Grantees of royal lands and pardons
(1176-1177) 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 roll for the 23rd year of the reign of king Henry II, that is, accounting for the year from Michaelmas 1176 to Michaelmas 1177. Most (but not all) of the entries in which names appear relate to payments for grants of land and fines or pardons. The large number of payments of fines for forest transgressions has been interpreted as a form of compounding for pardons by those who had rebelled during the recent years of unrest. 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'. COKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Curia Regis Rolls
(1194-1199) 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. This transcript of the rolls for October to December 1194 and October 1198 to July 1199 were edited by sir Francis Palgrave for the Commissioners of the Public Records. Most entries have the name of the county in the lefthand margin.COKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Norfolk Feet of Fines
(1192-1214) Pedes Finium - law suits, or pretended suits, putting on record the ownership of land in NorfolkCOKET. Cost: £6.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Patent Rolls: entries for Staffordshire
(1275-1276) Calendars of the patent rolls of the reign of king Edward I are printed in the Calendars of State Papers: but these cover only a fraction of the material on the rolls. From 1881 to 1889 the reports of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office also include calendars of other material from the rolls - about five times as many entries as in the State Papers - predominantly mandates to the royal justices to hold sessions of oyer and terminer to resolve cases arising locally; but also other general business. The calendar for the 4th year of king Edward I [20 November 1275 to 19 November 1276], hitherto unindexed, is covered here.COKET. Cost: £6.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Patent Rolls: entries for Norfolk
(1276-1277) Calendars of the patent rolls of the reign of king Edward I are printed in the Calendars of State Papers: but these cover only a fraction of the material on the rolls. From 1881 to 1889 the reports of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office also include calendars of other material from the rolls - about five times as many entries as in the State Papers - predominantly mandates to the royal justices to hold sessions of oyer and terminer to resolve cases arising locally; but also other general business. The calendar for the 5th year of king Edward I [20 November 1276 to 19 November 1277], hitherto unindexed, is covered here.COKET. Cost: £6.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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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.COKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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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. COKET. Cost: £2.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Berkshire Charters
(1370-1379) 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.
COKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Inhabitants of Yorkshire: The Ainsty
(1379) The poll tax returns for this wapentake, the area around the city of York.COKET. Cost: £6.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Ablemen of Norwich
(1457) The Old Free Book of the city of Norwich includes this muster roll of about 1457. Able-bodied men are listed subleet by subleet, with a note of the armour furnished or sum of money raised towards buying armour. About 600 persons are assessed, 80 of whom assessed for money only appear to be additions to the original list. A total of 480 jacks were assigned: a 'jack' being a jacket similar to a gambeson or doublet. COKET. Cost: £4.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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