Search between and
BasketGBP GBP
0 items£0.00
Click here to change currency

Plays Surname Ancestry Results

Our indexes 1000-1999 include entries for the spelling 'plays'. In the period you have requested, we have the following 14 records (displaying 1 to 10): 

Buy all
Get all 14 records to view, to save and print for £60.00

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.

Close Rolls (1343-1346)
The close rolls of the 17th, 18th and 19th years of the reign of king Edward III 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. There is also some material relating to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English possessions in France.

PLAYS. Cost: £4.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Close Rolls
 (1343-1346)
Grantees of offices, commissions and pardons (1350-1354)
The Patent Rolls are the Chancery enrolments of royal letters patent. Those for the 24th to the 27th years of the reign of king Edward III (25 January 1350 to 24 January 1354) were edited for the Public Record Office by R. F. Isaacson, and published in 1907. The main contents are royal commissions and grants; ratifications of ecclesiastical estates; writs of aid to royal servants and purveyors; and pardons.

PLAYS. Cost: £2.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Grantees of offices, commissions and pardons
 (1350-1354)
Testators and legatees in London (1258-1358)
The mediaeval Court of Husting of the city of London sat (usually on a Monday) each week: among its functions was the enrolment of deeds and wills relating to citizens of London. In their strictest technical sense the terms 'will' and 'devise' are appropriate to real estate, and the terms 'testament', 'bequest' and 'legacy' to personal estate, but this distinction is lost sight of in ordinary usage. This calendar of wills proved and enrolled in the Court of Husting was edited by Reginald R. Sharpe, records clerk in the office of the Town Clerk of the City of London, and printed by order of the corporation in 1889. The date of the court is given in italics, with the year in bold in the margin. The testator's name is given in capitals (surname first, in bold), and then a brief listing of substantial bequests, with the names of legatees, and then the date of making of the will, and reference. Sometimes there were further proceedings in the court relating to the will, such as 'It was found by a jury that the testator was of full age when he made the above testament', a statement as to where the testament had been proved, or proceedings on a challenge to the testament &c. - such additional material is added in a smaller typeface in this edition.

PLAYS. Cost: £4.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Testators and legatees in London
 (1258-1358)
Clergy, the religious and the faithful in Britain and Ireland (1342-1362)
These are abstracts of the entries relating to Great Britain and Ireland from the Regesta of popes Clement VI and Innocent VI, from the period when the papal court was resident at Avignon. Many of these entries relate to clerical appointments and disputes, but there are also indults to devout laymen and women for portable altars, remission of sins, &c. This source is particularly valuable for Ireland, for which many of the key government records of this period are lost. Clement VI was consecrated and crowned 19 May 1342 (the day from which his pontificate is dated); Innocent VI was crowned 18 December 1352 and died 12 September 1362. The extracts were made by W. H. Bliss and C. Johnson from Regesta cxxxvii to ccxliv, and published in 1897. The registers are almost complete for these two pontificates. At his accession, Clement VI promised to grant benefices to all poor clerks who should come to Avignon and claim them within two months of his coronation. As many as 100,000 are said to have come, and the register for the first year of his pontificate runs to twelve volumes.

PLAYS. Cost: £4.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Clergy, the religious and the faithful in Britain and Ireland
 (1342-1362)
Fine Rolls (1356-1368)
The close rolls of the 30th to 42nd years of the reign of king Edward III record part of the government administration in England, with orders sent out day by day to individual officers, and commitment of particular responsibilities and duties. There is also some material relating to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English possessions in France.

PLAYS. Cost: £4.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Fine Rolls
 (1356-1368)
Fine Rolls (1377-1383)
The fine rolls of the 1st to 6th years of the reign of king Richard II record part of the government administration in England, with orders sent out day by day to individual officers, and commitment of particular responsibilities and duties. There is also some material relating to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the English possessions in France.

PLAYS. Cost: £4.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Fine Rolls
 (1377-1383)
Norfolk Feet of Fines (1307-1485)
Pedes Finium - law suits, or pretended suits, putting on record the ownership of land in Norfolk. These abstracts were prepared by Walter Rye.

PLAYS. Cost: £4.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Norfolk Feet of Fines
 (1307-1485)
Landowners and tenants in Essex (1345-1485)
Inquisitions ad quod damnum were held by the appropriate sheriff or escheator (or other officer in whose bailiwick the matter in question might lie) to investigate cases in which the royal or public interest might be damaged by proposed alienation or settlement of land (especially alienation to religious uses, into mortmain). The key findings from these inquisitions were as to the tenure of the land and the service due from it; its yearly value; the lands remaining to the grantor, and whether they sufficed to discharge all duties and customs due from him; and whether he can still be put upon juries, assizes and recognitions, so that the country be not burdened by his withdrawal from them. Generally speaking, this process had the makings of a system of licensing such alienations, and raising money in proportion to the valuations. Equally, there are many items that deal with subjects such as the closing of public roads, the felling or inclosing of woods, or the proposed grant of liberties or immunities. A calendar of these inquisitions from the 19th year of the reign of king Edward III to the 2nd year of Richard III was prepared by the Public Record Office and published in 1906. We have now indexed this calendar by surname and county. Most of the individuals appearing in the calendar are either pious individuals seeking to make grants to religious bodies for the sake of their souls; or landowners securing the disposition and settling of their real estate. But some other names do appear - tenants, trustees, chaplains and clerks.

PLAYS. Cost: £6.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Landowners and tenants in Essex
 (1345-1485)
Landowners and tenants in Norfolk (1345-1485)
Inquisitions ad quod damnum were held by the appropriate sheriff or escheator (or other officer in whose bailiwick the matter in question might lie) to investigate cases in which the royal or public interest might be damaged by proposed alienation or settlement of land (especially alienation to religious uses, into mortmain). The key findings from these inquisitions were as to the tenure of the land and the service due from it; its yearly value; the lands remaining to the grantor, and whether they sufficed to discharge all duties and customs due from him; and whether he can still be put upon juries, assizes and recognitions, so that the country be not burdened by his withdrawal from them. Generally speaking, this process had the makings of a system of licensing such alienations, and raising money in proportion to the valuations. Equally, there are many items that deal with subjects such as the closing of public roads, the felling or inclosing of woods, or the proposed grant of liberties or immunities. A calendar of these inquisitions from the 19th year of the reign of king Edward III to the 2nd year of Richard III was prepared by the Public Record Office and published in 1906. We have now indexed this calendar by surname and county. Most of the individuals appearing in the calendar are either pious individuals seeking to make grants to religious bodies for the sake of their souls; or landowners securing the disposition and settling of their real estate. But some other names do appear - tenants, trustees, chaplains and clerks.

PLAYS. Cost: £6.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Landowners and tenants in Norfolk
 (1345-1485)
Landowners and tenants in Suffolk (1345-1485)
Inquisitions ad quod damnum were held by the appropriate sheriff or escheator (or other officer in whose bailiwick the matter in question might lie) to investigate cases in which the royal or public interest might be damaged by proposed alienation or settlement of land (especially alienation to religious uses, into mortmain). The key findings from these inquisitions were as to the tenure of the land and the service due from it; its yearly value; the lands remaining to the grantor, and whether they sufficed to discharge all duties and customs due from him; and whether he can still be put upon juries, assizes and recognitions, so that the country be not burdened by his withdrawal from them. Generally speaking, this process had the makings of a system of licensing such alienations, and raising money in proportion to the valuations. Equally, there are many items that deal with subjects such as the closing of public roads, the felling or inclosing of woods, or the proposed grant of liberties or immunities. A calendar of these inquisitions from the 19th year of the reign of king Edward III to the 2nd year of Richard III was prepared by the Public Record Office and published in 1906. We have now indexed this calendar by surname and county. Most of the individuals appearing in the calendar are either pious individuals seeking to make grants to religious bodies for the sake of their souls; or landowners securing the disposition and settling of their real estate. But some other names do appear - tenants, trustees, chaplains and clerks.

PLAYS. Cost: £6.00. Add to basket

Sample scan, click to enlarge
Landowners and tenants in Suffolk
 (1345-1485)
1 | 2Next page

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