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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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Trearddur aka Coetan Arthur Burial Chamber, Holyhead, Holy Island, Anglesey, North-West Wales aka Gwynedd, British Isles [Map]

Trearddur aka Coetan Arthur Burial Chamber is in Holyhead, Anglesey, Prehistoric Anglesey Burial Chambers.

Archaeologia Cambrensis 1867. About a quarter of a mile further on, near Trearddur farm, close to the road on the right, there are the traces of a similar cromlech [Trearddur aka Coetan Arthur Burial Chamber [Map]] (now nearly obliterated), called Coetan Arthur. Near this spot, in 1837, a vessel containing a great many Roman copper coins was found, of the later emperors. I took them to the British Museum, but there was none peculiar; and I regret that they were purloined in transmission by post to the owner. Nearer Holyhead, on the same road, there is a fine maenhir on the right, in a field near Ty Mawr farm. W. O. Stanley. Penrhos. March 23, 1867.

Archaeological Journal Volume 28 1871 Pages 97-108. 23. Trearddur [Map] (w).

A cromlech called Coetan Arthur, Arthur's quoit; about a quarter of a mile from the last. In 1837 a fictile vase was found there, containing Roman coins; Angh. Llwyd, p. 208; Arch. Cambr., third series, vol. xiii. p. 234. A few stones only remain.