Tracing Your Ancestors from 1066 to 1837

by Jonathan Oates

  Bishop’s staff of authority. Paul Lang’s collection.

  Going before them was no laughing matter. Chaucer’s archdeacon relished in the execution of the penal aspects of his role:

  An erchedeken, a man of heigh degree

  That boldely dide execucion,

  In punisshinge of fournicacion,

  Of Wicchecraft, and eek of bauderye,

  Of diffamacioun and avoutrye.

  Usually the initial step was for the churchwardens of the parish to inform the court of any parishioners who had caused offence.

  Either clergy or lay people would bring cases before the courts on these matters. A judge, a senior churchman, would preside. Proceedings would be recorded in the Act Books, along with the results. Undisputed cases were resolved quickly but disputed ones involved the calling of advocates for both parties. If plenary procedure was followed, written pleas and statements were given. The plaintiff would provide the judge with his case for the judge to decide whether the court could deal with it. If so, he issued a citation on their behalf for the defendant to answer. This resulted in a number of statements for the defendant to answer. Witnesses would then make written statements against these points. Once the judge decided there was enough information from both sides, he would resolve the case and make a judgment. Costs would then be awarded. There was also summary court procedure, used in criminal cases only, when the evidence provided would be oral.

  Those found guilty could be sentenced to a number of humiliating punishments. Public penance was a common sentence. Those found guilty had to stand in a designated public place for a set number of occasions, often on market days or on Sundays, and for a designated time, with a notice about their person stating their offence. Once this penance was completed, the offender would be advised to sin no more. The final deterrent to any proving obdurate was to threaten excommunication, though several warnings were given before so final a step was taken. In a world where Christianity was almost universal, this was no small threat.

  Church court records are usually found in Act Books at the diocesan record office; those of Canterbury are found at Canterbury Cathedral Archives, those for York at the Borthwick Institute, and those of the dioceses either with the county record office or the cathedral itself. They tend to be less used than wills because they have not been indexed, as have most wills, and so searching for ancestors will be a lengthy task and quite possibly fruitless if your ancestors led sexually blameless lives. Of course, up to 1733 the documents will be in Latin, a further bar to some researchers. Act Books summarize a case to be taken before an ecclesiastical court. They give the depositions of witnesses, which include the witness’ name, occupation, age, residence and perhaps information about their previous residence and work. There may also be cause papers, detailing arguments and evidence used in court. They were most active in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

  Some Act Books have been published, chiefly for the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, by the English Episcopal Acta by the Oxford University Press and the British Academy (see www.oup.co.uk for a list of those published). Some have also been published by county record societies and by the Selden Society.

  Useful guides are C R Chapman, Ecclesiastical Courts: Their Officials and their Records (1992), Ann Tarver, Church Court Records (1994) and Martin Ingram’s Church Courts: Sex and Marriage in England, 1570–1640 (1987).

  Wills

  It is better known that these courts also dealt with probate. Wills express the final testament of an individual and are necessary to avoid unnecessary disputes by legitimizing the last wishes of the deceased. The practice of bequeathing goods originates from Saxon times, but wills as we know them do not start until the twelfth century. The earliest which survive date from the fourteenth century.

  They would be made before witnesses and could often be formulated months or years before death. The will would be proved before the appropriate court, usually shortly after the death of the testator, so it helps date the death. They are potentially very important documents for the researcher. This is because they show how wealthy an individual was, and what he or (rarely in this period) she owned, and their property and goods, as well as money and other assets, may be listed in some detail. It will also list those family members, friends and organizations (perhaps the church or a charity) to whom these assets were bequeathed. Of course, not everyone left a will. Married women only did so rarely because on marriage their goods passed to their husband. Spinsters, of course, could make wills, as did Jane Austen who died in 1817.

  There were documents called administrations (often known as ‘admons’) for those who died intestate, and for whom the court had to grant powers to another to make the division of the estate. A friend or relative of the deceased had to apply to the court for these and often had to enter into a bond that he would settle all the deceased’s debts and make up a true inventory of the deceased’s goods. Administrations are to be found with wills in diocesan record offices. Information about the administrator is also given.

  In the seventeenth century, inventories were commonplace and where they exist can be very informative indeed. They tend to exist in large numbers from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The court would appoint executors to make an inventory. Goods, including furniture, tools and agricultural produce and livestock would all be included.

  Prior to the twentieth century, perhaps only about 10% of the population made provision for their goods and chattels after death. Yet wills can be found for quite poor people, as well as for the obviously affluent, so they are always worth looking for. Finding them can be tricky however.

  This is because there were a number of courts operating in each county. The two most important were those of the archbishops, and these had superior jurisdiction to all other courts in the country. Of these the largest was the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, often abbreviated to PCC (not to be confused with Parochial Church Council, which originated in 1920). This dealt with predominantly wills proved in the south and Midlands of England (and Wales), though not wholly so; if a testator owned land in both provinces, it is worth checking both prerogative courts. They cover wills from 1383 to 1858, numbering over a million. They are located at TNA. However, access is straightforward. PCC wills can be searched for online on the TNA’s website, by simply typing in the testator’s name, together with year of death if known. If you don’t know whether someone made a will, you can check easily and quickly, and for free, so if nothing is found there is no loss; and you can then search another probate jurisdiction if desired.

  If the name of the individual sought for is located, you have two options if you want to progress. You can either pay the fee and be sent an electronic version of the will, which is certainly the quickest method. Or if you can visit TNA, you can see the record online for free. However, depending on your time and ability to read medieval handwriting, you may need to take a printout in any case.

  The other prerogative court was that of York, covering the counties of the province as listed above. These are held at the Borthwick Institute, part of the University of York, but indexes to those for the Prerogative Court of York, 1688–1858, all Yorkshire peculiars and all Yorkshire wills prior to 1500 can be seen on the website British Origins. The full text can then be ordered once the individual has been found.

  Durham Cathedral, 2009 Author.

  Apart from these courts, each diocese had its own consistory court. This was used by testators who had property in more than one archdeaconry within the same diocese, but it also administered wills in parishes exempt from the archdeacon’s remit. The actual court was in part of the cathedral, and if you visit Chester cathedral you can still see the court. There were also commissary courts, which were under the bishop’s control, though these operated only in one archdeaconry in the diocese.

  The lowest level of courts was the archdeaconry courts. There were varying numbers of these in each diocese. The smallest dioceses, such as Oxford, had but one.
In the diocese of Exeter there were four: Barnstaple, Exeter, Cornwall and Totnes. They tended to deal with estates which were solely in one archdeaconry, usually small ones. Finally, there were the peculiars. These were single parishes or groups of parishes in a diocese, not necessarily adjacent, which were exempt from the archdeaconry and consistory court jurisdictions. Instead, wills there were dealt with by someone else, perhaps a locally appointed official or perhaps by a clergyman from the cathedral.

  It is impossible to be specific about the location of these archives or to list their accessibility and the available finding aids and lists. Most of them are held at the county record office because that is usually the diocesan record office, so you should contact them in the first place. Remember that some wills proved prior to 1733 will be in Latin, though by no means all. Because there are numerous courts dealing with wills, you should check all of them, though wealthy individuals will have property in numerous parishes and counties, so will be more likely to have their wills proved in one of the two prerogative courts, with the less rich being dealt with by the archdeaconry courts. The best reference work for locating wills is Gibson’s Wills and Where to Find them, which gives the reader a county by county guide. However, British Origins has indexes to a numerous wills online other than those for Yorkshire and their collection is growing to form a National Wills Index pre-1858.

  Wills vary considerably in length. Jane Austen’s is a lengthy paragraph but Sir Robert Walpole’s is three pages long and by no means the most lengthy. Most tend to be set out in a formulaic manner, so once you have seen a few, that will be of great help. The testator would often commend their soul to God, and make reference to burial. There may then follow charitable bequests. Then the disposal of land and goods begins. The immediate family would then be listed, followed by more distant relatives, perhaps. Finally executors would be listed, people whom the testator nominated to ensure that the will was brought before the court. The following English translation of a fifteenth century will provides an example.

  I Hugh Cole of Northolt.

  I wish to be buried in the churchyard at Northall.

  Item:- I leave to the altar of the said church xijd.

  Item:- I leave to John Cole of Greenford 6s 4d.

  Item:- I leave for prayers for my soul to be said at the church of

  Greenford, 20d.

  Item:- I leave to Northall church a chest, for the parish, to be made by

  John Shrubbe and John Shepard.

  Item:- I leave to Northall church a vestment.

  Item:- I leave a cow to the same church.

  Item:- I leave a cow to Simon Randolfe.

  Note that all wills between 1653 and 1660 were proved by the PCC, when the Commonwealth had abolished the bishops as well as the monarchy. Only a minority of people (about a third to a quarter of adult men) made wills in any case, and very few prior to the sixteenth century. Much that is in a will, such as lengthy preambles, may be of limited interest, but even these may give a clue to the deceased’s religious feelings. Finally, just because certain family members are not named may not be evidence of a family falling out – it is possible that they may have been previously provided for, perhaps on marriage.

  Bishops’ Registers

  From the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, written registry books were kept by the dioceses. Apart from recording grants for repairs to churches and the consecration of new churches, they also refer to people. There are references to clerical appointments, church court business, estate and financial management, licences, dispensations and visitations. Significant figures in the diocese’s business might be noted. These would include benefactors and witnesses to transactions involving the diocese. Deaths and marriages of these people could be included.

  However, the use of such archives is hit and miss. First they are almost all written in Latin. They are arranged chronologically and without an index. Thirdly the information provided is very variable. On the positive side, some of these registers have been transcribed and published and are so easy to use. The Canterbury and York Society has taken a lead in the production of these, though other institutions have also done so. Dorothy Owen’s Medieval Records in Print (1982) should help in tracking them down.

  Licences

  The church licensed individuals to practise in a wide variety of occupations, including schoolmasters, doctors and midwives. They were required to swear their allegiance to the establishedchurch. John Lucas, a Leeds schoolmaster, had to apply to the diocese’s chancellor in 1714 to have his licence confirmed. Two churchwardens and the vicar of the church he attended had to confirm that he received the holy sacrament following the Anglican Church’s rites.

  Marriage licences could also be granted from bishops’ courts. If two people wanted to marry but did not want to go through the process of having banns read out three times in church, or they wanted to marry in a church in a parish in which neither was resident, they could apply for a licence. This was not inexpensive so was relatively rare. It occurred in the case of Thomas Smethurst’s first marriage in Kennington in 1828. Smethurst (1804–73) was a bigamist and possible wife poisoner.

  Visitations

  Ministers and churchwardens were asked at regular intervals by the bishop or archdeacon about the state of their parish. Names of Catholics and Dissenters in the parish may be given; otherwise there is useful information about the parish given there. Those for York for 1743 and 1764 have been published by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series.

  Bishop’s Palace, Wells. Paul Lang’s collection.

  Records of Religious Houses

  So far we have examined the archives of the two provinces and the dioceses. Yet we should not forget the hundreds of religious houses swept away by the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. These created records, too, and since they were great landowners and dealt with many people are not insignificant. However, the dissolution did result in many of their records being destroyed or lost. Some do survive, at TNA, BL and elsewhere. To find which institutions were near where your ancestors lived, try Knowles and Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales (1971).

  Their archives include cartularies. These are copies of charters which were in the institution’s possession and describe land given to that institution. Then there are chronicles, a list of which has been compiled by the Mississippi State University (www.chronica.msstate.edu/chronica). They often refer to local events and people, so have clear genealogical value. Although written in Latin and often in private hands, some have been transcribed and published in the Rolls series of 255 volumes which cover the period up to the sixteenth century. These should be available at university libraries. County history societies have transcribed them too. Papal Registers are another possible source, and these volumes have been calendared as ‘Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland, 1198–1513’. Another volume concerns petitions to the Pope from 1342 to 1419. Marriages between members of the aristocracy are often mentioned, especially where there was concern about close relatives marrying.

  Don’t forget that cathedrals will contain many monuments and vaults, with varying details of those buried there. There may even be a brass or sarcophagus if you are extremely fortunate. Usually these will be from the upper echelons of sacred and secular society, but if your ancestor is amongst them there may be useful information therein – as well as being an excellent subject for a photograph or rubbing, but do ask permission from the cathedral authorities first.

  Other diocesan records relate to clergymen, such as books listing their ordinations and institutions to benefices. The Church also ran schools, such as the charity schools in the eighteenth century, though records rarely listed pupils, but chiefly schoolmasters and benefactors. Finally, don’t forget that the Church was a significant holder of lands and kept many estate records including surveys and other records relating to tenants.

  Apart from wills, most researchers do not often co
me into contact with the archives of the Church above parish level. However these archives should not be dismissed. Although the Act Books will not be your first port of call, an inspection of any published volumes for the diocese(s) your ancestors dwelt in would not be a difficult or time-consuming process. If your ancestors were teachers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries you should certainly seek out the certificate confirming their adherence to Anglicanism.

  Chapter 3

  CHURCH RECORDS, PART 2: THE PARISH

  From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, the most important single institution in the life of the majority of the population was the parish. This was not just because of the religious significance of the parish, as important as that was, but because legislation passed under the Tudors led to the parish being an important secular institution, too, superseding the manor. The parish was the lowest administrative unit of both church and state, and by the eighteenth century there were about 10,000 of them in England.