Medieval Genealogy
A recognition of some restrictions to
genealogical research before 1500, but some ideas to help overcome the
constraints
Resources
for researching your medieval ancestors
I have found
an excellent starting point to explore medieval records is Medieval Genealogy.
The home page of the site is not particularly fancy, but the site provides structured
access to medieval documents. It’s a great starting point because if you
are not too sure about where to start, it provides immediate access to the
primary medieval documents which will help you to research your early
ancestors. It gives you ideas about where to look in the first place,
particularly in its public records
collection.
I use the Internet Archive as a resource to find primary
sources and relevant articles. It is a very helpful resource when you know the
name of the document or resource that you would like to search for and need
online access. The documents are searchable and the quantity of information to which the site
gives access is astonishing.
The National Archives (“TNA”)
provides access to the national collection of archives. It is a primary source
of material and the website is worth some study to get best use from it. It is possible
to find a lot of material by searching, and sometimes the material is digitised
and can be accessed directly or by registering for a free account. There is
also a lot of guidance on research including the TNA guides to researching medieval
and early modern history. The quantity of information is such that it might
be that the only way to view the primary documents is to visit the archives at
Kew Gardens in London.
British History Online is a
collection of primary and secondary sources, which provides direct access to
medieval and later material. It is searchable and relatively easy to navigate.
It also includes access to the Victoria County Histories which provide some
really helpful source material about the history of particular places across
England. It is a great asset for searching primary
sources. For instance it includes access to the Yorkshire Lay
Subsidy of 1301 and a register
of the freemen of York. You can also find access to Close Rolls, Patent Rolls,
Inquisitions Post Mortem and other such sources. It provides access for
instance to the
Victoria County History for the County of York. It also provides access to
some historical
maps, including Yorkshire maps
of the mid nineteenth century.
The History of England
Resources is another website which provides access to another wealth of information
which is helpful to medieval research.
A great
source of academic articles can be found through JSTOR (short for Jay-Store or Journal
Storage), founded at Princeton University in 1994, to which you can subscribe
for free for up to a hundred articles each month.
Project Gutenberg is another resource for
access mainly to books, many of which are useful in genealogical research.
Open Domesday is a great resource which
provides searchable access to the Domesday Book, completed in 1086, which not
only links to the relevant pages of the Domesday Book, but allows you to search
for particular places and translates the information available about each place
listed in Domesday.
As you
search the medieval records you will often confront dates which are defined by
the regnal year of the monarch of the period. You will need some help to
accurately translate the regnal year to the calendar year and you’ll find that
help through a number of internet sites which allow you to calculating regnal years.
There is a
webpage about the value of medieval money.
Before the Norman
Conquest
There is no realistic source for
administrative records before the Norman Conquest, at least regarding ordinary
folk. However for a family with a locative surname, there are still
opportunities to understand the family’s roots. If the family comes from a
place, then there is real value in exploring the place, which is more of a
possibility. Potentially archaeological records might help, but there are
records which help to build a picture of a place in Anglo Saxon Britain. For
instance my family’s story starts with the Saxon/Viking nobleman, Orm Gamalson,
who married in to the family of the Earls of Northumbria. There are historical
records about him and some clues about the estate of Kirkbymoorside, of which
the dale of Farndale is a part. For instance there is a church of St
Gregory at Kirkdale. The sundial at Kirkdale is one of a number of late
Anglo Saxon sundials and is particularly intricate in its design. The central
panel contains the sundial and an Old English inscription above it which reads This
is the day’s sun-marker at every hour. The left panel reads Orm the son
of Gamel acquired St Gregory’s Church when it was completely ruined. The
right hand panel reads and collapsed, and he had it built anew from the
ground to Christ and to St Gregory in the days of King Edward and in the days
of Earl Tostig. Tostig, the son of Earl Godwin of Wessex and brother of
Harold II, the last Anglo Saxon King of England was the Earl of Northumbria
between 1055 and 1065. It was therefore in the course of that decade that Orm,
son of Gamel rebuilt St Gregory’s Church.
So although Farndale the place was
deep forest and an unknown place in Saxon times, it was part of an estate whose
community was developing no doubt around Kirkdale.
So we catch a glimpse of the place and
the community around it, in Saxon times, just before the Norman Conquest.
The Norman
Conquest
William the Conqueror was victorious
over King Harold at Hastings in 1066. The south of England was quickly subdued.
But the land was divided at that time, so the north was not so easily
controlled and a painful period of about twenty years ensued when our poor
ancestors must have suffered the harrying of the north, particularly during the
winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate Northern England. But gradually the land fell
under the dominance of the Normans and the land was redistributed to those who
had fought with William.
The bureaucratic tool to record the
conquered lands and which described who owned the land before the Conquest and
to whom the land was transferred, is The Domesday
Book. The hyperlinks on this page will take you to other pages to explore
the topic in some more detail, or to other webpages. Kirkbymoorside is on the
list. It was transferred from Orm Gamalson to Hugh fitz Badric. There were 10
villagers, 1 priest. 2 ploughlands. 2 lord's plough teams. 3 men's plough
teams, 1 mill, value 4 shillings. 1 church.
Well we know that Orm Gamalson had
just rebuilt St Gregory, so that must be the church where the priest must have
lived. The 10 villagers must have lived around Kirkdale too. So that must have
been the community living on the Kirkbymoorside estate at or around Kirkdale at
the time of the Conquest.
Medieval Society
Medieval society might broadly be described
as hierarchical, shaped like an inverted triangle with the King at the top,
then the noblemen, then knights and with the vast bulk of the population
falling into the bottom rung category of the villeins or the serfs. The
Farndale ancestors were firmly in the villeins camp.
Medieval society was feudal, with land
handed down from the monarch. The land of England was therefore organised into
estates and manors. Farndale lies in the estate called Kirkbymoorside. So that
provides our first important route marker to explore the history of the place,
and the history of folk settling in the place, and eventually emerging with the
name.
Medieval society comprised very rural
societies organised into estates.
Land passed between aristocrats in
various transactions. So in the earliest time, it is helpful to explore the
history of the aristocratic families who held the land. Their histories are
likely to provide an insight into the events in particular estates. The
ordinary folk who were placed on the land owed service and rent in return for
the privilege of being allowed to hold parcels of land. The rules were also
governed by custom. Different methods of holding land emerged, including
freehold, copyhold and leasehold.
Surveys were sometimes undertaken,
into rents, costs, customary obligations. Roads might have been surveyed for
upkeep purposes. For instance terriers were detailed surveys of boundaries and
ownership of land.
Many of the medieval records are now
available on line. A lot of records are available and searchable through sites
such as medieval genealogy
and British History Online,
but the primary source, which is well structured, is the National Archives at Kew,
London (who use the abbreviation “TNA”). TNA also have plenty of
guidance pages to help.
|
A guide to medieval
and early modern family history |
|
An excellent TNA
webinar on researching medieval records |
There is a useful graphic
produced by Family Search showing the various medieval sources and the periods
they cover.
For local manorial documents, a good
starting point is the TNA’s Manorial
Documents Register.
The centre of administration was with
the Crown, its royal household, and the parliament.
Records of
landholding
Landholdings were recorded on deeds or
indentures and enrolments including feet of
fines (The National Archives (“TNA”) CP25/1 pre 1509 then CP25/2), close rolls (C54), and charter rolls (C53).
Inquisitions post
mortem were stocktakings of land interests taken on the death of an noble
landholder, in order to discover what income and rights were due to the crown
and who the heir should be.
Chancery Records
Central government was primarily found
in the Chancery, the office of the Lord Chancellor, which was the bureaucratic
centre of the Crown’s government, its writing house. From there flowed
royal authority, through sealed writs, allowing stuff to happen around the
Kingdom. Copies were made. Bureaucracy was born from the late twelfth century.
Patent
Rolls (TNA record set C66) recorded open official business. Letters patent
were open for all to see, so tended to relate to more general business and were
key documents of communication between Crown and locality.
Close
Rolls (TNA record set C54) recorded closed official business and were
sealed. Thery tended to relate to specific individuals including instructions
and appointments.
Fine
Rolls (TNA record set C 60) were transactions with the Crown.
All this material is now on line in
English and generally searchable.
Liberate Rolls
(TNA record set C 62) recorded payments and other issues.
Chancery Calendars compiled this
information into volumes with indexes.
Curia
Regis referred to the royal council of advisers and administrators.
Exchequer Records
The Crown’s financial affairs were
organised through the Exchequer who were responsible for taxation and conducted
audits. The King had to raise money in order to be able to govern his realm.
The relationship between the Crown and
localities was an important feature. There were sheriffs and other officials at
local level. Crown lands had to be managed. Royal officials were appointed.
There were a few semi autonomous jurisdictions, namely Durham and Lancaster.
Pipe Rolls
(E 372) provided annual financial records of the Crown, an audit process of the
monarchy’s accounts for one financial year.
Lay
Subsidies (E179) were tax on wealth made between the twelfth and
seventeenth centuries and are often valuable sources of historical information.
Poll Taxes such as those levied in
1377, 1379, and 1381 listed all men and women over 14 less beggars and the hopeless
impoverished, who in those years paid 4d from all regardless of income, with
names listed by parish, town, borough, hamlet. They are the subject of a work
by Carolyn Fenwick, The
Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 & 1381, in 3 vols, Oxford, 1998 to 2005.
Memoranda Rolls (E159,
E 368) included records of debts.
State Papers
The records of the Privy Council were
captured in the Proceedings
and Ordinances 1386-1542.
State Papers
online provides access to early British state papers including papers of
Henry VIII.
The Book
of Fees (Testa de Nevill), 1198-1293 is a listing of feudal landholdings or
fiefs.
Hundred Rolls
listing landowners 1279-1280 were a census of England and parts of Wales taken
in the late thirteenth century. They are often considered an attempt to produce
a second Domesday Book, and are named after the hundreds by which most returns
were recorded.
Inquisitions post mortem (IPM)
1235-1640 – assessors work out what land held for Crown and what worth, so how
much to take – find age when father died if under 21 taken into wardship
Inquisitions
Ad Quod Damnum could be held before the king gave permission for a market
or fair to be held, or for someone to make a grant of land, to determine what
damage this might do to his interests or the interests of others. They included
references to local patronage and support for such things as local churches.
The legal justice
system
The early medieval justice system
included trial by combat or ordeal before the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Over time there was an increased role for attorneys, and trial by court. The Crown
gradually took on more and more responsibility including for local justice. A Judicial
system emerged.
Separate Jurisdictions emerged for the
Crown and the forest, with forest laws having a very distinct justice system;
for Boroughs and manorial justice; and for Ecclesiastical justice. There came
to be a division between civil and criminal cases. Separate legal codes emerged
including the Common law, Canon, and principles of Equity (private suits where
no crime committed, but some sort of wrongdoing alleged, so resolution by
evidence rather than precedent). There was a separation of criminal justice and
common law civil suits.
The King’s Bench became the central
criminal court, dealing with more serious cases at Westminster (TNA KB26 (pre
1272) and then KB27).
The Court of Common Pleas dealt with
civil cases at Westminster (TNA KB26 (pre 1272) and then CP40).
There were itinerant justices,
criminal and civil including General Eyre
circuits (TNA JUST 1 1194-1348) and assize circuits from 1274 (TNA JUST 1).
Such justices might refer up to the Westminster courts.
Outlawry
rolls were records of outlaws in medieval and early modern England. They
contained the names of outlaws sent to the Exchequer from the courts of Common
Pleas and King's Bench. The rolls could include the occupation or status of
each outlaw.
Coroner’s rolls took evidence
regarding unusual deaths (JUST 2).
There were separate courts for Durham,
Lancaster, Chester, and the duchy of Lancaster.
A standard process court process
involved pleadings (bill of complaint, answer, rejoinder, replication), Interrogatories
(lists of questions) to depositories (witnesses) and affidavits, with master
exhibits and reports, leading to Decrees and Orders. Sometimes there was settlement
out of court. There was a standard process for all equity cases.
Ther variety of courts included
· Chancery (c14th onwards)(Lord Chancellor) –
wide ranger of litigants
· Exchequer (c16th onwards), crown debtors or
tenant law suits
· Star Chamber (from 1485), emerged from Privy
Council petitions
· Court of Requests (from 1483 with records from
1485, court for the poor – much cheaper
· Wards and liveries, Court of Augmentation,
Palatinate Courts
Cities and trades
The records of Guild and Livery
companies and of Guild Halls provides evidence of town occupations.
There are lists of Freemen, such as
the Freemen of York.
Mayorial Registers can be helpful.
There is a list of York Excommunications
and York Wills.
Universities produced their own
records including alumni lists.
School records and lawyers’ archives
can be another source of material.
Military
For early military ancestors there are
navy lists, and particulars of account including archer lists. There is a good TNA
search guide on early military resources.
The University of Southampton has
compiled a very helpful list of soldiers
in medieval England. There is a very helpful searchable database
available online. It is worth remembering that medieval names were fluid, so
instead of searching for Farndale, I had a better result from searching for Farn****.
Palaeography
Palaeography is the science of the way
documents are written and the National Archives has lessons
on palaeography to help interpret old documents.
Documents were rarely written in English
before the late fourteenth century. The National Archives provides guidance on Latin
for beginners. That said if you google
Latin to English and find some Latin text that you need to translate, you will
achieve a pretty accurate result instantly.
Dates
Medieval documents tend to use Regnal
Years, such as 9 Henry III, which refers to the ninth year of Henry III’s reign,
being 1225. To save too much grief about this, I suggest you just use the regnal year calculator,
which is available online.
The Gregorian Calendar in 1752, went
straight from 2 to 14 September 1752. It’s never caused an issue in my
research, but it might be useful to know.
Cheney’s
Handbook of Dates can help
Yorkshire
genealogy
For
Yorkshire genealogy the Borthwick
Institute for Archives; the York Archbishop
Registers database and the Cause
Papers in the Diocesan Courts of the Archbishopric of York 1300 to 1858 are
all helpful.
Subscriptions
The above
sites are all free, and there are also sites that can be accessed for a
subscription such as the Foundation for Medieval
Genealogy. Genealogy subscriptions to Ancestry
and Find my Past also provide
access to medieval material and provide pretty comprehensive access to
genealogical source material.