Add this eBook to your basket to receive access to all 1,206 records. Our indexes include entries for the spelling lees. In the period you have requested, we have the following 1,206 records (displaying 11 to 20): These sample scans are from the original record. You will get scans of the full pages or articles where the surname you searched for has been found. Your web browser may prevent the sample windows from opening; in this case please change your browser settings to allow pop-up windows from this site. Lichfield Diocese Ordinations: Subdeacons Secular
(1508)
The diocese of Coventry and Lichfield at this period included the whole of Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire; all Lancashire south of the Ribble; northern Shropshire (including Shrewsbury); and northern Warwickshire (including Birmingham and Coventry). Ordinations took place on the four Ember Saturdays in the year, and on certain other occasions; lists of ordinands to the degrees of acolyte, subdeacon, deacon and priest were preserved in the ordination registers, a distinction being made between those clerks who were 'regular', i. e., monks, friars, &c., and those who were 'secular', the main body of the clergy. All ordinands were celibate, and those regular, and the secular who obtained benefices, remained so, but only a minority of the secular ordinands ever obtained benefices, and most will doubtless have married later in life. No man might be ordained to subdeacon or higher without proving either that he was of independent means or that he was sponsored by an institution or a gentleman. Most entries in the register of such ordinations therefore have the words 'ad titulum' followed by the name of the religious house that was the sponsor. This is an important indication of the man's origins - boys whose families were monastic tenants, and who were educated by the monks, would naturally be sponsored by the abbey. Only men who were born and bred in the diocese could be ordained by the bishop, unless producing letters dimissory from the bishop of the diocese of their birth. These are the ordinations celebrated on Ember Saturday, 17 June 1508, by Thomas bishop of Panados (Pavados), suffragan of bishop Geoffrey Blythe, in Lichfield cathedral. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Taxpayers in Sussex
(1524-1525)
By Act of Parliament of 1523 (14 & 15 Hen. III, c. 16) a general subsidy was raised, spread over four years, from laymen, clergy and peers. In each of the first two years 1s in the £ was raised from annual income from land; 1s in the £ on capital goods worth over £2 and under £20; and a flat payment of 4d on goods worth from £1 to £2, and also by persons aged 16 and upwards in receipt of £1 per annum in wages. In the third year a further shilling in the pound was payable on land worth £50 and upwards a year; and in the fourth year a shilling in the pound on goods worth £50 and upwards. To raise this revenue, returns were required from every hundred, parish or township. In Sussex, the returns for 1524 and 1525 cover the city of Chichester (divided into Estrata, Westrata, Southstrata, North[strata] and Palenta), the borough of Midhurst, and then the rest of the county divided into rapes, within those into hundreds, and within those into boroughs, tithings, liberties, townships or parishes. It is important to note that the cinque ports of Hastings, Rye and Winchelsea were exempt from the subsidy, except for alien inhabitants; and that the town of Westbourne was also exempted 'as the town was lately destroyed by fire'. Aliens are noted as such, sometimes with nationality; and Brighthelmstone (Brighton), which had been burnt by the French in 1514, is only represented fragmentarily. The Sussex Record Society published this transcript and edition by Julian Cornwall of the 1524 and 1525 returns: the 1524 return was used for the main transcript where possible, names peculiar to the 1524 lists being marked with an asterisk, and those with amendments in 1524 with a dagger. At the foot of each 1524 return the new names from 1525 are given. Only the amount of the assessment is printed (m. = marks). Letters prefixed to the sum give the basis of the assessment, no letter (or G) meaning that it was on goods - A, annual wages; D, annual wages of day-labourers; F, fees or salaries of office; L, lands; P, profits; W, wages; x, no basis stated. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Inhabitants of Nottingham
(1485-1547)
The muniments of the borough of Nottingham include extensive mediaeval archives. A selection from these from the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII was prepared and edited by W. H. Stevenson for the Corporation, and printed, with translations of the passages in Latin, in 1885. The principal sources used are the borough Court Books, largely dealing with civil cases, for which an almost complete series survives for this period; Sessions Rolls (92 survive for the two reigns), in which crimes and misdemeanours are recorded; a Mickletorn or Leet jury roll; detailed chamberlains' and bridge-wardens' accounts; and the Hall Books, or council minutes. There are lists of burgesses enrolled; bakers admitted to bake; and fines for licences to trade. A subsidy roll of 1523-4 lists householders by street, and there is an appendix of local deeds, including some material dating back to the 14th century. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1547-1550)
The Privy Council of Edward VI was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters
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| Tenants, founders and incumbents of Lancashire chantries
(1546-1554)
Chantries were established to perform services for the souls of their founders and other faithful dead, including annual obits and anniversaries at which alms were usually distributed. The chantries could be at an existing altar in a parish church, a new altar in a side chapel of an existing church, in a new chapel in the churchyard or some miles from an existing church: few were founded before 1300, and most date from 1450 to 1500. Hospitals were places provided by similar foundations to receive the poor and weak; there were also religious guilds, brotherhoods and fraternities, and colleges (like large chantries at which three or more secular priests lived in common). An Act of Parliament of 1545 gave king Henry VIII the power to dissolve such chantries, chapels, &c., the proceeds to be devoted to the expenses of the wars in France and Scotland. Commissioners were appointed 14 February 1546 to survey the chantries and seize their property, and from 1546 to 1548 the commissioners produced these certificates giving brief details of the establishment and nature of each foundation, with an inventory of valuables and rental of lands. The individuals named in the certificates are thus the founder, the present incumbent, and the tenants whose rents provided the chantry's income. All the surviving certificates for Lancashire were edited by the Reverend F. R. Raines for the Chetham Society, and published from 1862. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Common Pleas: Staffordshire
(1558)
Pleas at Westminster Michaelmas term, 5 & 6 Philip & Mary and 1 Elizabeth, 1558. The court dealt with civil cases: debt, detinue, slander, assault, theft, breach of covenant, formedon, novel disseisin, &c. Each case is marked in the margin with the name of the county to the sheriff of which the writs were issued. Most often, but not necessarily, this would be the county of residence of the defendant. This calendar of the original formulaic record in abbreviated Latin on parchment has been made by David Bethell, preserving all individual detail from each case. The Latin text is translated: English phrases and passages are preserved literatim, in bold. CP 40/1176 mm.1-100 | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Staffordshire Entries in the Common Pleas (1558)
The Common Roll of the Common Pleas records litigation before the justices de Banco from throughout England.
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| Official Papers
(1547-1580)
The State Papers Domestic cover all manner of business relating to England, Ireland and the colonies, conducted in the office of the Secretary of State as well as other miscellaneous records.
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| Inhabitants of Manchester
(1590)
The Court Leet and View of Frankpledge of the manor of Manchester in Lancashire was held twice a year on the first Thursdays after Easter and Michaelmas. The record of each court starts with a list of the jurors, and then records the deaths of tenants and burgesses, with the names of their heirs, who were to do suit to the court; and transfers of burgages by sale, and homage of new burgesses. Then there are presentments of all manner of minor enroachments and misdemeanours, such as blocking of ditches, stopping of highways, noisome drains, &c. Finally there are new general ordinances, often with the appointment of officers to see that they are enforced. Every Michaelmas saw the swearing in of a long list of officers for the coming year, including the borough reeve, constables, market lookers, mise layers and gatherers, sealers of leather, officers for fruit and wholesome bread and (the prevention of) football, aletasters, bylawmen (burleymen), scavengers, (ap)praisers, catchpole, swineherd, and also the affeerers, who judged the fines to be levied by the court. The sample scan is taken from 1597. This index covers the court of 1 October 1590. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
| Scottish litigants, rebels and cautioners
(1585-1592)
The Privy Council of Scotland exercised a superior judicial authority in the kingdom, and consequently received and dealt with a constant stream of petitions, as well as dealing with the internal security of the state. This register of the council from 1 August 1585 to 31 July 1592, in the reign of king James VI, was edited by David Masson, and published under the direction of the Lord Clerk Register of Scotland in 1881. Some of the individuals mentioned are the complainants, those of whom they complained, and the sureties on both sides: at this period, some of the complainants are alleging serious attacks, often of a feuding nature. Many of the bonds entered into by the cautioners are promises to keep the peace towards such enemies. Failure to answer to the council when summoned was a serious contempt, leading to being denounced a rebel, with serious consequences. But 'horning' was also used in the pursuit of debts: there was no imprisonment for debt in Scotland, but a creditor could have an obstinate debtor ordered, in the sovereign's name, to pay what was due, failing which, the debtor could be put to the horn, denounced as a rebel, and imprisoned as a rebel. The main text (to page 774) is from the Acta Secreti Concilii, containing the minutes of the Privy Council, with intermixed Acta Proper (political edicts), Decreta (judicial decisions), Acta Cautionis (acts of caution) and Bands (registration of bonds). After that are printed some miscellaneous Privy Council documents from the same years: additional acts of caution (775-778); ordinances and acts anent the Borders and the North (779-814); and miscellaneous privy council papers (815-834). The sources most productive of names, the Acta Cautionis and Registration of Bands, are also the most repetitive in form, and are not transcribed verbatim and literatim: nevertheless, one of the editor's rules was for 'All proper names and names of places occurring in the originals to be preserved in the abstracts without exception, and in the exact original spelling.'
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