Medieval source material on the internet: Miscellaneous

1. Urban and guild records
2. Schools, Universities and Inns of Court
3. Private letters and papers

Miscellaneous

For a brief guide to miscellaneous records, click here

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

(1) Urban and guild records

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

• The Officers of Borough Government: Lists of Office-holders 1272-1460 [East Anglian boroughs] (Stephen Alsford, Medieval English Towns)
• Report on the Manuscripts of the Corporation of Beverley (1900) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.
• Lists of names from several Bridgwater sources (Paul Mansfield) [not available, 4 November 2007; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from April 2007]
• Cardiff Records: being materials for a history of the county borough from the earliest times (Pat Sewell)
  From the 6-volume publication of John Hobson Matthews (1898-1911). The online version, in progress, includes notes on manors, lists of officials, and indexes to various other sections
• Historic and municipal documents of Ireland, A.D. 1172-1320: from the archives of the city of Dublin, etc (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; number for "Recherche libre" field: N050286)
  PDF format; Latin texts, from the edition of J.T. Gilbert (Rolls Series 53; 1870)
• Fifteenth Century Description of Durham City (Benjamin Dodds, University of Durham)
  Latin text and English translation of an early 15th-century survey, with a map and commentary discussing sources from the 12th century and later - little information about individuals, but fascinating background information about the medieval city
• W. Cotton and Henry Woollcombe Gleanings from the Municipal and Cathedral records relative to the history of The City of Exeter (1877) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• Hull City Archives (University of Hull )
  Transcripts of selected documents from the Borough Letters and Bench Book Four, from the period 1558-1603.
• Calendar of usages and customs of Ipswich (Stephen Alsford, Medieval English Towns)
• Account of revenues and expenditures [Ipswich], 1446/47 (Stephen Alsford, Medieval English Towns)
• Rental of community property [in King's Lynn], 1391 (Stephen Alsford, Medieval English Towns)
• London:
  • Munimenta gildhallae londoniensis
    • Liber albus; Liber custumarum; Liber Horn (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; numbers for "Recherche libre" field: N050160-3)
      PDF format; Latin and Anglo-Norman texts, with a translation of the Anglo-Norman passages in the Liber albus, from the edition of Henry Thomas Riley (Rolls Series 12, vols 1-3 (in 4 parts); 1859-1862)
    • [Documents in French from] Liber Albus (The Anglo-Norman On-line Hub)
      From the edition of Henry Thomas Riley (Rolls Series 12, vol 1; 1859)
  • De antiquis legibus liber. Cronica maiorum et vicecomitum Londoniarum et quedam que contingebant temporibus illis ab anno 1178 add annum 1274, cum appendice (1846) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
    Royal Historical Society, Camden Society Old Series, volume 34. Transcript of the original Latin text.
  • Medieval Merchants etc in (mainly) London (Michael W.Foster) [formerly at http://www.gold.ac.uk/genuki/LND/Indexes/MEDMCHTS.txt; not available, 1 December 2003; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from December 2002]
    Index of names from Sylvia L.Thrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London (1948). Just over 30 biographical abstracts from the same work are available at British History Online
  • London assize of nuisance 1301-1431: A calendar (British History Online)
    Text from the edition of Helena M. Chew and William Kellaway, London Record Society, vol. 10 (1973); English abstracts of records of disputes between neighbours over building and other matters
  • Scriveners' company common paper 1357-1628, with a continuation to 1678 (British History Online)
    Text from the edition of Francis W. Steer, London Record Society, vol. 4 (1968); English translations and transcripts, including lists of officers, oaths, ordinances, petitions and letters patent
  • London Apprenticeship Abstracts 1442-1850 (British Origins)
    Pay-per-view.
  • The overseas trade of London: exchequer customs accounts 1480-1 (British History Online)
    Text from the edition of H.S. Cobb, London Record Society, vol. 27 (1990); English abstract of accounts detailing imports and exports
  • London viewers and their certificates, 1508-1558: Certificates of the sworn viewers of the City of London (British History Online)
    Text from the edition of Janet Senderowitz Loengard, London Record Society, vol. 26 (1989); Transcripts in English (with some Latin) of records of disputes over building and other matters
  • The port and trade of early Elizabethan London: documents (British History Online)
    Text from the edition of Brian Dietz, London Record Society, vol. 8 (1972); English calendar of the London Port Book, 1567/8, detailing imports, and other documents
  • Calendar of letter-books of the city of London (British History Online)
    A: 1275-1298
    B: 1275-1312
    C: 1291-1309
    D: 1309-1314
    F: 1337-1352
    G: 1352-1374
    H: 1375-1399
    I: 1400-1422
    K: Henry VI [1422-1461]
    L: Edward IV-Henry VII [1461-1509]
    English abstracts, from the editions of Reginald R. Sharpe (1899-1912). Miscellaneous records, including recognizances of debts, deeds etc.
  • Calendar of the plea and memoranda rolls of the city of London (British History Online)
    Volume 1: 1323-1364
    Volume 2: 1364-1381
    Volume 3: 1381-1412
    English abstracts, from the editions of A. H. Thomas (1926-1932).
• Urban Manuscripts Project: Privately-owned English Urban manuscripts, 1300-1476: A Database (University of York)
  Project to compile a database, with details of the owners of manuscripts in late medieval urban England - the database is not yet available
• J. E. T. Rogers Oxford City Documents, Financial and Judicial, 1258-1665 (1891) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Oxford Historical Society, volume 18.
• Physicians and Irregular Medical Practitioners in London 1550-1640 (British History Online)
  Database associated with the work by Margaret Pelling and Frances White, Medical Conflicts in Early Modern London: Patronage, Physicians and Irregular Practitioners 1550-1640 (2003), giving biographical details of more than 800 individuals, from the records of the Royal College of Physicians
• John Lingard The Charters, granted by different sovereigns, to the burgesses of Preston, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, printed from attested copies (1821) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• A Note of the names of suche Persons wh did weare Hatts & not Cappes in Sheffeld [Yorkshire] Churche contrary to the Statute in that behalfe made the xixth daye of Maye Anno Dni, 1577 (Eric Youle)
• Calendar of the Muniments and Records of the Borough of Shrewsbury (1896) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• Lists of names from several Taunton sources (Paul Mansfield) [not available, 4 November 2007; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from April 2007]
• H. J. Moule Descriptive catalogue of the charters, minute books and other documents of the Borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. A.D. 1252 to 1800. (1883) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• [List of names from] Elizabethan Yeovil (Paul Mansfield) [not available, 4 November 2007; see the Internet Archive's copy of this page, from June 2006]
  As recorded in Churchwardens Accounts, by John Goodchild, Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (1942)
• York Bridgemasters' Accounts (York Archaeological Trust)
  Translations by Philip M. Stell of the surviving 15th-century accounts of the Ouse and Foss Bridges (PDF files), from volume 2 of The Archaeology of York series (Historical Sources for York Archaeology after AD 1100). The accounts are not indexed, but there is an alphabetical list of the names that occur, and the individual files are searchable.
• Gazetteer of the Religious Gilds and Services of Late Medieval Yorkshire (University of York)
  Listing of gilds, arranged alphabetically by place, with summaries of documentary evidence, mostly from wills between the 14th and 16th centuries; this is an updated version of the gazetteer from David J.F. Crouch's D. Phil. thesis Piety, fraternity and power: religious gilds in late medieval Yorkshire: 1389-1547 (1995).

(2) Schools, Universities and Inns of Court

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

• M. R. James, descriptive catalogues of manuscripts in the libraries of Cambridge Colleges:
  • A searchable (but not browsable) online version is available on the website of Trinity College, Cambridge
    This includes some updates and additional bibliographical information.
  • The text of some volumes are available in PDF format from the Medieval and Modern Thought Text Digitization Project, Stanford University.
    • A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Jesus College, Cambridge [1895]
    • Supplement to the catalogue of manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College [1914]
    • The Western manuscripts in the library of Emmanuel College. A descriptive catalogue [1904]
    • A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Trinity Hall [1907]
    • The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity college, Cambridge. A descriptive catalogue (3 vols [1900-1904])
      Caution - extremely large downloads of more than 100 MB for the first two volumes
    • A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (2 vols [1909-1913])
      Caution - large downloads of about 30 MB per volume
    • A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Jesus College, Cambridge [1895]
• The Inner Temple Admissions Database (The Inner Temple)
  Database currently containing biographical information on those admitted between 1547 and 1850.
• Promotion of Public Access to the King's College [Cambridge] Estates Records (King's College, Cambridge)
  Project, in progress, to make available copies of catalogues in Word format, together with images of selected documents
• Joseph Foster, ed., The Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn, 1521-1889, together with the Register of Marriages in Gray's Inn Chapel, 1695-1754 (1889) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• Oxford University: Munimenta academica, or documents illustrative of academical life and studies at Oxford (gallica; Bibliothèque Nationale de France; numbers for "Recherche libre" field: N050279, N050280)
  PDF format; Latin texts from the edition of the Rev. Henry Anstey (Rolls Series 50, vols 1 and 2; 1868)

(3) Private letters and papers

• Appendix to the Fifteenth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Giving a complete list of all the reports issued, and of the collections of manuscripts examined since ... 1869 (1899) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• Corpus of Early English Correspondence (CEEC) (University of Helsinki)
  A large electronic collection of English letters from 1417-1681. Because of copyright restrictions, the full collection is not available for general use, but two samples of it are distributed by the Oxford Text Archive:
  • The Parsed Corpus of Early English Correspondence (Universities of Helsinki and York)
    A sample of more than three quarters of the Corpus of Early English Correspondence. As well as the raw text, this includes a version marked up to indicate syntactical structure. A manual is available online.
  • Corpus of Early English Correspondence Sampler (University of Helsinki)
    A sample of about one sixth of the Corpus of Early English Correspondence. A manual is available online.
• Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, and one or two other collections (1825) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Volume 1 of 3.
• Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, and one or two other collections (1827) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Second series, volume 2 of 4.
• Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, the State Paper Office, and one or two other collections (1846) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Third series, volume 2 of 4
• Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, the State Paper Office, and one or two other collections (1846) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Third series, volume 4 of 4
• Mary Anne Everett Green Letters of royal and illustrious ladies of Great Britain. From the commencement of the twelfth century to the close of the reign of Queen Mary. (1846) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Volume 2 of 3, covering material from the 1520s and 1530s. Transcribed into modern English, with notes.
• Mary Anne Everett Green Letters of royal and illustrious ladies of Great Britain, from the commencement of the twelfth century to the close of the reign of Queen Mary. (1846) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Volume 3 of 3, covering material from 1538 to 1558. Transcribed into modern English, with notes.
• Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Frankland-Russell-Astley, of Chequers Court, Bucks (1900) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
• The Manuscripts of the Duke of Athole, K.T., and of the Earl of Home (1891) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 12th Report, appendix 8
• The manuscripts of the Duke of Beaufort, K.G., the Earl of Donoughmore, and others (1891) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 12th report, appendix 9. Includes manuscripts of G. A. Aitken, J. H. Gurney, W. W. B. Hulton, R. W. Ketton and P. Vernon Smith.
• Report on the manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry ... preserved at Drumlanrig Castle. Volume 2. (1903) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Calendar of letters to the first duke from Alexander, Earl of Moray, 1682-6, and the Hon. John Drummond, 1682-5.
• The Cely Papers (Richard III Society)
  Text from H.E. Malden, The Cely papers: selections from the correspondence and memoranda of the Cely family, merchants of the staple, A.D. 1475-1488 (1900)
• The manuscripts of the Duke of Beaufort, K.G., the Earl of Donoughmore, and others (1891) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 12th report, appendix 9. Includes manuscripts of G. A. Aitken, J. H. Gurney, W. W. B. Hulton, R. W. Ketton and P. Vernon Smith.
• The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake (Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress)
  Images of manuscript, printed and other material relating to Drakes voyages to the Americas, 1577-1580; various languages
• The manuscripts of Sir William FitzHerbert, bart., and others (1893) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 13th Report, appendix 6. Includes the manuscripts of the Delaval family, the Earl of Ancaster, and Lieutenant-General Lyttelton Annesley.
• Isaac Herbert Jeayes Descriptive catalogue of the charters & muniments of the Gresley family, in the possession of Sir Robert Gresley, bart., at Drakelowe (1895) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
• The Manuscripts of J. Eliot Hodgkin, Esq., F.S.A. of Richmond, Surrey (1897) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 15th Report, appendix 2.
• The Manuscripts of the Duke of Athole, K.T., and of the Earl of Home (1891) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 12th Report, appendix 8
• The Manuscripts of J. J. Hope Johnstone, Esq., of Annandale (1897) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 15th Report, appendix 9.
• Report on the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Lothian, Preserved at Blickling Hall, Norfolk (1905) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
• Report on the manuscripts of the Marquis of Ormonde, K.P., preserved at The Castle, Kilkenny. Volume 2. (1899) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.
• Paston letters and papers of the fifteenth century, Part I (Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia)
  English text from the first part of Norman Davis' edition (1971), which includes letters written by members of the family, and some associated documents (the second part covers letters written to them, and contains an index to both parts)
• [J. C. Hodgson, ed.] Percy bailiff's rolls of the fifteenth century. (1921) (Internet Archive - Text Archive)
  Surtees Society, volume 134. Latin transcripts of account rolls, 1471-2, and English transcript of household roll, 1563-5, of the earls of Northumberland.
• Report on the manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry ... preserved at Drumlanrig Castle. Volume 2. (1903) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Calendar of letters to the first duke from Alexander, Earl of Moray, 1682-6, and the Hon. John Drummond, 1682-5.
• The Manuscripts of His Grace the Duke of Rutland, K.G. preserved at Belvoir Castle. Volume 4 (1905) (Google Book Search [Hints and tips])
  Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.
• Tudor Letters (Lara Eakins, Tudor History)
  A selection of images and transcripts of five letters to and from the Tudor royal family
• Adam Winthrop's Commonplace Book (Winthrop Papers Web Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society)
  Texts originally printed in the Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings