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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.
Penshurst, Kent is in Kent.
Penshurst, Kent [Map] is on the River Medway.
In 1417 William IV Sidney was born at Penshurst, Kent [Map].
In 1477 William IV Sidney (age 60) died at Penshurst, Kent [Map].
In or before 1484 Nicholas Pakenham was born to Hugh Pakenham (age 13) at Penshurst, Kent [Map].
In 1485 Anne Pakenham was born to Hugh Pakenham (age 15) at Penshurst, Kent [Map].
Around 1520 Lucy Sidney was born to William Sidney (age 38) and Anne Pakenham (age 35) at Penshurst, Kent [Map].
On 22nd October 1544 Anne Pakenham (age 59) died at Penshurst, Kent [Map].
On 11th February 1554 William Sidney (age 72) died at Penshurst, Kent [Map]. He was buried at St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst.
Letters of Horace Walpole. 5th August 1752. Now begins our chapter of woes. The inn was full of farmers and tobacco; and the next morning, when we were bound for Penshurst, Kent [Map], the only man in the town who had two horses would not let us have them, because the roads, as he said, were so bad. We were forced to send to the wells for others, which did not arrive till half the day was spent-we all the while up to the head and ears in a market of sheep and oxen. A mile from the town we climbed up a hill to see Summer Hill335, the residence of Grammont's Princess of Babylon.336 There is now scarce a road to it: the Paladins of those times were too valorous to fear breaking their necks; and I much apprehend that la Monsery and the fair Mademoiselle Hamilton337, must have mounted their palfreys and rode behind their gentlemen-ushers upon pillions to the Wells. The house is little better than a farm, but has been an excellent one, and is entire, though out of repair. I have drawn the front of it to show you, which you are to draw over again to show me. It stands high, commands a vast landscape beautifully wooded, and has quantities of large old trees to shelter itself, some of which might be well spared to open views.
From Summer Hill we went to Lamberhurst to dine; near which, that is, at the distance of three miles, up and down impracticable hills, in a most retired vale, such as Pope describes in the last Dunciad, "Where slumber abbots, purple as their vines,"
Note 335. "May 29, 1652. We went to see the house of my Lord Clanrickard, at Summer Hill, near Tunbridge; now given to that villain Bradshaw, who condemned the King. 'Tis situated on an eminent hill, with a park, but has nothing else extraordinary." Evelyn, vol. ii. p. 58.-E.
Note 336. Lady Margaret Macarthy, daughter and heiress of the Marquis of Clanricarde, wife of Charles, Lord Muskerry.-E.
Note 337. Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir George Hamilton, fourth son of the first Earl of Abercorn, and niece of to the first Duke of Ormond, celebrated in the "Memoires de Grammont" (written by her brother, Count Anthony Hamilton,) for her beauty and accomplishments. She married Philip, Count de Grammont, by whom she had two daughters; the eldest married Henry Howard, created Earl of Stafford, and the youngest took the veil.-E.
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The River Medway rises near Turners Hill [Map] from where it flows through Wood Weir Reservoir [Map], past Forest Row [Map], between Hartwell [Map] and Hartfield [Map], after which it is joined by the River Grom, past Ashurst, Kent [Map], Hedge Barton, Kent [Map], Penshurst, Kent [Map], under Ensfield Bridge, Kent [Map], through Tonbridge, Kent [Map], past East Peckham, Surrey [Map], Nettlestead, Kent [Map], under Teston Bridge, Kent [Map], under Kettle Bridge, Kent [Map] and East Farleigh Bridge, Kent [Map], through Maidstone, Kent [Map].
After Maidstone the river flows past Aylesford, Kent [Map], Burnham Causewayed Enclosure [Map] and Wouldham, Kent [Map] to Rochester, Kent [Map].
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.
The Kent River Eden rises just north of Clacket Lane Services, Kent [Map] from where it flows past Limsfield, Surrey [Map], Oxted, Surrey [Map], Dormansbridge, Kent [Map], Edenbridge, Kent [Map], Hever Castle, Kent [Map] where it forms the moat, past Chiddingstone, Kent [Map] to Penshurst, Kent [Map] where it joins the River Medway.
On 18th September 1501 Henry Stafford 1st Baron Stafford was born to Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham (age 23) and Eleanor Percy Duchess Buckingham at Penshurst Place, Kent [Map].
In 1531 Frances Sidney Countess Sussex was born to William Sidney (age 49) and Anne Pakenham (age 46) at Penshurst Place, Kent [Map].
On 21st October 1554 John Dudley 2nd Earl Warwick (age 27) died at Penshurst Place, Kent [Map].
Henry Machyn's Diary. 21st October 1554. The xxj day of October ded the yerle of Warwyke (age 27), the eldest sune of the duke of Northumberland that was heddyd, at ser [Henry] Sydnay (age 25) plasse at Penthurst [Map] at mydnyght he ded.
Note. P. 72. Ibid. Death of the earl of Warwick. John Dudley earl of Warwick, the eldest son of the duke of Northumberland, was one of the knights of the Bath at the coronation of Edward VI. On the 29th April 1552, he was made master of the horse to the king (Pat. 6 Edw. VI. p. 5); but Collins, (Memoirs of the Sidneys, p. 31,) is wrong in saying he was afterwards chosen a Knight of the Garter. Strype, Mem. ii. 500, erroneously inserts the christian name of Ambrose to the patent of master of the horse. On receiving that office the earl of Warwick resigned that of master of the buck-hounds to his brother lord Robert Dudley. (Ibid. 501.)
On 30th November 1554 Philip Sidney was born to Henry Sidney (age 25) and Mary Dudley (age 24) at Penshurst Place, Kent [Map].
Letters of Horace Walpole. 7th August 1572. This morning we have been to Penshurst [Map] - but, oh! how fallen!341 The park seems to have never answered its character: at present it is forlorn; and instead of Sacharissa's342 cipher carved on the beeches, I should sooner have expected to have found the milkwoman's score. Over the gate is an inscription, purporting the manor to have been a boon from Edward VI to Sir William Sydney. The apartments are the grandest I have seen in any of these old palaces, but furnished in tawdry modern taste. There are loads of portraits; but most of them seem christened by chance, like children at a foundling hospital. There is a portrait of Languet343, the friend of Sir Philip Sydney (age 17); and divers of himself and all his great kindred; particularly his sister-in-law, with a vast lute, and Sacharissa, charmingly handsome, But there are really four very great curiosities, I believe as old portraits as any extant in England: they are, Fitzallen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Humphry Stafford, the first Duke of Buckingham; T. Wentworth, and John Foxle; all four with the dates of their commissions as constables of Queenborough Castle, from whence I suppose they were brought. The last is actually receiving his investiture from Edward the Third, and Wentworth is in the dress of Richard the Third's time. They are really not very ill done.344 There are six more, only heads; and we have found since we came home that Penshurst belonged for a time to that Duke of Buckingham. There are some good tombs in the church, and a very Vandal one. called Sir Stephen of Penchester. When we had seen Penshurst, we borrowed saddles, and, bestriding the horses of our postchaise, set out for Hever [Map]345, to visit a tomb of Sir Thomas Bullen, Earl of Wiltshire, partly with a view to talk of it in Anna Bullen's walk at Strawberry Hill. But the measure of our woes was not full, we could not find our way and were forced to return; and again lost ourselves in coming from Penshurst, having been directed to what they call a better road than the execrable one we had gone.
Note 341. Evelyn, who visited Penshurst exactly a century before Walpole, gives the Following brief notice of the place:-"July 9, 1652. We went to see Penshurst, the Earl of Leicester's, famous once for its gardens and excellent fruit, and for the noble conversation which Was wont to meet there, celebrated by that illustrious person Sir Philip Sidney, who there composed divers of his pieces. It stands in a park, is finely watered, and was now full of company, on the marriage of my old fellow-collegiate, Mr. Robert Smith, who marries Lady Dorothy Sidney, widow of the Earl of Sunderland."-E.
Note 342. Lady Dorothy Sidney, daughter of Philip, Earl of Leicester [Note. Mistake? She was sister of Philip Earl of Leicester]; of whom Waller was the unsuccessful suitor, and to whom he addressed those elegant effusions of poetical gallantry, in which she is celebrated under the name of Sacharissa. Walpole here alludes to the lines written at Penshurst-
"Go, boy, and carve this passion on the bark
Of yonder tree, which stands the sacred mark
Of noble Sydney's birth; when such benign,
Such more than mortal-making stars did shine,
That there they cannot but for ever prove
The monument and pledge of humble love;
His humble love, whose hope shall ne'er rise higher,
Than for a pardon that he dares admire."-E.
Note 343. Hubert Tanguet, who quitted the service of the Elector of Saxony on account of his religion, and attached himself to the Prince of Orange. He died in 1581.-E.
Note 344. In Harris's History of Kent, he gives from Philpot a list of the constables of Queenborough Castle, p. 376; the last but one of whom, Sir Edward Hobby, is said to have collected all their portraits, of which number most probably were these ten.
Note 345. Hever Castle was built in the reign of Edward III, by William de Hevre, and subsequently became the property of the Boleyn family. In this castle Henry VIII passed the time of his courtship to the unfortunate Anne Boleyn; whose father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, was Created Earl of wiltshire and Ormond, 1529 and 1538.-E.
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John Evelyn's Diary. 9th July 1652. We went to see Penshurst [Map], the Earl of Leicester's, famous once for its gardens and excellent fruit, and for the noble conversation which was wont to meet there, celebrated by that illustrious person, Sir Philip Sidney (age 33), who there composed divers of his pieces. It stands in a park, is finely watered, and was now full of company, on the marriage of my old fellow-collegiate, Mr. Robert Smith, who married my Lady Dorothy Sidney (age 34), widow of the Earl of Sunderland.
On 14th February 1680 John Sidney 6th Earl of Leicester was born to Robert Sidney 4th Earl of Leicester (age 31) and Elizabeth Egerton Countess Leicester (age 26) at Penshurst Place, Kent [Map].
On 27th September 1737 John Sidney 6th Earl of Leicester (age 57) died at Penshurst Place, Kent [Map]. He was buried at St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst. His brother Jocelyn (age 55) succeeded 7th Earl of Leicester, 7th Viscount Lisle.
On 11th February 1554 William Sidney (age 72) died at Penshurst, Kent [Map]. He was buried at St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst.
In August 1668 Colonel Robert Sidney (age 42) died. He was buried at St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst.
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.
On 27th September 1737 John Sidney 6th Earl of Leicester (age 57) died at Penshurst Place, Kent [Map]. He was buried at St John the Baptist Church, Penshurst. His brother Jocelyn (age 55) succeeded 7th Earl of Leicester, 7th Viscount Lisle.
On 22nd April 1925 Lucy Caroline Lyttelton (age 83) died at her home The Glebe, Penshurt. She was buried at the Cavendish Plot, St Peter's Church, Edensor [Map]. Memorial at the Church of St Deiniol, Hawarden, Flintshire.
Lucy Caroline Lyttelton: On 5th September 1841 she was born to George William Lyttelton 4th Baron Lyttelton and Mary Glynne Lady Lyttelton at Hagley Hall, Worcestershire. In 1863 she was appointed Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. On 7th June 1864 Frederick Charles Cavendish and she were married. No issue. He the son of William Cavendish 7th Duke Devonshire and Blanche Georgiana Howard. They were third cousins.