Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall
The Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall (Chronicon Anglicanum) is an indispensable medieval history that brings to life centuries of English and European affairs through the eyes of a learned Cistercian monk. Ralph of Coggeshall, abbot of the Abbey of Coggeshall in Essex in the early 13th century, continued and expanded his community’s chronicle, documenting events from the Norman Conquest of 1066 into the tumultuous reign of King Henry III. Blending eyewitness testimony, careful compilation, and the monastic commitment to record-keeping, this chronicle offers a rare narrative of political intrigue, royal power struggles, and social upheaval in England and beyond. Ralph’s work captures the reigns of pivotal figures such as Richard I and King John, providing invaluable insights into their characters, decisions, and the forces that shaped medieval rule. More than a simple annal, Chronicon Anglicanum conveys the texture of medieval life and governance, making it a rich source for scholars and readers fascinated by English history, monastic authorship, and the shaping of the medieval world.
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In 1628 Henry Stanhope and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 19] were married. He the son of Philip Stanhope 1st Earl Chesterfield [aged 44] and Catherine Hastings Countess Chesterfield.
Before 9th May 1630 [his father] Jehan Lord of Heenvliet [aged 35] and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 21] were married.
On 9th May 1643 Charles Kirkoven 1st Earl Bellomont was born to [his father] Jehan Lord of Heenvliet [aged 48] and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 34] at The Hague.
In 1649 Charles Kirkoven 1st Earl Bellomont [aged 5] was created 1st Baron Wotton.
In 1652 [his half-brother] Philip Stanhope 2nd Earl Chesterfield [aged 18] and [his sister-in-law] Anne Percy 2nd Countess Chesterfield [aged 17] were married. She by marriage Countess Chesterfield. She the daughter of Algernon Percy 10th Earl of Northumberland [aged 49] and Anne Cecil. He the son of Henry Stanhope and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 43]. They were fourth cousin once removed.
After 1654 [his half-brother] Philip Stanhope 2nd Earl Chesterfield [aged 20] and [his sister-in-law] Elizabeth Butler Countess Chesterfield [aged 13] were married. She by marriage Countess Chesterfield. She the daughter of James Butler 1st Duke Ormonde [aged 43] and Elizabeth Preston Duchess Ormonde [aged 38]. He the son of Henry Stanhope and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 45].
Before 1655 [his brother-in-law] Charles Stanley 8th Earl of Derby [aged 26] and [his sister] Dorothea Helena Kirkoven Countess Derby [aged 24] were married. She by marriage Countess Derby. She the daughter of [his father] Jehan Lord of Heenvliet [aged 60] and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 45]. He the son of James Stanley 7th Earl of Derby and Charlotte Thouars Countess Derby [aged 55].
On 12th September 1656 Philip Stanhope 1st Earl Chesterfield [aged 72] died. His grandson [his half-brother] Philip [aged 22] succeeded 2nd Earl Chesterfield, 2nd Baron Stanhope of Shelford in Nottinghamshire.
In 1660 [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 51] was created 1st Countess Chesterfield.
On 7th March 1660 [his father] Jehan Lord of Heenvliet [aged 65] died.
Jean de Waurin's Chronicle of England Volume 6 Books 3-6: The Wars of the Roses
Jean de Waurin was a French Chronicler, from the Artois region, who was born around 1400, and died around 1474. Waurin’s Chronicle of England, Volume 6, covering the period 1450 to 1471, from which we have selected and translated Chapters relating to the Wars of the Roses, provides a vivid, original, contemporary description of key events some of which he witnessed first-hand, some of which he was told by the key people involved with whom Waurin had a personal relationship.
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In September 1660 [his step-father] Daniel O'Neill [aged 48] and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 51] were married.
Before 1662 [his brother-in-law] William Alington 1st and 3rd Baron Alington [aged 21] and [his half-sister] Catherine Stanhope Baroness Alington were married. She by marriage Baroness Alington of Killard. She the daughter of Henry Stanhope and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 52]. They were third cousin once removed.
On 19th November 1662 [his half-sister] Catherine Stanhope Baroness Alington died.
After July 1665 [his half-brother] Philip Stanhope 2nd Earl Chesterfield [aged 31] and [his sister-in-law] Elizabeth Dormer Countess Chesterfield [aged 12] were married. She by marriage Countess Chesterfield. She the daughter of Charles Dormer 2nd Earl Carnarvon [aged 32] and Elizabeth Capell Countess Carnarvon [aged 32]. He the son of Henry Stanhope and [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 56]. They were third cousin once removed.
On 9th April 1667 [his mother] Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield [aged 58] died. Earl Chesterfield extinct. Her son Charles Kirkoven 1st Earl Bellomont [aged 23] inherited Boughton aka Bocton Place, Kent [Map].
Samuel Pepys' Diary. 17th August 1668. Up, and by water to White Hall, and so to St. James's, and thence with Mr. Wren [aged 39] by appointment in his coach to Hampstead, to speak with the Atturney-general [aged 70], whom we met in the fields, by his old route and house; and after a little talk about our business of Ackeworth, went and saw the Lord Wotton's [aged 25] house and garden, which is wonderfull fine: too good for the house the gardens are, being, indeed, the most noble that ever I saw, and brave orange and lemon trees.
On 6th April 1673 [his sister] Dorothea Helena Kirkoven Countess Derby [aged 43] died.
John Evelyn's Diary. 2nd June 1676. We returned in the evening by Hampstead, to see Lord Wotton's [aged 33] house and garden (Bellsize House), built with vast expense by [his step-father] Mr. O'Neale, an Irish gentleman who married Lord Wotton's mother, Baroness Stanhope. The furniture is very particular for Indian cabinets, porcelain, and other solid and noble movables. The gallery very fine, the gardens very large, but ill kept, yet woody and chargeable. The soil a cold weeping clay, not answering the expense.
On 25th August 1679 Charles Kirkoven 1st Earl Bellomont [aged 36] and Frances Willoughby Countess Bellomont [aged 36] were married. She by marriage Baroness Wotton. His paternal grandfather Thomas Wotton 2nd Baron Wotton had been the last of the previous creation of Baron Wotton. He the son of Jehan Lord of Heenvliet and Katherine Wotton Countess Chesterfield.
In 1680 Charles Kirkoven 1st Earl Bellomont [aged 36] was created 1st Earl Bellomont. [his wife] Frances Willoughby Countess Bellomont [aged 37] by marriage Countess Bellomont.
This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
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In 1683 Charles Kirkoven 1st Earl Bellomont [aged 39] died. Earl Bellomont and Baron Wotton extinct. He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral [Map]. He willed Boughton aka Bocton Place, Kent [Map] to his nephew, Charles Stanhope aka Wooton [aged 7], son of his half-brother Philip Stanhope 2nd Earl Chesterfield [aged 49].
On 25th May 1714 [his former wife] Frances Willoughby Countess Bellomont [aged 71] died in Derby, Derbyshire [Map].
Father: Jehan Lord of Heenvliet
Charles Kirkoven 1st Earl Bellomont
Great x 4 Grandfather: Robert Wotton of Boughton Malherbe 
Great x 3 Grandfather: Edward Wotton of Boughton Place in Kent
Great x 2 Grandfather: Thomas Wotton
Great x 1 Grandfather: Edward Wotton 1st Baron Wotton
GrandFather: Thomas Wotton 2nd Baron Wotton