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.
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MP Middlesex is in Member Parliament.
On 28th April 1537 Robert Cheeseman (age 52) was elected MP Middlesex which seat he held until 24th July 1540.
In 1545 William Paget 1st Baron Paget Beaudasert (age 39) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1572 Owen Hopton (age 53) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1584 Owen Hopton (age 65) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1614 Thomas Lake (age 46) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1621 Gilbert Gerard 1st Baronet (age 33) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1624 Gilbert Gerard 1st Baronet (age 36) was elected MP Middlesex and MP Isle of Wight. He sat for MP Middlesex.
In 1625 Gilbert Gerard 1st Baronet (age 37) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1626 Gilbert Gerard 1st Baronet (age 38) was elected MP Middlesex.
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 April 1640 Gilbert Gerard 1st Baronet (age 52) was elected MP Middlesex.
In November 1640 Gilbert Gerard 1st Baronet (age 53) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1654 James Harington 3rd Baronet (age 46) was elected MP Middlesex which seat he held until 1655.
In 1659 Francis Gerard 2nd Baronet (age 41) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1780 George Byng (age 45) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1790 George Byng (age 25) was elected MP Middlesex.
In 1802 Francis Burdett 5th Baronet (age 31) was elected MP Middlesex; the return was declared void in 1804 and he lost the ensuing by-election. In 1805 this return was amended in his favor, but as this decision was again quickly reversed, Burdett, who had spent an immense sum of money over the affair, declared he would not stand for parliament again.
In 1857 George Byng 3rd Earl Strafford (age 26) was elected MP Middlesex.