Sources 1130-1139

Early records of Wells cathedral, in Somerset (1001-1500)

Three early registers of the dean and chapter of Wells - the Liber Albus I (White Book; R I), Liber Albus II (R III), and Liber Ruber (Red Book; R II, section i) - were edited by W. H. B. Bird for the Historical Manuscripts Commissioners and published in 1907. These three books comprise, with some repetition, a cartulary of possessions of the cathedral, with grants of land dating back as early as the 8th century, well before the development of hereditary surnames in England; acts of the dean and chapter; and surveys of their estates, mostly in Somerset.
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Charter Rolls (1050-1326)

This abstract of the surviving charter rolls for 1300 to 1326, in the reigns of kings Edward I and II, was prepared by C. G. Crump and A. E. Stamp and published in 1908. The charter rolls not only recorded royal grants of lands, liberties and offices, but also enabled landowners to have their existing charters, their deeds of title, registered by the process of inspeximus and confirmation. After the Statute of Mortmain of 1279, this was of particular importance to religious houses, now greatly restricted in their ability to receive new donations of land, and anxious to prove title to their ancient property. Consequently, many charters of great age were copied onto the charter rolls.
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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.
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Hastings family deeds (1100-1600)

John Harley of the Historical Manuscripts Commission was invited by Reginald Rawdon Hastings to examine his family's extensive archives at the Manor House, Ashby de la Zouche, in Leicestershire. Harley produced a detailed calendar, of which is the first volume, published in 1928, Hastings himself having since died, and Harley having been killed at Gallipoli. This volume covers four categories of the records: the Ancient Deeds; Manorial and other Documents; Accounts and Inventories; and Miscellaneous Papers. Most, but not all, of the material is mediaeval. About half of the deeds relate to the family property in Leicestershire; then there are sections for Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, London, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, Devonshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, &c. The manorial section includes a partitions of the estates of the Earls of Leicester and Wilton about 1204 and 1277; manor court rolls are mentioned, but not extracted. Choicer items from the family accounts and inventories are copied in extenso for 1596 and 1607, and thereafter summarised. Most of the later material is merely dipped into for curiosities.
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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).
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Guisborough Cartulary (1119-1300)

The Augustinian (black canons) priory of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Guisborough (Gyseburne) near Middlesbrough in north Yorkshire, was founded about 1119 by Robert de Brus. The 1100 or so grants of land (mostly in Cleveland) made to the priory from then well into the 13th century were copied into a cartulary or chartulary which survives as Cottonian Manuscript Cleopatra d ii (British Library). This was edited by W. Brown and published by the Surtees Society from 1889. This first part contains the charters from folios 1 to 233, items I to DXCIII. The texts have been stripped of repetitious legal formulae, retaining the details of the grantors, the property, and the witnesses: so the individuals named are mainly local landowners and tenants, canons, servants and wellwishers of the monastery. The charters before 1250 are often undated.
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Guisborough Cartulary (1119-1300)

The Augustinian (black canons) priory of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Guisborough (Gyseburne) near Middlesbrough in north Yorkshire, was founded about 1119 by Robert de Brus. The 1100 or so grants of land (mostly in Cleveland) made to the priory from then well into the 13th century were copied into a cartulary or chartulary which survives as Cottonian Manuscript Cleopatra d ii (British Library). This was edited by W. Brown and published by the Surtees Society from 1889. This second part contains the charters numbered DXCIV to MCLXXXIX. The texts have been stripped of repetitious legal formulae, retaining the details of the grantors, the property, and the witnesses: so the individuals named are mainly local landowners and tenants, canons, servants and wellwishers of the monastery. The charters before 1250 are often undated. The charters in this section are arranged by place, under the heads 'Normanby; Martona; Thornaby; Ugthorpe et Pecibiggyng; Levingtona; Jarum; Castle Levington; Kepwyck; Feyceby; Atona; Thresk; Neuton; Estona; Lackenby; Lyum; Cotum; Scheltona; Brottona; Moresom; Glasedale Daneby et Moresum; Kylton; Lofthus; Esingtona; Lyverton; Daneby; Glasdale; Uggethorpe; Percybyggyng; Sletholme; Scalynge; Redker; Merske; Hesele; Lunde super le Walde; Kirkburn; Rotsea; Bainton; Tibthorpe; Ingleby Arncliff; East Harlsey; Sawcock; Scarth; Stokesley; Kirkby-in-Cleveland; Battersby; Stainton-in-Cleveland; Maltby; Ayresome; York; Sinnington; Barningham and Newsham; Aylesby; Kelsterne; Bridekirk and Appleton; Aislaby; Hart and Hartlepool; Castle Eden; and Annandale'. Three further sections are added from other sources: 1. Documents connected with the burning of the priory church in 1289; 2. Extracts from the registers of the archbishops of York relating to the priory, 1238 to 1337; 3. A rent roll of the priory of about 1300 (pp. 412 to 450), giving many names of tenants.
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Grantees of royal lands and pardons (1129-1130)

The Great Rolls of the Pipe are the central record of the crown compiling returns of income and expenditure from the sheriffs and farmers of the various English counties or shires. This is the oldest series of public records, and the earliest surviving instances of many surnames are found in the Pipe Rolls. This is the earliest surviving roll, believed to be from the 31st year of the reign of king Henry I, that is, accounting for the year from Michaelmas 1129 to Michaelmas 1130: this is a period for which there are no other general English records, so these rolls give details of many persons and incidents otherwise utterly unknown. Most (but not all) of the entries in which names appear relate to payments for grants of land and pardons. There is a separate return in each year for each shire, the name of the shire being here printed at the top of each page. Wales was still independent, in separate kingdoms, at this period, and is not included, except for 'Herefordshire in Wales'. There is virtually no reference to the palatinates of Chester, Lancaster and Durham, or to Cumberland and Westmoreland in the far northwest.
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Berkshire Charters (1130-1139)

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. He identified a few as forgeries, and these have been omitted from our indexes. The documents relate in the main to England, the Midlands, East Anglia and Yorkshire being particularly well represented, but there are some items from elsewhere in the British Isles and abroad.
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Kent Charters (1130-1139)

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.
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Staffordshire Charters (1130-1139)

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.
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