History of the Manor.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and other Old English chronicles, should be consulted for possible early mention of the parish. Most of these have been cheaply printed in an English dress in Bohn’s Antiquarian Series. In Kemble’s “Saxons in England” will be found a good list of the old tribal divisions into “marks.” Thorpe’s Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici is an admirable collection of early charters (with translations); some of the wills contain many place-names; the volume is indifferently indexed.
The Domesday Book, compiled in 1085-6, is preserved at the Chapter House, Westminster. It gives particulars of all the different manors throughout England, excepting those of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham. It was printed in two large volumes in 1783, and a third volume of indexes and introductory matter added in 1811. A most valuable “General Introduction” was published in 1833, by Sir Henry Ellis. The Ordnance Survey have recently brought out a fac-simile edition of the Domesday Book, produced by Photo-zincography, which can be obtained in separate counties. The extended text and translation of most counties can also be procured.
The Book of Exeter and the Book of Ely are of the same date, and no doubt copied from the same returns as Domesday Book itself, but they contain many more details. The former, preserved at Exeter Cathedral, comprises the counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall; the latter, now in the British Museum, relates to Cambridge, Hertford, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Huntingdon. The Book of Winchester (Society of Antiquaries) relates to that borough; it was made in 1148. The Boldon Book is a survey of the county palatinate of Durham, taken in 1183; there are three copies, two at Durham, and one at the Bodleian. These four minor Surveys were published by the Record Commissioners in one volume in 1816.
Knight’s Fees. When England was subdivided by the Conqueror among his vassals, the feudal custom of supplying the crown with a certain number of knights was imposed upon them. The number of knights that had to be furnished was specified in the infeoffment. These knights, in their turn, held lands from the immediate tenants of the crown, which were owned by homage, fealty, and a great variety of tenures, as well as by direct payments in money. Some tenures were merely nominal, such as a grain of cummin, or a red rose; others were of more or less value, such as a pair of white gloves, a tun of wine, a gold spur, or a silver salver; and others by such service as holding the lord’s stirrup, keeping a pack of hounds, etc., etc. See Blount’s “Ancient Tenures.” The lands of these knights were termed “Fees,” and composed the barony of a crown vassal. A knight’s fee was supposed to be so much land as would suffice to maintain him, and to enable him to present himself and his retainers ready equipped for the field in times of emergency. Hence a “Knight’s Fee,” as applied to land, represents no definite quantity, but a variable amount, generally between one and five hundred acres of cultivable land. The term is also sometimes used for the rent paid to the lord for the fee.
It is easy, then, to see that it became essential to the Crown, both for monetary and judicial purposes, as well national as local, to know from time to time the exact position of their vassals and sub-vassals. Hence, Inquisitions were held up and down the country before local sworn juries, and the barons made returns of that which they held, and which was held under them. These returns are among the earliest of our national records; and though brief, are invaluable, from their absolute authenticity, to the genealogist and local historian. The chief documents of this class are the Black Book of the Exchequer, temp. Henry II., the original of which is in the P. R. O., but three manuscript copies are in the B. M., C., and B. respectively, and it was published (but imperfectly, and not from the original) by Hearn, in two vols., 8vo., last century; the Scutage and the Marshall Rolls, temp., Edw. I. & II., P. R. O.; various lists of Tenants in Capite in our different public libraries; and, most important, the Testa de Neville. The last-mentioned of these documents consists of two ancient volumes compiled temp. Edw. II., now in the P. R. O. They consist of Inquisitions, taken temp. Henry III. and Edw. I., respecting the Fees held immediately or otherwise of the King, throughout the whole of England, excepting the counties of Cambridge, Cheshire, Durham, Lancashire, and Monmouthshire. These records were officially printed in one vol., folio, in 1807; there are many errors in the spelling of place-names, but these can for the most part be readily detected by any one having local knowledge. Another folio volume, printed in 1802, is the Nonarum Inquisitiones; it is of some value, and may, perhaps, be fairly included under the head of “Knight’s Fees.” It consists, in the main, of the finding upon oath by the parishioners, of the value of the ninth lamb, fleece, and sheep, and in cities and boroughs of the ninth of goods and chattels, which by an Act 14 Edw. III. were to be levied as a tax for two years towards the expenditure in the Scotch and French wars. The rolls abound in the names of jurymen, commissioners, and landowners. The published volume only contains the returns from twenty-seven counties, but the Nona Rolls for most of the missing ones, e.g., Derby, Hertford, Northumberland, and Warwick, have since been found. MS. indexes of these will be found in the small books lettered “Exchequer Subsidies” in the search room of the P. R. O.
Rotuli. Under the general head of “Rolls,” some of the most important of our national documents have to be briefly considered.
The Great Rolls of the Exchequer, otherwise called the Pipe Rolls, are all but perfect from 2 Henry II. to the present time; and there is one roll of 31 Henry I., the oldest national document now extant after the Domesday Book. They relate to the revenues of the Crown, digested under the heads of the several counties. They are of much interest and utility in early pedigrees, and relate to a far wider range of subjects than Crown lands, as the Crown revenues come from so great a diversity of sources. The originals are in the P. R. O., but most of the rolls are in duplicate at the B. M. Several volumes of transcripts are in the B. M. and B. The Rolls for the 31 Henry I.; 3 John; 2, 3, and 4, Henry II.; and 1 Richard I., have been published by the Record Commissioners.
The Patent Rolls commence with 3 John, and are fairly perfect up to the present time. On them are entered all grants of lands, offices, honours, pensions, and particulars of individual or corporate privileges, etc., etc. These invaluable Rolls are unfortunately not indexed. A folio calendar of those from John to 23 Edward IV., was printed in 1802, but it is only a capriciously made selection. Those from the 3rd to 18th John have since been printed in full, with an admirable introduction. In the B. M. are many volumes of selections and extracts for particular periods. Manorial grants of “free warren” in these rolls will often supply a missing link in the history of a manor.
The difference between the documents entered on the Close Rolls, and the Patent Rolls, is that royal letters patent were delivered open, with the Great Seal appended, and were supposed to be of a public nature and addressed to all the king’s subjects; whilst the Close Rolls contain entries of such instruments as were despatched closed or sealed up, and were of a more private nature. These rolls begin in 1204. From that time to 11 Henry III., they have been printed in full in two folio volumes. There are various copies and transcripts of particular parts in the B.M., B., and C., and in the libraries of Lincoln’s Inn and Inner Temple. The rolls are of infinite variety and importance. Among the subjects treated of are—Royal Prerogatives, Homage, Fealty, Knight’s Service, Treasure Trove, Gold and Silver Mining, Bail and Pardons, Livery of Lands, Assignment of Dowers, Wardship of Minors, Repairs of Bridges, etc., etc. They often, therefore, contain unexpected fragments of local history connected with apparently insignificant parishes, and are even more fruitful than the better known Patent Rolls.
The Charter Rolls contain a good deal of duplicate matter to that on the Patent Rolls. They chiefly consist of grants of privileges to religious houses, cities, and towns, and grants of markets, fairs, and free warren to individuals. Charters, like Letters Patent, passed under the Great Seal; but a charter differed from a patent inasmuch as the former was witnessed by the council or by such persons as were present at its execution, and the latter was solely executed by the king. The Charter Rolls extend from 1199 to 1483. A complete calendar of these rolls, well indexed, was published in 1803, and the rolls themselves of the reign of John, were also published by the Record Commissioners in 1837.
The Fine Rolls contain accounts of fines paid to the Crown for licenses to alienate lands, for freedom from knight service, or being knighted, for renewals of various charters, etc., etc. They begin in the time of Richard I. The Fine Rolls of John, and extracts from those of Henry III., have been published by the Commissioners in three 8vo. volumes. They are to be distinguished from the important Pedes Finium, subsequently explained.
The Originalia are described in the Public Records Report as “the Estreats transmitted from the Court of Chancery into this (Exchequer) office, of all grants of the Crown inrolled on the Patent and other Rolls, whereon any rent is reserved, any salary payable, or any service performed.” These rolls commence early in the reign of Henry III. An abstract, in two folio volumes, of the Originalia from 20 Henry III. to the end of Edward III., was published by the Commissioners in 1805. Similar abstracts from 1 Richard II., to end of James II., were prepared for printing, but never published; the MS. of this work is in the B. M. An index to the Originalia was published in 1793, by Mr. Edward Jones, in two folio volumes. Those who have had occasion to use Mr. Jones’s index know that the judgment “very useful, but very imperfect,” is true in each particular.
The Hundred Rolls will often prove to be of the greatest interest for one period of manorial history. During the turbulent reign of Henry III., the Crown revenues had been much diminished by the Tenants in Capite alienating lands without license, and by powerful ecclesiastics and laymen usurping the rights of holding courts, and committing other encroachments. The people, too, had been greatly oppressed by exactions and oppressions at the hands of sheriffs and other officers, and by false claims to free warren and illegal tolls. One of the first acts of Edward I., on his return from the Holy Land, at his father’s death, was to remedy these abuses. The circuit of the itinerant justices was only usually made once in seven years, therefore the king appointed Special Commissioners for inquiring into these grievances throughout the realm. These rolls are the result of the inquisitions taken in pursuance of this commission. They afford evidence, upon the oath of a jury of each hundred and town of—all demesne lands and manors then or formerly in the hands of the Crown—all tenants in capite and tenants in ancient demesne—alienations to the Church—rights of free warren, fisheries, etc.—oppressions of nobility and clergy—exactions of excessive toll—unlawful trading—encroachments on highways, etc., etc. The whole of these rolls were published by the Record Commissioners in 1812-18, in two large folio volumes, but are not now to be purchased. “The genealogist may estimate the assistance these volumes are capable of affording, when it is mentioned that the Indices of Names contain references to about 70,000 persons.” The mis-spelling of place-names is sometimes a little misleading, but ordinary care will rectify this, as the returns are arranged in counties. The rolls, as printed, may be fairly relied on for historical purposes, without the trouble of collating the originals.
Placita. The pleadings of our several courts, with the judgments thereon, have been for many centuries entered on rolls. The greater part of these are termed Placita, or pleading Rolls. Their important bearing on manorial history is obvious. There is scarcely a manor in the kingdom that had not occasion, on an average of at least once a century, to put in an appearance in one or other of the courts on some matter involving litigation.
Under our Norman kings, all pleadings were originally heard Aula sive Curia Regis, in the hall or court of the king’s palace. In aid of the King’s Court, itinerant justices were first appointed temp. Henry I., and were finally established 22 Henry II. Towards the end of the reign of Richard I., the Curia Regis was subdivided into courts of Exchequer and Chancery, whilst the king’s court still retained pleas immediately touching the Crown, and also common pleas, both civil and criminal. The Magna Charta, 17 John, separated the Common Pleas from the royal court, after which the Curia Regis continued to be the superior court of law for criminal matters, and early in the reign of Edward I. lost its more ancient title and became known as the Court of King’s Bench.
The Rotuli Curia Regis have been printed in full, from 6 Richard I. to 1 John, by the Record Commissioners, in two 8vo. volumes. The same rolls, in addition to those of the King’s Bench, down to the end of the reign of Edward II., were, in 1811, elaborately calendared and indexed by the Commissioners in a valuable folio volume, under the title—Placitorum in Domo Capitulari Westmonasteriensi asservatorum Abbreviatio, but the rolls are now in the P. R. O. The abstract has been made after a fickle fashion, some pleadings are given in full, whilst many others of more importance are condensed into a couple of lines; and there is nothing in the volume to tell the student whether they are abbreviated or not.
The earliest provincial courts were those of the Itinerant Justices, or Justices in Eyre (from the Norman-French word erre, a journey); they held criminal and common pleas, and also pleas of the forest. These justices afterwards gave way to Circuit Judges, and the Justices in Eyre then became only another name for the Justices of the Forest. If there is or has been any royal Forest or Chace within the parish under consideration, special search should be made for its records. Most of the early proceedings relative to forests are entered on the Patent Rolls; a considerable number of the ancient perambulations and inquisitions have been printed in various reports made at different dates. Copies of these reports, bound in two large volumes, can be consulted at the P. R. O. Extracts from the rolls, relative to the forests, for special periods may be found both at the P. R. O. and the B. M. The forest perambulations for the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. have been completely indexed.
Those rolls that may properly be termed Records of Assize commence 6 Richard I., and end with the reign of Edward IV. In the B. M. are many MS. volumes of Placita Itinerum pertaining to different reigns and different counties.
In 1818 the Record Commissioners published an important folio volume, entitled Placita de Quo Warranto temporibus Edw. I., II., III., which forms an interesting sequel to the Hundred Rolls. The Hundred Rolls, as already mentioned, gave a great mass of sworn information as to abuses. Those persons thus charged were summoned to answer “Quo Warranto” such and such things were done or left undone? or by what right such and such manors, etc., were held? This volume contains a full transcript of the roll of the pleadings in answer to these summonses, and the judgments thereon. Its utility in manorial history cannot be exaggerated, as the descent of the manor is often traced back in these pleadings to the time of John or even earlier. The rolls are arranged under counties, and include the whole of England, with the exception of the palatinate of Durham.
The earliest records of the Court of Chancery are of the 17th year of Richard II., the previous documents having been destroyed in the Wat Tyler rebellion. There are no petitions extant to the Chancellor of the reign of Henry IV., and but few of Henry V., but from the beginning of the reign of Henry VI. they seem to have been kept with much regularity. Calendars of the Chancery proceedings of the reign of Elizabeth were published in three volumes folio, 1827-32. In the introduction to this work are many examples of the earlier proceedings of that court from Richard II. downwards. It is hardly necessary to add that the bills of complaint, and their answers, filed in this court, often contain abundant information as to manorial descent. Numerous MS. volumes of indexes to Chancery proceedings are at the service of the searcher in the P. R. O.
The volumes known as the Year Books contain reports in Norman-French of cases argued and decided in the Courts of Common Law. They form the basis of the “lex non scripta” of English jurisprudence, and are worthy of attention on account of the historical information and the notices of public and private persons which they contain. The frequent disputes about heirship cause them often to be of value in manorial history. These Reports begin in 1220, and an account of the different books, their dates, etc., may be found in Worrall’s “Bibliotheca Legum Angliæ,” 1788. Serjeant Maynard published an edition of early Year Books, in eleven volumes, in 1679. Several of those of the reign of Edward I. have been edited by the Record Commissioners. Lincoln’s Inn Library, and the University Library, Cambridge, have a great number of MS. Year Books. A work of much research, by Mr. Bigelow, has just been published, entitled “Placita Anglo-Normannica,” it is a history of the litigation and legal procedure of the temporal courts during the period from the Norman Conquest to the middle of the reign of Richard I. If there has been any early dispute about the manor or manorial rights, this volume should certainly be consulted.
Inquisitiones. Inquisitiones post mortem, are not unfrequently termed “Escheats,” from the writs being directed to the county official called the Escheator; but the term is incorrect, and should never be used, for there is a class of documents correctly called Escheat Rolls, which differ altogether from these inquisitions, and refer to the escheator’s accounts of lands and property escheated to the crown from various causes, and the profits and value of the same at different periods. The Inquisitio post mortem, on the contrary, was an inquiry held on oath by a jury of the district, summoned by virtue of a writ directed to the county Escheator, on the death of every tenant in capite. The jury had to inquire (1) of what lands the person died seized, (2) by what rents or services the same were held, and (3) who was his next heir and of what age; they had also to ascertain whether the tenant was attainted of treason, or an alien, in which case the lands reverted to the crown. The return of the jury, together with the writ authorising the inquiry, were returned to the King’s Chancery, whence a transcript was sent to the Exchequer, so that the proper officers might be able to levy the duties and services thereupon due; for on the death of each tenant in capite, a tax termed a “relief” was due to the crown, and the heir could not take possession until the relief was paid and homage done. Moreover, if the heir was a minor, the crown administered the estates until he could make proof of his legal age and perform homage. The Exchequer transcripts of these Inquisitions, together in most cases with the writ, are still extant from the time of Henry III. down to the end of the reign of Charles I., that is, until the feudal land system was finally overthrown. Calendars, or short abstracts of these Inquisitions, carefully indexed, have been printed in four folio volumes by the Record Commissioners, 1806-1828, up to the end of the reign of Richard III. These calendars, which are invaluable for reference, must be used with caution, and should never be quoted as proving the death of any person by a particular date, for unfortunately not a few inquisitions that are not post mortem, but ad quod damnum, are included amongst them. There are also many errors in nomenclature, and in assigning manors to special counties; it is therefore wisest to make the rule of never quoting these inquisitions, unless the original has been seen, or a full transcript obtained. The inquisitions subsequent to the time of Richard III. have not been calendared. Private enterprise has more than once announced that such a work would be taken in hand, and subscribers names obtained, but up to the present time (1879) there seems no immediate prospect of publication.
The Record Commissioners have also published a Calendar to the Inquisitions of this class, pertaining to the Duchy of Lancaster, from the time of Edward I. to Charles I.
Extracts and abstracts from these Inquisitions, covering particular periods, or for particular counties, are numerous in our public libraries; for lists of such MSS., see Sims’ Manual, pp. 125-8.
Another form of inquisition was the Inquisitio ad quod damnum, which was a judicial inquiry, held by virtue of a writ directed to the Escheator of the county, when any license of alienation of lands, or grant of a market, fair, or other privilege was solicited. A local jury was sworn to inquire whether if the claim was granted it would interfere with any vested right, or be to the detriment of the crown or some of its subjects—hence the name ad quod damnum. These inquisitions, especially with relation to alienating lands to religious houses, are often very valuable to the local historian, for the jury in such cases had to state the amount, value, and nature of the remainder of the lands of the intended donor. A calendar of these records from 1 Edward II. to 38 Henry VI., was officially published in 1803, and is bound up with the previously mentioned calendar of the Charter Rolls. It should be remembered, as already stated, that many inquisitions ad quod damnum, particularly the earlier ones, are wrongly catalogued and arranged among the post mortem inquests.
Pedes Finium. The Pedes Finium, or “Feet of Fines,” must be clearly distinguished from the previously mentioned Fine Rolls, which are quite a different class of record. The Fine here signified is no mulct of money, but is so called because it is the final agreement between persons concerning any lands or rents or other matters whereof there is any suit between them. The fine, or solemn contract recorded before a competent judge, is described as having five parts—(1) the original writ taken out against the cognisor, (2) the license of the crown giving the parties liberty to accord, (3) the concord itself, (4) the note of the fine, which is an abstract of the original concord, and (5) the foot of the fine, which always began thus—“Hæc est finalis concordia facta in curia Dom. Regis apud Westm” etc. This foot of the fine, which was the official summary of the concord, was cut off in an indented line (hence the word indenture), so as to tally with the part delivered to the suitor and prove its authenticity, and retained by the court. There is no class of documents that has been so continuously preserved in uninterrupted succession as these Feet of Fines. No manorial history can be considered satisfactory until these records have been carefully consulted, for they contain the proceedings which have been adopted to convey estates, as well as to free them from their entailment to issue, or from the dower of wives. The earliest of these documents, viz., from 7 Richard I. to 16 John, have been officially published in two 8vo. volumes, under the title—“Fines, sive Pedes Finium; sive Finales Concordiæ, in Curia Domini Regis.”
Having thus run through the chief classes of documents bearing, with more or less directness, on manorial history, it may be added that further information should be sought in Mr. Thomas’ “Handbook to the Public Records.” It may also be well to mention, that those who require accurate transcripts of any of the records in Fetter Lane, need not apply for officially certified copies; for reliable transcribers can readily be met with who will do the work for less than half the sum required for certified copies. If the amateur searcher does not know any transcribers, the courteous gentlemen in charge of the Search Room will probably make no difficulty about giving their address.
Those who may be desirous of gaining some knowledge of the character or handwriting of ancient records, which can only be efficiently learnt by practice, are recommended to consult Wright’s “Court-Hand Restored.” It not only gives numerous alphabets and plates, illustrative of the different styles in vogue at different periods, but has valuable lists of abbreviations, of ancient place-names, and of debased Latin words that are only to be found in legal or monastic documents. Each of the earlier reigns appears to have had a set or uniform character of its own; but in the reign of Elizabeth and subsequently, this clerical mode seems to have been to a great extent abandoned, and each scribe to have written after his own fancy. It is hence very noticeable that, as was remarked by a late keeper of the Records, “the English records of the 16th and 17th centuries are in general more difficult to be read than the Latin records of preceding ages.”
