England Land and Property: Difference between revisions

<br>The first general survey of the land of England, known as Domesday Book, was compiled by order of William the Conqueror in 1086. The entries were arranged by county in two books under the name of the manor, and show the names of the tenants-in chief and their sub-tenants (the names of the tenants before the Conquest also being noted). They record the number of hides of land in the manor (a hide was about 120 acres); the number of ploughs on the demesne (that part of the manor reserved for the lord’s use) and the number of ploughs available to the tenants; the number, but not names, of homagers (jurors on the manor court), villeins (unfree men who held their land by agricultural service to the lord), cottars (cottagers), serving men or slaves, free tenants, and tenants in soccage (renters); the extent of the woodland, meadows, and pasture; the number of mills and fish ponds; how much land had been added or taken away; and the gross value of the manor in 1086 and in the time of Edward the Confessor.<br>The survey is not entirely complete and lacks coverage in the City of London and some other major towns as well as the counties of Cumberland, Durham, Northumberland and Westmorland. Some other counties are incomplete. The many problems of the survey’s interpretation are discussed in David Roffe, ''Domesday: the inquest and the book'' (2000).<br>The text of Domesday in its abbreviated Latin and a translation were printed in county volumes edited by John Morris as ''Domesday Book'' (38 volumes, Chichester, England: Phillimore, 1975-86) [FHL book 942 R2d]; there are complete indexes of places in volume 36, of persons in volume 37 and subjects in volume 38. An online transcription is available at http://domesdaybook.co.uk. The personal names are indexed in K.S.B. Keats-Rohan and David E. Thornton, ''Domesday names: an index of Latin personal and place names in Domesday Book'' (Woodbridge, England: Boydell Press, 1997) [not in FHL] and there is a careful commentary on what is known about the people involved and their subsequent histories in K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, ''Domesday people: a prosopography of persons occurring in English documents 1066-1166'' (Woodbridge, England: Boydell Press, 1999) [FHL book 942 H2] and''Domesday people: II, Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum'' (Woodbridge, England: Boydell Press, 2002) [FHL book 942 D3].<br>Record Indexes and Transcripts 1090-1600<br>Following Domesday Book there is a period of a hundred and fifty years in which the descent of land can only be traced, if at all, with the greatest difficulty. There is then a great variety of classes of record in The National Archives, normally in abbreviated Latin before 1733, which may provide relationships. However, unless there are printed calendars the searcher will have many problems which will not easily be overcome. Brief summaries of some of the main series are given here but the various explanatory leaflets provided by The National Archives should be consulted for further guidance and for their valuable lists of finding aids and publications, some of which may be consulted in other libraries or online. For the majority of searches at least the county involved will be needed and there are, of course, no overall indexes of names or places. <br>The TNA Guide''‘Legal Records Information 7’ ''at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/land-conveyances-deeds provides links to the many classes of record in The National Archives that contain enrolments of deeds from 1227 to c.1930 and there are other Research Guides in the Legal Records Information series.<br>The portal http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk provides most valuable links in its ‘Sources’ section to the many medieval texts (prior to about 1600) that have been published and indexed online. <br>There are microfilms of many of the printed works and of some of the major manuscript calendars and indexes at The National Library in the Family History Library. Entries in the Family History Library Catalog may be found via the Place Search under ENGLAND – PUBLIC RECORDS, or ENGLAND –TAXATION, or GREAT BRITAIN – PUBLIC RECORDS, or GREAT BRITAIN – PUBLIC RECORDS.<br>Patent and Close Rolls<br>The record of those to whom the Crown granted property and who thus became tenants-in-chief commences only in the thirteenth century. Grants and confirmations of lands by the Crown to private individuals and public bodies were from 1201 to 1702 recorded, with much other matter, on the great series of Patent Rolls (C 66). At the same time, and particularly after 1381, large numbers of deeds between private persons were enrolled on the payment of fees on the backs of the Close Rolls (C 54), a practice that continued into the twentieth century though the numbers reduced greatly after 1862. Both series are at The National Archives where the main calendars and indexes are on open access.<br>Those who died holding land direct from the Crown were subject to Inquisitions Post Mortem when an escheator would summon a jury to declare on oath what lands the tenant-in-chief held at the time of his death, by what rents or services they were held, and the name and age of the next heir. The lands of those heirs who were under age (21 for males and 14 for females) remained in the wardship of the King until they came of age whereas adult heirs paid a fine and performed homage to the King. The records which run from 1235 to 1660 are also at The National Archives. There are abstracts for some counties and indexes at the Family History Library. In a Place Search in the Family History Library Catalog look under [COUNTY], ENGLAND – LAND AND PROPERTY.