Add this eBook to your basket to receive access to all 1,499 records. Our indexes include entries for the spelling black. In the period you have requested, we have the following 1,499 records (displaying 1 to 10): These sample scans are from the original record. You will get scans of the full pages or articles where the surname you searched for has been found. Your web browser may prevent the sample windows from opening; in this case please change your browser settings to allow pop-up windows from this site. Curia Regis Rolls
(1196-1201)
The Curia Regis, king's court, of mediaeval England took cases from throughout the country, and its records are among the most important surviving from this early period. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Curia Regis Rolls
(1210-1212)
The Curia Regis, king's court, of mediaeval England took cases from throughout the country, and its records are among the most important surviving from this early period. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Oxfordshire Charters
(1210-1219)
A large accumulation of documents preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, formerly constituted the antiquarian collections of Anthony a Wood, Roger Dodsworth, Ralph Thoresby, Thomas Martin of Palgrave, Thomas Tanner bishop of St Asaph, Dr Richard Rawlinson, Richard Furney archdeacon of Surrey, and Richard Gough. A calendar of these was prepared by William H. Turner and published in 1878 under the title 'Calendar of Charters and Rolls preserved in the Bodleian Library'. The word 'charters' is here used in a rather loose sense, including virtually any manuscript or copy of a manuscript, but the bulk of the contents consists of mediaeval deeds of conveyance. Turner's calendar deals with each briefly, naming the principal parties and the nature of the deed, but hardly ever lists the witnesses. Many of these charters were undated (dating of deeds did not become general until around 1350) or so damaged or defective ('mutilated' is Turner's usual description) as no longer to display a legible date. However, he contrived, from the style of the script and/or the nature of the contents, to estimate dates in such cases. The sample scan is from the start of the Bedfordshire list. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Close Rolls (1234-1237)
The close rolls of the 19th to 21st years of the reign of king Henry III, that is from 28 October 1234 to 27 October 1237, record the main artery of government administration in England, the orders sent out day by day to individual officers, especially sheriffs of shires: they are an exceptionally rich source for so early a period. Most of the contents relate to England, but there are also entries concerning Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English possessions in France. This calendar was prepared by staff of the Public Record Office and published in 1908. Latin.
| Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Liberate Rolls
(1251-1260)
These chancery liberate rolls of the 36th to 44th years of the reign of Henry III of England record the details of payments and allowances as part of the administration of government. Most entries start with the Latin words 'liberate', meaning 'deliver', or 'allocate', meaning allow. There are also 'contrabreves', warrants mainly to sheriffs of shires, assigning them tasks and allowing expenses. Most of the entries relate to England and Wales, but there are occasional references to Ireland and the English possessions in France. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Yorkshire Inquisitions
(1241-1283)
Inquisitions post mortem are inquiries as to the real estate and heir of each person holding in capite or in chief, i. e. directly, from the Crown, or whose estates had been escheated or were in ward. The age and relationship of the heir are usually recorded. Inquisitions ad quod damnum enquired as to any activities (including maladministration by local officials) that had resulted in any material loss to the Crown. Both sets of inquisitions for this period were edited by William Brown for the Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Association, and printed in 1891. This index covers all names mentioned, including jurors, tenants, &c. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Deeds from Bath in Somerset
(1280-1289)
More than 500 mediaeval deeds survived in the muniment chest of Bath in Somerset, almost all dealing with the transfers of small plots of land in the city. Each names the grantor and grantee, describes the land, and is witnessed by other citizens. This printed edition was prepared by the Reverend C. W. Shickle, Master of St John's Hospital in Bath. Where (as in many cases) the earliest deeds were undated, he was able to assign periods to each on the basis of style and content, particularly the names of witnesses.
| Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Deeds from Bath in Somerset
(1300-1309)
More than 500 mediaeval deeds survived in the muniment chest of Bath in Somerset, almost all dealing with the transfers of small plots of land in the city. Each names the grantor and grantee, describes the land, and is witnessed by other citizens. This printed edition was prepared by the Reverend C. W. Shickle, Master of St John's Hospital in Bath. Where (as in many cases) the earliest deeds were undated, he was able to assign periods to each on the basis of style and content, particularly the names of witnesses. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Inhabitants of Leicester
(1103-1327)
The Corporation of Leicester commissioned the publication (in 1899) of extracts from the earliest borough archives, edited by Mary Bateson. This volume brings together several important sources: the borough charters; the merchant gild rolls (from 1196 onwards); tax returns; court rolls (from about 1260 onwards); mayoral accounts, &c. All the Latin and French texts are accompanied by English translations. Membership of the merchant gild was by right of inheritance (s. p. = sede patris, in his father's seat), or by payment of a fee called a 'bull' (taurus). The sample scan shows part of a gild entrance roll; those marked * paid their bull, and were thus, by implication, not natives, or at least not belonging to gild merchant families. By 1400 membership of the gild merchant had become the equivalent of gaining freedom of the borough (being a free burgess): but at this period the two were not necessarily the same, and some of the merchant gild members were not resident in the borough, merely traded there. Not all the tax rolls surviving for this period are printed: but full lists of names are given for a loan for redemption of pontage and gavelpence of 1252-3 (pp. 44-46); five tallages of 1269 to 1271 brought together in a single table (128-145); and tallages of 1286 (208-211), 1307 (255-257), 1311 (272-274) and 1318 (310-313). The portmanmoot (or portmote) was the borough court dealing with minor infractions and civil suits. Finally, there is a calendar of charters (from c.1232 onwards, 381-400), and a list of mayors, bailiffs (reeves), receivers and serjeants (401-407).
| Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Inhabitants of London
(1352-1374)
Letter Book G of the City of London contains enrolments of recognizances between inhabitants, particularly citizens, for sums of money lent or due; grants of pieces of land or property; and various records relating to the city administration.
| Sample scan, click to enlarge
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