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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On 11th August 1107 Bishop William Warelwast was elected Bishop of Exeter.
Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. 20th October 1119. A Council held at Rheims. Pope Calixtus held a general council at Rheims, on Sunday, the thirteenth of the calends of November (20th October), at which there was a great concourse of archbishops, bishops, abbots, and lords of various provinces, and immense multitudes of the clergy and people. The English bishops who were at that time at the court of Henry in Normandy, namely, William of Exeter, Ralph of Durham [aged 59], Bernard of St. David's, and Urban of Glamorgan [aged 43] [Landaff], and also the bishops and abbots of Normandy, were sent by the king himself to the council. Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, was prevented from being present by sickness. Thurstan [aged 49], archbishop-elect of York, having requested the king's license for attending it, obtained it with some difficulty, upon pledging his word that he would on no account accept consecration from the pope. Bound by this pledge, he pursued his journey, and presented himself to the pope; but forthwith, regardless of his engagement, he gained over the Romans by bribes to espouse his cause, and through them prevailed on the pope to consecrate him bishop with his own hands. He was thus ordained to the see of York, and by the pope's command many of the bishops from France assisted at the ceremony. The English bishops had not yet come to the council; but when they learnt what had been done, they informed the king, who being very indignant, forbade Thurstan and his followers from returning to England or Normandy, or any place in his dominions.
Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. 13th March 1121. After this, the archbishop, having accompanied the king [aged 53] to Abingdon [Map], consecrated on Sunday the third of the ides [the 13th] of March, Robert, before named, as bishop of Chester, there being present and assisting at this sacrament William, bishop of Winchester, William, bishop of Exeter, and the Welsh bishops, Urban [aged 45] and Bernard.
Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. 1127. A synod held at Westminster. William [aged 57], archbishop of Canterbury, convened a general synod of all the bishops and abbots, and some men of religion from all parts of England, at the monastery of St. Peter, situated in the western part of London. At this synod he himself presided as archbishop of Canterbury and legate of the apostolic see; assisted by William, bishop of Winchester, Roger of Salisbury, William of Exeter, Hervey of Ely, Alexander of Lincoln, Everard of Norwich, Sigefrid of Chichester, Richard of Hereford, Geoffrey of Bath, John of Rochester, Bernard of St. David's in Wales, Urban of Glamorgan of Llandaff [aged 51], and David of Bangor. Richard, bishop of London, and Robert, bishop of Chester1, were then dead, and no successors had yet been appointed to their sees. But Thurstan [aged 57], archbishop of York, sent messengers with letters assigning reasonable cause for his non-appearance at the convocation. Ralph [aged 67], bishop of Durham, fell sick on the road, and was not able to complete the journey, as the prior of his church and the clerks whom he sent forward solemnly attested. Simon, bishop of Worcester, had gone to visit his relations beyond seas, and was not yet returned. Great multitudes, also, of the clergy and laity, both rich and poor, flocked together, and there was a numerous and important meeting. The council sat for three days, namely, the third of the ides [the 13th] of May, the following day, and the third day afterwards, being the seventeenth of the calends of June [16th May]. There were some proceedings with respect to secular affairs; some were determined, some adjourned, and some withdrawn from the hearing of the judges, on account of the disorderly conduct of the immense crowd. But the decrees and statutes made in this synod by common consent of the bishops we have thought it desirable to record in this work, as they were there publicly declared and accepted. They are these:-
I. We wholly prohibit, by the authority of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, and our own, the buying and selling of any ecclesiastical benefices, or any ecclesiastical dignities whatever. Whoever shall be convicted of having violated this decree, if he be a clerk, or even a regular canon, or a monk, let him be degraded from his order; if a layman, let him be held outlawed and excommunicated, and be deprived of his patronage of the church or benefice.
II. We totally interdict, by the authority of the apostolic see, the ordination or promotion of any person in the church of God, for the sake of lucre.
III. We condemn certain payments of money exacted for the admission of canons, monks, and nuns.
IV. No one shall be appointed a dean but a priest, and no one but a deacon, archdeacon. If any one in minor orders be named to these dignities he shall be enjoined by the bishop to take the orders required. But if he disobey the bishop's monition to take such orders, he shall lose his appointment to the dignity.
V. We utterly interdict all illicit intercourse with women, as well by priests, deacons, and sub-deacons, as by all canons. If, however, they will retain their concubines (which God forbid), or their wives, they are to be deprived of their ecclesiastical orders, their dignity, and benefice. If there be any such among parish priests, we expel them from the chancel, and declare them infamous. Moreover, we command, by the authority of God and our own, all archdeacons and officials, whose duty it is, to use the utmost care and diligence in eradicating this deadly evil from the church of God. If they be found negligent in this, or (which God forbid) consenting thereto, they are for the first and second offence to be duly corrected by the bishops, and for the third to be punished more severely, according to the canons.
VI. The concubines of priests and canons shall be expelled from the parish, unless they shall have contracted a lawful marriage there. If they are found afterwards offending, they shall be arrested by the officers of the church, in whatever lordship they may be; and we command, under pain of excommunication, that they be not sheltered by any jurisdiction, either inferior or superior, but truly delivered up to the officer of the church, to be subjected to ecclesiastical discipline, or reduced to bondage, according to the sentence of the bishop.
VII. We prohibit, under pain of excommunication, any archdeacon from holding several archdeaconriesin different dioceses; let him retain that only to which he was first appointed.
VIII. Bishops are to prohibit all priests, abbots, monks, and priors, subject to their jurisdiction, from holding farms.
IX. We command that tithes be honestly paid, for they are the sovereign right of the most high God.
X. We forbid, by canonical authority, any person from giving or receiving churches or tithes, or other ecclesiastical benefices, without the consent and authority of the bishop. R2
XI. No abbess or nun is to use garments of richer material than lamb's-wool or cat-skin.
Note 1. The bishopric of Lichfield was removed to Chester in 1075, but again restored to its former seat. The present bishopric of Chester is one of the new sees founded after the Reformation.
In 1137 Bishop William Warelwast died.
Chronicon ex Chronicis by Florence and John of Worcester. 10th April 1138. A council at Northampton. Stephen, king of England, held a council at Northampton, in the octave of Easter, which fell on the fourth of the ides [the 10th] of April. Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, archbishop of York, and all the bishops, abbots, earls, barons, and nobles of England took their seats at it. In this council an archdeacon named Robert, the choice of some few, was appointed bishop of the church of Exeter, then vacant by the death of its bishop, William de Warewast. Two abbeys were also given away; that of Winchcombe to a monk of Cluni, as it is said a relation of the king, named Robert; the other, that of York, to a monk of the same abbey. One of these, the abbot-elect of Winchcombe, was ordained abbot of that monastery by the venerable Simon, bishop of Worcester, on the eleventh of the calends of June (22nd May).
History of the Dukes of Normandy by William of Jumieges. In the year [1135] in which the same King Henry departed from this life, there arose a violent wind in Normandy and in many other regions a little before his death, namely on the Vigil of the Apostles Simon and Jude [27th October]. Not long after his death, that is, in the same year or the following one, many of the princes of the English realm died by the judgment of God: namely William, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Rochester, the Bishop of Exeter, Richard, son of Gilbert (as has already been said), Robert, son of Richard, his uncle, and Richard, son of Baldwin, cousin of the two last named, as well as the second William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. He was succeeded by his son, the third William, born of Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh the Great, Count of Vermandois. The said countess had first been married to Robert, Count of Meulan, by whom she had three sons and as many daughters.
Eo anno quo idem rex Henricus humanis rebus subtractus est, factus ventus vehemens in Northmannia et in aliis pluribus regionibus paulo ante mortem ipsius, scilicet vigilia Apostolorum Simonis et Judæ. Non multo vero post mortem ejus tempore transacto, id est, ipso anno, vel sequenti, mortui sunt plures ex principibus Anglici regni, judicio Dei: videlicet Willelmus Cantuariensis archiepiscopus, episcopus Rovecestriæ, episcopus Exoniensis, Richardus filius Gisleberti, ut jam dictum est, Robertus filius Richardi patruus ejus, Richardus filius Balduini consobrinus horum duorum ultimo nominatorum, nec non et secundus Willelmus de Warenna comes Surreia. Cui successit tertius Willelmus filius ejus, natus ex Elisabeth filia Hugonis magni comitis Viromandorum. Fuit autem primo juncta prædicta comitissa Roberto comiti Mellenti, et ex ea habuit tres filios et totidem filias.