn accompanied by her train-bearer Anne Savage, afterwards Lady Berkeley. We are told that Lee, when he discovered the object for which he had been called, made some opposition: but Henry calmed his scruples with the assurance that Clement had pronounced in his favour, and that the Papal instrument was safely deposited in his closet. As soon as the marriage ceremony had been performed, the parties separated in silence before it was light"e.
Note a. Hall, Chron. edit. 1809. p. 794. Hollinsh. edit. 1808; vol. ili.-p. 777
Note b. Queen Elizabeth was born on September the 7th 1533.
Note c. Stow, Ann. edit 1631. p. 562.
Note d. Herb. Life of Hen. VIII. edit. 1649. p. 341. Burnet in his History of the Reformation has likewise fallen into this error.
Note e. Linguard Hist Engl. 1st edit vol. iv. p. 196.
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Westoning, Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Home Counties, England, British Isles
Around 1155 William Boclande was born at Westoning, Ampthill.
All About History Books
The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, a canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: "In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed." Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
On 28th March 1222 Maud Saye (age 67) died at Westoning, Ampthill.