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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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Raedwald King East Anglia 570-624

Paternal Family Tree: Wuffingas

617 Battle of the River Idle

624 King Raedwald's Burial at Sutton Hoo

Around 570 Raedwald King East Anglia was born to Tytila King East Anglia.

Around 599 Raedwald King East Anglia [aged 29] succeeded King East Anglia.

Around 616 [his father] Tytila King East Anglia died.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 617. This year was Ethelfrith [aged 45], king of the Northumbrians, slain by Redwald [aged 47], king of the East-Angles; and Edwin [aged 31], the son of Ella, having succeeded to the kingdom, subdued all Britain, except the men of Kent alone, and drove out the Ethelings, the sons of Ethelfrith, namely, Enfrid [aged 27], Oswald [aged 13], Oswy [aged 5], Oslac, Oswood, Oslaf, and Offa.

In 617 Raedwald King East Anglia [aged 47] and his son Raegenhere Wuffingas fought the Battle of the River Idle which took place at the River Idle, Markham Moor which forms the western border of the Isle of Lindsey [Map].

Raegenhere Wuffingas was killed.

Æthelfrith King Northumbrians [aged 45] was killed. King Edwin of Northumbria [aged 31] succeeded King Northumbria.

Around 624 Raedwald King East Anglia [aged 54] died. He was probably buried at Sutton Hoo, Woodbridge. His son Eorpwald succeeded King East Anglia.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. 827. This year was the moon eclipsed, on mid-winter's mass-night; and King Egbert [aged 54], in the course of the same year, conquered the Mercian kingdom, and all that is south of the Humber, being the eighth king who was sovereign of all the British dominions. Ella, king of the South-Saxons, was the first who possessed so large a territory; the second was Ceawlin, king of the West-Saxons: the third was Ethelbert, King of Kent; the fourth was Redwald, king of the East-Angles; the fifth was Edwin, king of the Northumbrians; the sixth was Oswald, who succeeded him; the seventh was Oswy, the brother of Oswald; the eighth was Egbert, king of the West-Saxons. This same Egbert led an army against the Northumbrians as far as Dore, where they met him, and offered terms of obedience and subjection, on the acceptance of which they returned home.

[his son] Sigeberht Wuffingas was born to Raedwald King East Anglia.

[his son] Eorpwald King East Anglia was born to Raedwald King East Anglia.

[his son] Raegenhere Wuffingas was born to Raedwald King East Anglia.

Raedwald King East Anglia appears on the following Descendants Family Trees:

Wehha Wuffingas

Royal Descendants of Raedwald King East Anglia 570-624
Number after indicates the number of unique routes of descent. Descendants of Kings and Queens not included.

Eorpwald King East Anglia [1]

Ancestors of Raedwald King East Anglia 570-624

Great x 1 Grandfather: Wehha Wuffingas

Grandfather: Wuffa King East Anglia

Father: Tytila King East Anglia

Raedwald King East Anglia