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Adam Murimuth's Continuation and Robert of Avesbury’s 'The Wonderful Deeds of King Edward III'

This volume brings together two of the most important contemporary chronicles for the reign of Edward III and the opening phases of the Hundred Years’ War. Written in Latin by English clerical observers, these texts provide a vivid and authoritative window into the political, diplomatic, and military history of fourteenth-century England and its continental ambitions. Adam Murimuth Continuatio's Chronicarum continues an earlier chronicle into the mid-fourteenth century, offering concise but valuable notices on royal policy, foreign relations, and ecclesiastical affairs. Its annalistic structure makes it especially useful for establishing chronology and tracing the development of events year by year. Complementing it, Robert of Avesbury’s De gestis mirabilibus regis Edwardi tertii is a rich documentary chronicle preserving letters, treaties, and official records alongside narrative passages. It is an indispensable source for understanding Edward III’s claim to the French crown, the conduct of war, and the mechanisms of medieval diplomacy. Together, these works offer scholars, students, and enthusiasts a reliable and unembellished account of a transformative period in English and European history. Essential for anyone interested in medieval chronicles, the Hundred Years’ War, or the reign of Edward III.

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Johan Kiviet 1627-1692

In 1627 Johan Kiviet was born.

John Evelyn's Diary. 2nd December 1666. Dined with me Monsieur Kiviet [aged 39], a Dutch gentleman-pensioner of Rotterdam, who came over for protection, being of the Prince of Orange's [aged 16] party, now not welcome in Holland. The King [aged 36] knighted him for some merit in the Prince's behalf. He should, if caught, have been beheaded with Monsieur Buat, and was brother-in-law to Van Tromp, the sea-general. With him came Mr. Gabriel Sylvius, and Mr. Williamson [aged 33], secretary to Lord Arlington [aged 48]; M. Kiviet came to examine whether the soil about the river of Thames would be proper to make clinker bricks, and to treat with me about some accommodation in order to it.

John Evelyn's Diary. 6th March 1667. I proposed to my Lord Chancellor [aged 58], Monsieur Kiviet's [aged 40] undertaking to wharf the whole river of Thames, or quay, from the Temple [Map] to the Tower [Map], as far as the fire destroyed, with brick, without piles, both lasting and ornamental.-Great frosts, snow and winds, prodigious at the vernal equinox; indeed it had been a year of prodigies in this nation, plague, war, fire, rain, tempest and comet.

John Evelyn's Diary. 26th March 1667. Sir John Kiviet [aged 40] dined with me. We went to search for brick-earth, in order to a great undertaking.

John Evelyn's Diary. 7th September 1667. Came Sir John Kiviet [aged 40], to article with me about his brickwork.

Samuel Pepys' Diary. 23rd September 1668. At my office busy all the morning. At noon comes Mr. Evelyn [aged 47] to me, about some business with the Office, and there in discourse tells me of his loss, to the value of £500, which he hath met with, in a late attempt of making of bricks¹ upon an adventure with others, by which he presumed to have got a great deal of money: so that I see the most ingenious men may sometimes be mistaken.

Note 1. At the end of the year 1666 a Dutchman of the Prince of Orange's party, named Kiviet [aged 41], came over to England with proposals for embanking the river from the Temple [Map] to the Tower with brick, and was knighted by the King [aged 38]. He was introduced to Evelyn, whom he persuaded to join with him in a great undertaking for the making of bricks. On March 26th, 1667, the two went in search of brick-earth, and in September articles were drawn up between them for the purpose of proceeding in the manufacture. In April, 1668, Evelyn subscribed 50,000 bricks for the building of a college for the Royal Society, in addition to £50 given previously for the same purpose. No more information on the subject is given in Evelyn's "Diary".

John Evelyn's Diary. 22nd July 1670. Being arrived at some meres, we found Lord Wotton and Sir John Kiviet [aged 43] about their draining engines, having, it seems, undertaken to do wonders on a vast piece of marsh-ground they had hired of Sir Thomas Chicheley (master of the ordnance). They much pleased themselves with the hopes of a rich harvest of hemp and coleseed, which was the crop expected.

In 1692 Johan Kiviet [aged 65] died.