Church of England Parish Registers: Difference between revisions

A law passed in 1537 that required ministers to record the baptisms, marriages, and burials that took place in their parishes by the following year (1538). Priests recorded these events in '''registers''' and kept them at the '''parish''' level, which is the lowest level of authority in the Church of England. Within some parishes, chapelries were created to provide for the worship needs of the parishioner when the parish church was not easily accessible. [[Chapelry (England)|Chapelries]] sometimes had the authority to perform baptisms, marriages, and burials, so they kept their own registers. Several parishes formed a [[Rural Deanery (England)|deanery]] (presided over by a dean), several deaneries formed an [[Archdeaconry (England)|archdeaconry]] (presided over by an archdeacon), and several archdeaconries formed a [[Diocese (England)|diocese]] (presided over by a bishop).