£75.00 EBook Add to Basket >>

£90.00 DVD Add to Basket >>

Add this eBook to your basket to receive access to all 92 records.

Our indexes include entries for the spelling despenser. In the period you have requested, we have the following 92 records (displaying 41 to 50): 

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.

Pontefract Cartulary (1100-1300)
The Cluniac monastery of St John the Evangelist at Pontefract (Pomfret) in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was founded in the 11th century by Robert de Lascy. The grants of land made to the priory from then well into the 13th century were copied into a cartulary or chartulary which eventually came to Godfrey Wentworth of Woolley Park. This was edited by Richard Holmes and published by Yorkshire Archaeological Society in 1899 and 1902. The individuals named are mainly local landowners and tenants, canons, servants and wellwishers of the monastery. The charters before 1250 are often undated: the numbering of the charters is modern, and amounts to 561. The cartulary itself contains 11 fasciculi, to which Holmes gave these section names - I. The Seigniorial Charters; II. The Ecclesiastical Charters; III. Royal Charters and Confirmations; IV. The Local Charters (Pontefract &c.); V. The Ledstone Charters; VI. The Ledsham Charters; VII. Miscellaneous Charters; VIII. The Peckfield and other Charters; IX. and X. Scarborough and other Charters; and XI. Leases to Tenants. Ledston(e), Ledsham and Peckfield are all close to Pontefract, as is most of the property.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Pontefract Cartulary
 (1100-1300)
Clerks and Clergy in Worcestershire and southwest Warwickshire. (1268-1301)
The register of bishop Godfrey Giffard of Worcester, containing general diocesan business, mostly relating to clergy, but with some parochial affairs and disputes with names of parishioners. The diocese of Worcester at this period was almost exactly coextensive with the county of Worcester (minus its western finger), plus southwest Warwickshire (including Warwick itself). The register also includes ordination lists (as in the sample scan) of subdeacons, deacons and priests.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Clerks and Clergy in Worcestershire and southwest Warwickshire.
 (1268-1301)
Lancashire Feet of Fines (1196-1307)
Pedes Finium - law suits, or pretended suits, putting on record the ownership of land in Lancashire. These abstracts were prepared by William Farrer for the Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society and published in 1899, under the title 'Final Concords of the County of Lancaster, from the Original Chirographs, or Feet of Fines, preserved amongst the Palatinate of Lancaster Records in the Public Record Office'. They cover the period from the 7th year of king Richard I to the end of the reign of king Edward I, with a couple of fragmentary survivors from earlier (1187 and 1194).
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Lancashire Feet of Fines
 (1196-1307)
Close Rolls (1302-1307)
The close rolls of the 31st to 35th years of the reign of king Edward I, that is to the day of his death (7 July 1307), 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. In amongst this official material, the rolls were also used as a way of recording many acknowledgments of private debts and contracts between individuals. Most of the contents relate to England, but there are also entries concerning Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English possessions in France.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Close Rolls
 (1302-1307)
Freemen and citizens of London (1291-1309)
Letter Book C 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, minor infractions, &c. The text was edited by Reginald R. Sharpe and printed by order of the Corporation of the City of London in 1901.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Freemen and citizens of London
 (1291-1309)
Essex Charters (1300-1309)
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 very general 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 standard 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
Essex Charters
 (1300-1309)
Inhabitants of Cheshire and North Wales (1300-1309)
The county of Cheshire had palatine status, being in some measure independent of the rest of England: moreover, from the Statute of Wales of 1284, after king Edward's subjugation of North Wales, until the union of England and Wales in 1536 to 1543, much of the administration of North Wales (county Flint in particular) was directed from Chester. When the Chester Recognizance Rolls were moved from Chester to the Public Record Office, they were placed among the Welsh Records. These rolls, so called because they do include recognizances (of debts &c.) among their contents, are in fact the Chancery Rolls of the palatinate, containing enrolments of charters, letters patent, commissions and other documents issued under the seal of the palatinate. Deeds and other evidences of a private nature were also enrolled on them. A calendar of the Recognizance Rolls from their commencement to the end of the reign of Henry IV was prepared by Peter Turner and included in the 36th Annual Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in 1875. We have now indexed this, dividing the enrolments into decades. This is the period from the 29th year of the reign of king Edward I to the 3rd year of king Edward II.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Inhabitants of Cheshire and North Wales
 (1300-1309)
Chester County Court (1309)
The full text of the proceedings in the county court at Chester 25 November 1309. Latin
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Chester County Court  (1309)
Inhabitants of London (1275-1312)
Letter Book B 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
Inhabitants of London
 (1275-1312)
Close Rolls (1313-1318)
The close rolls of the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th years of the reign of king Edward II 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. In amongst this official material, the rolls were also used as a way of recording many acknowledgments of private debts and contracts between individuals. Most of the contents relate to England, but there are also entries concerning Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English possessions in France.
Sample scan, click to enlarge
Close Rolls
 (1313-1318)
Previous page1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10Next page

Research your ancestry, family history, genealogy and one-name study by direct access to original records and archives indexed by surname.