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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Knowth Passage Tomb is in Boyne Valley, Prehistoric Ireland.
Llewellynn Jewitt 1870. At Dowth [Map] and Nowth [Map] (Dubhath and Cnobh), very similar chambered tumuli exist, the former of which is also remarkable for its sculptural stones, which bear a strong resemblance to those at New Grange. The Cairn of Dowth here engraved (fig. 45), is of immense size, and contains a cruciform chamber similar to that at New Grange, with a passage twenty-seven feet in length, composed as was the chamber of enormous stones. On some of the stones were carvings and Oghams. The mouth of the passage leading to the cruciform chamber is shown on fig. 46.
