Medieval English genealogy: updates: 16 October 2004

This page contains brief details of the latest batch of updates to the site, and includes newly added and updated links. For brief details of these and older additions - without links, to make site maintenance easier - see the what's new page.

Contents:

• News
• New links
• Updated links
• Missing links

News

The long-awaited Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has been published. This is a revised edition of the standard reference work, and contains about 50,000 scholarly biographical articles on prominent people in the British Isles, including many from medieval times. The dictionary is available both as a printed edition of 60 volumes, and as an online subscription service for libraries and individuals. More information, and some free sample articles, are available on the ODNB website.

Meanwhile there have been two major steps forward in providing Internet access to older published medieval source material:

• Calendar of Patent Rolls Search. Professor Bob Boynton and the University of Iowa Libraries have made available images of the published Calendar of the Patent Rolls in PDF format. The text is searchable by keyword, or the images can be viewed by specifying a volume and page number. So far 27 volumes covering the period 1348-1452 are online, and there are plans to add the earlier volumes in the series, going back to the early 13th century.
• Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum. Images of the 1817-1830 edition of this work, detailing the histories of religious houses and including extensive extracts from monastic records, are available on the Monastic Matrix website, in PDF format. One note of caution - currently there is one file for each religious house, which means download times can be quite long, especially when using a dial-up connection. However, it's hoped to split the material into smaller files in the future. Professor Lisa Bitel (bitel@usc.edu) hopes to add more digitised texts to the site in the future, and would welcome suggestions of suitable material (note that the project's goal is "to document the participation of Christian women in the religion and society of medieval Europe").

Several potentially useful books have been published recently:

• Christopher Corèdon and Ann Williams, A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases (2004)
  Discussion of some 3,400 medieval terms and phrases, both English and Latin
  [More details]
• D. Rollason, A. J. Piper and M. Harvey, eds, The Durham Liber Vitae and its Context (2004)
  Collection of papers by various authors discussing this record commemorating the dead, and parallel documents
  [More details]
• Sandra Raban, A Second Domesday? - The Hundred Rolls of 1279-80 (Oxford University Press, 2004)
  Discussion of the Hundred Rolls, the motivation for their compilation, and how the enquiries were carried out
  [More details]

New links

• Brief guide to medieval English genealogy:
  • Published works, bibliographies and indexes:
    Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press)
• Medieval source material on the Internet:
  • County and local history:
    
    • Richard John King, Handbook to the Cathedrals of England (1862) (Bill Thayer)
      Excerpts, including historical accounts of the sees and the cathedrals of Ely, Lincoln, Norwich, Oxford and Peterborough
  • Chancery rolls:
    Calendar of Patent Rolls Search (G. R. Boynton, University of Iowa)
    PDF images of the published Calendar of the Patent Rolls, in progress, currently covering 1348-1452. There is a keyword search facility, or the option of selecting a particular volume and page
  • Funeral monuments:
    Thomas Wilson, A Verbatim Copy of all the Monuments, Gravestones and other Sepulchral memorials in Ripon Cathedral and its Burial Ground (1847) (Andrew Richards)
    Images and transcript (in progress)
  • Church records and religious houses:
    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
  • Monumental brasses on the Internet:
    • Sir Andrew Herley and his wife Juliana (1392): Allensmore, Herefordshire (inlaid and incised slab; photographs and discussion) (Brass of the Month, September 2004)
    • Nicholas Fraunceis (1526): Combe Florey, Somerset (photographs and discussion) (Brass of the Month, October 2004)
  • Victoria County History
    • New texts on the VCH Oxfordshire web site
      Asthall, Brize Norton
    • New texts on British History Online:
      • Gloucester, volume 5:
        General articles
        Bledisloe Hundred: Alvington, Awre, Lydney
        St Briavels Hundred: Abenhall, English Bicknor, Coleford, Flaxley, Hewelsfield and Brockweir, Littledean, Mitcheldean, Newland, Ruardean, St Briavels, Staunton
        Forest of Dean: Cinderford and Ruspidge, Lydbrook, Parkend
      • Middlesex, volume 11:
        Ossulstone Hundred (continued): Stepney, Bethnal Green (The Green: Bethnal Green Village, Dog Row, The West: Shoreditch Side, Spitalfields, and the Nichol, Cambridge Heath, The North West: Hackney Road, The Centre: Bethnal Green Road, The East: Old Ford Lane, Green Street, and Globe Town)
      • Northamptonshire, volume 5:
        Cleley Hundred: The Honor of Grafton and Wakefield Lodge Estate, Alderton, Ashton, Cosgrove, Easton Neston, Furtho, Grafton Regis, Hartwell, Old Stratford, Passenham, Paulerspury, Potterspury, Roade, Stoke Bruerne, Wicken
      • Shropshire, volume 4:
        General articles
      • Staffordshire, volume 7:
        Totmonslow Hundred (part): Alstonefield (Alstonefield, Fawfieldhead, Heathylee, Hollinsclough, Longnor, Quarnford, Warslow and Elkstones), Horton, Leek (Leek and Lowe, Bradnop, Endon, Heaton, Leekfrith, Longsdon, Onecote, Rudyard, Rushton James, Rushton Spencer, Stanley, Tittesworth), Sheen
      • Sussex, volume 5, part 1:
        Arundel Rape
        Arundel Rape (South-western Part)
        Arundel
        Avisford Hundred (Part): Barnham, Binsted, Climping, Eastergate, Felpham, Ford, Middleton-on-Sea, South Stoke, Tortington, Walberton, Yapton
      • Warwickshire, volume 7:
        The City of Birmingham
      • Wiltshire, volume 16:
        Kinwardstone Hundred: Great Bedwyn, Little Bedwyn, Burbage, Buttermere, Chilton Foliat, Chute, Chute Forest, Collingbourne Kingston, Easton, Froxfield, Milton Lilbourne, Pewsey, Savernake, Tidcombe (Fosbury, Hippenscombe), Wootton Rivers
      • Yorkshire: East Riding, volume 3:
        Ouse and Derwent Wapentake: Dunnington, Elvington, Escrick, Fulford, Hemingbrough (Hemingbrough, Barlby, Brackenholme with Woodhall, Cliffe with Lund, South Duffield, Menthorpe with Bowthorpe, Osgodby), Heslington, Naburn, Riccall, Skipwith, Stillingfleet, Thorganby, Wheldrake
        Harthill Wapentake, Wilton Beacon division (western part): Allerthorpe, Barmby Moor, Catton (High and Low Catton and Stamford Bridge East, Kexby, Scoreby, and Stamford Bridge West), Fangfoss, Full Sutton, Sutton upon Derwent, Thornton, Wilberfoss
• Links:
  • Heraldry:
    European Rolls of Arms of the Thirteenth Century (Brian Timms, Studies in Heraldry)
    The Dering Roll, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6

Updated links

• Brief guide to medieval English genealogy:
  • Church records:
    • The English Monastic Archives project (University College, London) is in the course of reconstructing catalogues of the medieval records of all the English monasteries. The project will provide detailed lists of the estates of each house, and of the records produced by each - which include a wide range of material such as charters, manorial documents and historical/biographical writings. This information will ultimately be made available as an online database. At present, a list of the estates of Ware (Hertfordshire) and catalogues of the records of Abingdon (Berkshire), Forde (Devon/Dorset) and Marrick (North Riding of Yorkshire) are available as samples
    • Monastic Matrix
      Searchable database of women's religious communities, 400-1600, containing summary historical and bibliographical information on each. The database can also be browsed in several ways - for example, by geographical region
  • Chronology and dating:
    List of the Bishops of Lincoln (Bill Thayer)
    Chapter 4 from A. F. Kendrick, The Cathedral Church of Lincoln (1928 edn)
• Medieval source material on the Internet:
  • Medieval and early modern texts:
    Robert Grosseteste [Bishop of Lincoln, d.1253] Letters (the Electronic Grosseteste, University of Leeds)
    Latin texts of 130 letters, from the edition of Henry Richards Luard (Rolls Series 25; 1861). The same site also contains texts of Grossesteste's scholarly and devotional works (in progress), an outline biography, links and bibliography
  • County and local history:
    A. F. Kendrick, The Cathedral Church of Lincoln (1928 edn) (Bill Thayer)
    Much of the emphasis is architectural, but the text includes notes on the history of the cathedral, material on funeral monuments, and a list of bishops with brief biographical notes
  • Parish registers:
    • British Origins (in association with the Society of Genealogists of London) is in the process of incorporating entries from Boyd's Marriage Index in its database, which is available on a pay-per-view basis.
      Boyd's Marriage Index does not itself give complete coverage, but so far index entries for Cornwall, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Devon, Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, London, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northumberland, Shropshire, Somerset, Suffolk and Yorkshire are included, with most of those for Cambridgeshire, and miscellaneous entries from most English counties; further details are available here
    • Boyd's London Burials 1538-1872 (British Origins)
      Sample of over 300,000 London entries, included in a pay-per-view database
  • Miscellaneous:
    London City Apprenticeship Abstracts - [1442]-1850 (170,000 names) (British Origins)
    From abstracts at the Society of Genealogists, London, available on a "pay-per-view" basis. Essentially the same data are available in booklets in the London Apprentices series from the Society of Genealogists of London
• Medieval English families on the Internet:
  • Docwra:
    Docwra Family Research Project
    The Archive Documents section (within the Research Section) includes notes and record transcripts from the 12th century and later; the site also contains a database of individuals, pedigrees, brief biographies, a bibliography, and sections on the origins of the name and on heraldry
  • Mowbray:
    Mowbray family history (David Mowbray)
    Includes a page on the Origins of the name Mowbray and biographical notes on the Mediaeval Mowbrays, 11th-15th centuries
• Links:
  • General:
    British Library Integrated Catalogue
  • Heraldry:
    The Mitchell Rolls (The Heraldry Society of Scotland)
    Compilation, in progress, of transcripts of rolls of arms relating to Scotland

Missing links

The following pages have recently become unavailable. Links to copies in the Internet Archive have been added where possible, but if anyone can tell me their present whereabouts, I'll be very grateful!

• The Bickerstaff story (Bruce Bickerstaff) [formerly at http://www.burning-bison.com/bick/index.htm#c1]
• Notes on Berkeley [formerly at http://www.infosources.co.uk/berkl/xberkl.htm]