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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King's Lynn, Norfolk is in Norfolk.
See: , [Map].
On 29th September 1470 King Edward IV of England [aged 28] fled from King's Lynn, Norfolk [Map] to the court of Charles the Bold [aged 36] who had married his sister Margaret [aged 24] two years earlier. His brother Richard [aged 17].
Gilbert Debenham [aged 38] travelled with King Edward IV of England.
Around 1540 Robert Coke of Sparham [aged 60] died at King's Lynn, Norfolk [Map].
Around 1575 Thomas Wyndham was born to Henry Wyndham [aged 21] at King's Lynn, Norfolk [Map].
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 31st January 1661. This morning with Mr. Coventry [aged 33] at Whitehall about getting a ship to carry my Lord's deals to Lynne [Map], and we have chosen the Gift. Thence at noon to my Lord's, where my Lady not well, so I eat a mouthfull of dinner there, and thence to the Theatre [Map], and there sat in the pit among the company of fine ladys, &c.; and the house was exceeding full, to see Argalus and Parthenia, the first time that it hath been acted: and indeed it is good, though wronged by my over great expectations, as all things else are.
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 23rd May 1668. After dinner away again and come to Cambridge, after much bad way, about nine at night; and there, at the Rose, I met my father's horses, with a man, staying for me. But it is so late, and the waters so deep, that I durst not go to-night; but after supper to bed; and there lay very ill, by reason of some drunken scholars making a noise all night, and vexed for fear that the horses should not be taken up from grass, time enough for the morning. Well pleased all this journey with the conversation of him that went with me, who I think is a lawyer, and lives about Lynne [Map], but his name I did not ask.
John Evelyn's Diary. 10th September 1677. Having now passed near three weeks at Euston, Suffolk, to my great satisfaction, with much difficulty he suffered me to look homeward, being very earnest with me to stay longer; and, to engage me, would himself have carried me to Lynn-Regis [Map], a town of important traffic, about twenty miles beyond, which I had never seen; as also the Traveling Sands, about ten miles wide of Euston, Suffolk, that have so damaged the country, rolling from place to place, and, like the Sands in the Deserts of Lybia, quite overwhelmed some gentlemen's whole estates, as the relation extant in print, and brought to our Society, describes at large.
On 13th June 1752 Frances Burney was born to Charles Burney [aged 26] at King's Lynn, Norfolk [Map].
On 9th October 1818 Bishop Harvey Goodwin was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk [Map].
Before 1839. John Thirtle [aged 61]. Old King's Lynn, Norfolk [Map].
The River Great Ouse rises near Syresham, Northamptonshire [Map] from where it flows past Biddlesden, Buckinghamshire [Map], Brackley, Northamptonshire [Map], Westbury, Buckinghamshire [Map], Radclive, Buckinghamshire [Map], through the centre of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire [Map], Buckingham, Buckinghamshire [Map] after which it is joined by Padbury Brook.
The River Great Ouse continues past Thornton, Buckinghamshire [Map], Passenham, Northamptonshire [Map], Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire [Map], around Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire [Map], past Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire [Map], Olney, Buckinghamshire [Map], Newton Blossomville, Buckinghamshire [Map], crossing into Bedfordshirem, past Harrold, Bedfordshire [Map], Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire [Map], Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire [Map], through the centre of Bedford, Bedfordshire [Map], under Great Barford Bridge, Bedfordshire [Map], past Tempsford, Bedfordshire [Map], Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire [Map], through St Neots, Bedfordshire [Map], past Offord D'Arcy, Bedfordshire [Map] and Offord Cluny, Bedfordshire [Map], through Godmanchester [Map] and Huntingdon [Map], under St Ives Bridge [Map], Earith [Map] after which it is separates into two.
Thereafter one section is canalised heading north-east to Downham Market, Norfolk [Map].
The other natural section flows past Little Thetford [Map], through Ely [Map], Littleport [Map], past to Downham Market, Norfolk [Map] where it joins the canalised section.
Thereafter to King's Lynn, Norfolk [Map] after which it joins the The Wash.