Medieval source material on the internet: Church records and religious houses

Church records and religious houses

For a brief guide to church records, click here

For some medieval records in Ancestry's UK and Ireland Collection, click here

See also many monastic documents in the section on Medieval and early modern texts above.

• Sir William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum (Monastic Matrix)
  PDF images of the 1817-1830 edition of this important work detailing the histories of religious houses and including extensive extracts from monastic cartularies. N.B. Currently there is a single PDF file for each religious house, so download times can be very long, particularly on dial-up connections
• W. H. Bliss Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland. Letters, volume 1: 1198-1304 (1893) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• W. H. Bliss Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland. Letters, volume 2: 1305-1342 (1895) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• W. H. Bliss and C. Johnson Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland. Letters, volume 3: 1342-1362 (1897) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• W. H. Bliss and J. A. Twemlow Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland. Letters, volume 4: 1362-1404 (1902) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae
  Biographical lists of senior clergy associated with the cathedrals of England and Wales, originally compiled by John le Neve in the early 18th century, and twice revised since then.
  • Revised three-volume edition by T. Duffus Hardy (1854)
    • Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: the higher clergy list (Institute of Historical Research)
      Online indexes for the periods 1300-1541 and 1541-1857. The index entries for the later period include brief biographical details.
    • The 1854 edition is available from Archive CD Books
  • Twentieth-century multi-volume revised edition (British History Online)
    • Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066-1300:
      • Volume 1: St. Paul's, London (1968)
      • Volume 2: Monastic cathedrals (northern and southern provinces) (1971)
      • Volume 3: Lincoln (1977)
      • Volume 4: Salisbury (1991)
      • Volume 5: Chichester (1996)
      • Volume 6: York (1999)
      • Volume 7: Bath and Wells (2001)
      • Volume 8: Hereford (2002)
      • Volume 9: The Welsh cathedrals (Bangor, Llandaff, St Asaph, St Davids) (2003)
    • Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541:
      • Volume 1: Lincoln diocese (1962)
      • Volume 2: Hereford diocese (1962)
      • Volume 3: Salisbury diocese (1962)
      • Volume 4: Monastic cathedrals (southern province) (1963)
      • Volume 5: St Paul's, London (1963)
      • Volume 6: Northern province (York, Carlisle and Durham) (1963)
      • Volume 7: Chichester diocese (1964)
      • Volume 8: Bath and Wells diocese (1964)
      • Volume 9: Exeter diocese (1964)
      • Volume 10: Coventry and Lichfield diocese (1964)
      • Volume 11: The Welsh dioceses (Bangor, Llandaff, St Asaph, St Davids) (1965)
      • Volume 12: Introduction, errata, and index (1967)
    • Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857:
      • Volume 1: St. Paul's, London (1969)
      • Volume 2: Chichester diocese (1971)
      • Volume 3: Canterbury, Rochester and Winchester dioceses (1974)
      • Volume 4: York diocese (1975)
      • Volume 5: Bath and Wells diocese (1979)
      • Volume 6: Salisbury diocese (1986)
      • Volume 7: Ely, Norwich, Westminster and Worcester dioceses (1992)
      • Volume 8: Bristol, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough dioceses (1996)
      • Volume 9: Lincoln diocese (1999)
      • Volume 10: Coventry and Lichfield diocese (2003)
• Henry Cotton Fasti Ecclesiĉ Hibernicĉ. The succession of the prelates and members of the cathedral bodies in Ireland. (1860) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Volume 5 of 5. Illustrations, corrections and additions, with general indexes to the whole work.
• Index to ecclesiastical spiritualities in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae Auctoritate Papae Nicholai IV (c.1291) (Jeff Denton, University of Manchester)
  Compiled from the Record Commission edition (1802), being supplemented from other sources.
• Penance, c.1250-c.1600: some texts (and linked pages) (David Postles, Leicester University)
  Sample texts from various sources, some original texts - Latin and English - and some translations
• [Anglo-Saxon] England and Rome (under construction; Joint Committee on Anglo-Saxon Charters)
  Provisional lists of papal letters and privileges for English people and religious houses, and of English visitors to Rome, during the Anglo-Saxon period
• E. H. Bates, ed., Two cartularies of the Benedictine abbeys of Muchelney and Athelney in the county of Somerset (1899) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Somerset Record Society, number 14. English abstract of the Muchelney cartulary, with some transcripts; partial English abstract of the Athelney cartulary
• [Edmund] Hobhouse, ed., Calendar of the register of John de Drokensford, bishop of Bath and Wells, A.D. 1309-1329. (1887) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Somerset Record Society, number 1.
• [H. C. Maxwell-Lyte and others, eds,] Two cartularies of the Augustinian priory of Bruton and the Cluniac priory of Montacute in the county of Somerset (1894) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Somerset Record Society, number 8. English abstracts.
• W. P. Blore, Recent Discoveries in the Archives of Canterbury Cathedral (Kent Archaeological Society)
  Text of a paper originally published in Archaeologia Cantiana, vol. 58, pp. 28-34 (1945) Extracts from accounts (in Latin), 13th-16th centuries, mainly relating to building work
• John H. Harvey, Recent Discoveries in the Archives of Canterbury Cathedral. A Note on the Craftsmen (Kent Archaeological Society)
  Text of a paper originally published in Archaeologia Cantiana, vol. 58, pp. 35-39 (1945) Notes from 13th-15th-century accounts, including the names of a number of craftsmen
• Dorothy Gardiner, Recent Discoveries in the Archives of Canterbury Cathedral. Notes on the Monks and Priory Buildings Mentioned (Kent Archaeological Society)
  Text of a paper originally published in Archaeologia Cantiana, vol. 58, pp. 40-42 (1945) Notes from 13th-15th-century records, mentioning monks and others associated with the cathedral
• Christ Church, Canterbury: Epistolae cantuarienses, the letters of the prior and convent of Christ church, Canterbury, from A.D. 1187 to A.D. 1199,
  in Chronicles and memorials of the reign of Richard I (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; number for "Recherche libre" field: N050247)
  PDF format; Latin text from the edition of William Stubbs (Rolls Series 38, vol.2; 1865)
• Cleobury Mortimer People in the Church Courts, 1534-1600 [formerly at http://www.xea95.dial.pipex.com/cmcc1.htm; not available, 28/10/2001; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from July 2001] (Chris Potter)
  Latin transcripts, continued until 1725
• The register of Richard de Kellawe, lord palatine and bishop of Durham, 1311-1316 (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; numbers for "Recherche libre" field: N050309-N050312)
  PDF format; Latin text (incomplete) from the edition of Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy (Rolls Series 62, vols 1-3 and 6; 1873-1878)
• [G. W. Kitchin, ed.] Richard D'Aungerville [bishop of Durham], of Bury. Fragments of his register, and other documents. (1910) (Internet Archive - Text Archive)
  Surtees Society, volume 119. Latin transcripts of a fragment of his register, 1343-4, and other documents.
• Earls Colne: Church records (The Records of Earls Colne; Cambridge University)
  Transcripts of church records - administrative, legal and monastic - relating to Earls Colne, Essex, 16th century and later
• Emmison's Elizabethan Life [Essex]: Morals and the Church Courts (Mike Foster, GENUKI)
  Index to names from F.G. Emmison's Elizabethan life: morals and the Church Courts, mainly from Essex Archidiaconal records (1973)
• Bishops of Exeter (Exeter Cathedral)
  Chronological list, with biographical articles from the Rev. G.Oliver's Lives of the Bishops of Exeter (1861)
• Arthur William Crawley-Boevey The cartulary and historical notes of the Cistercian abbey of Flaxley otherwise called Dene Abbey, in the county of Gloucester (1887) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• Gloucester: Historia et cartularium monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; numbers for "Recherche libre" field: N050233-N050235)
  PDF format; Latin text from the edition of William Henry Hart (Rolls Series 33, vols 1-3; 1863-1867)
• Calendar of the Register of the Hospital of St Mary, Great Yarmouth (Stephen Alsford, Medieval English Towns)
• A. T. Bannister The Register of Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Hereford (A. D. 1317- 1327) (1907) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Cantilupe Society/Canterbury and York Society, volume 5. Latin transcript, with an introduction.
• William Oliver Roper Materials for the history of the church of Lancaster (1892) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Chetham Society, new series, number 26. Volume 1 of 4. First part of a Latin transcript of the cartulary of Lancaster Priory.
• Leicester Archdeaconry Court Proceedings - Case of Winter vs Petcher, 1597-98 (Alan Roberts, Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies)
  Transcribed records of a case of adultery in an ecclesiastical court, from Leicestershire Record Office 1D 41/4/673. There is also an article by Alan Roberts, discussing the case - A 16th Century Scandal - on the Appleby Magna web site.
• Lincoln diocese documents, 1450-1544 (Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, University of Michigan)
  Searchable text, from the edition of Andrew Clark (1914). Most of the documents are wills, in English or Latin; others include vows of celibacy and records relating to church estates.
• The church in London 1375-1392 (British History Online)
  Text from the edition of A. K. McHardy, London Record Society, vol. 13 (1977); English translations and abstracts; clerical poll tax returns, 1379-81, an inquisition into ecclesiastical property, c. 1392, and the acta of William Courtenay, bishop of London, 1375-81
• Malmesbury: Registrum Malmesburiense (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; numbers for "Recherche libre" field: N050337, N050338)
  PDF format; Latin text from the edition of J.S. Brewer (Rolls Series 72, vols 1 and 2; 1879, 1880)
• [H. C. Maxwell-Lyte and others, eds,] Two cartularies of the Augustinian priory of Bruton and the Cluniac priory of Montacute in the county of Somerset (1894) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Somerset Record Society, number 8. English abstracts.
• E. H. Bates, ed., Two cartularies of the Benedictine abbeys of Muchelney and Athelney in the county of Somerset (1899) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Somerset Record Society, number 14. English abstract of the Muchelney cartulary, with some transcripts; partial English abstract of the Athelney cartulary
• The Medieval Carmelite Priory at Northallerton: A Chronology (Richard Copsey, British Province of Carmelite Friars)
  Extracts from records concerning the priory, chronologically arranged
• Physicians and Surgeons: Directory of medical licences issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury 1535-1775 (Lambeth Palace Library)
  The surname index includes more than 70 entries from the 16th century
• Ramsey Abbey: Cartularium monasterii de Rameseia (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; numbers for "Recherche libre" field: N050351-N050353)
  PDF format; Latin text from the edition of William Henry Hart and the Rev. Ponsonby A. Lyons (Rolls Series 79, vols 1-3; 1884-1893)
• W. Dunn Macray, ed., Charters and documents illustrating the history of the cathedral, city, and diocese of Salisbury, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Selected from the capitular and diocesan archives ... (1891) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Rolls Series number 97. Latin text.
• Salisbury: Vetus registrum Sarisberiense alias dictum Registrum S. Osmundi episcopi (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; numbers for "Recherche libre" field: N050349, N050350)
  PDF format; Latin text from the edition of W.H. Rich Jones (Rolls Series 78, vols 1 and 2; 1883, 1884)
• Emanuel Green, ed., The survey and rental of the chantries, colleges and free chapels, guilds, fraternities, lamps, lights and obits in the county of Somerset ... A.D. 1548 (1888) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Somerset Record Society, number 2. Transcript of survey; English translation of rental.
• Walter de Gray Birch Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester (1892) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Latin text, with an introduction and extensive footnotes.
• Proceedings taken in Winster Church [Derbyshire] regarding the Consanguinity of the Parties to the Marriage of two of the Staffords of Eyam. Deed dated 1308 (Rosemary Lockie)
  Text of an article by C.E.B. Bowles, from the Derbyshire Archaeological Society Journal (1901)
• W. H. Dixon; edited and enlarged by James Raine Fasti Eboracenses. Lives of the Archbishops of York. (1863) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Volume 1 (no more published). Covers 627-1373.
• [William Brown, ed.,] The register of William Wickwane, lord archbishop of York, 1279-1285. (1907) (Internet Archive - Text Archive)
  Surtees Society, volume 114. Latin transcript, with English abstracts.
• The Medieval Carmelite Priory at York: A Chronology (Richard Copsey, British Province of Carmelite Friars)
  Extracts from records concerning the priory, chronologically arranged, with biographical details of many Carmelites associated with York
• William Page, ed., The Certificates of the Commissioners appointed to survey the Chantries, Guilds, Hospitals, etc., in the county of York (1894) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Surtees Society, volume 92.