Acknowledgements

I am indebted to many sources for much of what follows but, in particular to Wikipedia which often provided a starting point.

Knight Service, Knight's Fee and Sergeanty

Following the conquest in 1066, William the Conqueror divided the lay lands of England among his followers, to be held by the service of a fixed number of knights in his host, and imposed the same service on most of the great ecclesiastical bodies which retained their landed endowments. This was the first introduction of the concept of knight service in England although the Normans were already familiar with the principle of the knight's fee, as it came to be termed in England.

At this time, the fief (feoff, fiefdom, or feudum in Latin), consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by the king to a knight who held the land in return for allegiance given by homage and fealty. However, other items of value could be held in fief, such as the right of exploitation (e.g., hunting, fishing) or any other type of revenue, rather than just the land it comes from.

The quota of knight service exacted in return for the fief was not determined by the area or value of the lands granted (or retained), but was based upon the number of knights to be supplied when required. Of the lords who held fiefs directly of the crown, the principal were called on to find ten or more knights, while of the lesser ones some were called on for five or fewer.

Later, in mediaeval England, a knight's fee, also sometimes called scutage, was the amount of money and/or military service a fief was required to pay to support just one knight. Under this system, land was exchanged for military service, and the knight's fees were used to describe the value of land. A fief could provide either the service of a knight, or an equivalent amount of money to allow a lord to hire a knight.

A single fief could have a value of anywhere from 1/5 of a knight's fee to 50 or more knight's fees, depending on its size and resources. By this time, fiefs would also contain sub-fiefs, such that the knight's fee value of the fief was made up for by the value of the smaller fiefs contained within. In this way, a hierarchy of lords and vassals lay over the land with the knight's fee as the base unit of denomination.

However, knight service in war was far less common than other forms:

A lord in late 12th-century England could also claim the right of:

Serjeanty originated in the assignation of an estate in a lord's land to a vassal on condition of the performance of a certain duty other than knight service, usually the discharge of duties in the household of the lord (or king). It ranged from service in the king's host, distinguished only by equipment from that of the knight, to petty tasks scarcely distinguishable from those of the rent paying tenant.

Capite, in English law, was a tenure by which either person or land was held immediately of the king, or of his crown, either by knight's service or socage.

Socage was one of the land tenure forms in the feudal system. A socager held the land in exchange for a clearly-defined, fixed payment to be made at specified intervals to his feudal lord, who in turn had his own feudal obligations, to the socager and to the Crown. In theory this might involve supplying the lord with produce but most usually it meant a straightforward payment of cash, i.e., rent.

Frankalmoigne (or frankalmoin) was one of the feudal duties and hence land tenures in feudal England. By it an ecclesiastical body held land in return for saying prayers and masses for the soul of the granter. Not only was secular service frequently not due but in the 12th and 13th centuries jurisdiction over land so held belonged to the ecclesiastical courts. Thus, in English law, frankalmoigne was tenure in free alms. Gifts to religious institutions in free alms were defined first as gifts to God, then to the patron saint of the religious house, and finally to those religious serving God in the specific house.

Religious houses in receipt of free alms could not recognise a secular lord. The gift of land or other property made over to God and to a patron Saint was inalienable, and the relationship between the grantor and the religious house was subsidiary. In the 12th century the institution came to be misused. Land could be donated to a church organization and then leased back to the donor, allowing the donor to avoid the feudal services due to his lord.

The Book of Fees

The Liber Feodorum or Book of Fees refers to a book compiled in c. 1302 for the use of the Exchequer. In two volumes of parchment, it gathers together some 500 written surveys of fiefs or lands held directly of the Crown, as recorded between 1198 and 1292. From an early date, the book has also been informally known as the Testa de Nevill, after one of its two major source collections.

However, because the standard edition, whose volumes were published between 1920 and 1931, draws to some extent on the original documents, the title Book of Fees is more often used by modern scholars to refer to a reconstruction of the collections used by the transcriber of the book.

A copy of the Book of Fees published in 1920 was captured by the Internet Archive and has been formatted and presented here for use by family history researchers private use.

Medieval Latin Measures of Land Area

A carucate (latin: carrucata, carucatas, etc.) was a unit of land area measurement used in medieval England, and was held to be the amount of land that a team of eight oxen could plough in a single annual season.

A hide (latin: hide, hyde, hydam, etc.) was a unit of land area measurement used in medieval England, and was held to be the amount of land sufficient to support a household.

A virgate (latin: virgata, virgatus) was a unit of land area measurement used in medieval England, and was held to be the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season.

A bovate (latin: bovata, bovatus) (saxon: oxgang) was a unit of land area measurement used in medieval England, and was held to be the amount of land that a single ox could plough in a single annual season.

The acre was in use in Medieval England as a land area measure, so it was adopted in Latin texts (latin: acras etc.)

Thus:

  1. A virgate was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was approximately 30 acres.
  2. A bovate was equivalent to half a virgate, so was approximately 15 acres.
  3. A carucate, consisted of eight bovates, and was equivalent to one hide, so was approximately 120 acres.
  4. A hide consisted of four virgates, or eight bovates.

A hundred was a geographic division used in England and Wales for administrative purposes. Originally, when introduced by the Saxons, a hundred had enough land to sustain approximately one hundred households.

Thus:

A wapentake was the equivalent of a hundred in the Danelaw counties of England (Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Lincolnshire).

Some Useful Latin Words

Note that latin word endings vary according to the surrounding words, and depend on verb tense, plurality and gender.

capiteto hold (directly from the king)
chirothecariusglover
circumcelliotramp
colonusfarmer
comesEarl, Count
constabulariiwarden
debetowe
doliariuscooper
dominalady
dominoowner
donationegift
eademthe same
estis
etand
eratwas
extraneistrangers
faber ferrariusblacksmith
faber lignariuscarpenter
feodumfief
filiusson
filiadaughter
fuithas been
heresheir or heiress
illasthe former
inquilinuslodger.
institutorschoolmaster
lapacida or lithurgusstone-cutter
maneriummanor
marcammark, german coin
mercator ferrariusiron merchant
molendariusmiller
obon account of
operariusartisan
pandocheusinnkeeper
plebeiuslabourer, or some indistinguishable calling
predictoafore-mentioned
proon behalf of, for
purgator caminaesweep
quibuswhich
scilicetone may know, certainly; of course
scrinariustanner
sergantiumserjeanty
serviciumservice, knight's service
sutor calceariusshoemaker
sutor vestiariustailor
terreland
textorweaver
uniusalone
uxorwife
tenet, tenenthold, keep, possess
vicecomessherrif
viduawidow
villaestate

Latin Numerals

In latin texts the cardinal numerals were written as lower case to represent quantities, and in their written form, the final i in a number was written as j.

Thus:

  1. i = 1 (unus)
  2. ii or ij = 2 (duo)
  3. iii or iij = 3 (tres)
  4. iv = 4 (quattuor)
  5. v = 5 (quinque)
  6. vi = 6 (sex)
  7. vii or vij = 7 (septem)
  8. viii or viij = 8 (octo)
  9. ix = 9 (novem)
  10. x = 10 (decem)

However, there were several ways to write some numbers, so 4 (four) was expressed as both iv and iiij (or even iiijor - see below).

The ordinal numerals were also used:

  1. first: primus
  2. second: secundus
  3. third: tertius
  4. fourth: quartus
  5. fifth: quintus
  6. sixth: sextus
  7. seventh: septimus
  8. eighth: octavus
  9. ninth: nonus
  10. tenth: decimus

Fractions played a part:

The ordinals and numerals were sometimes used as a superscripted suffix to numerals to provide clarification.

Thus:

jus means j(prim)us = first,
iiijor means iiij(quattu)or = four,
vjtam means vj(sex)tam = sixth.

Scribes using this method of superscripting numerals could produce less obvious and possibly unique combinations such as: que, cie, mam.

Money

Currency in the 11th-13th century was represented in texts as li or l, s, and d, to denote the denarius, solidus and libra inherited as terms from Roman latin. However, the marcam (german mark) was also used, and represented in texts as m.

English Bishoprics

English Counties

Mediaeval latin scribes were not always very particular and did not stick to a fixed spelling for the English counties. They also had a tendency to include Bishoprics in the same category as Counties. However, here is a list of the more common ways they used to denote some of the English Counties:

Benefices: Canon Law and Practice

Advowson was the right in English law of presenting a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice. In effect, this meant the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish. The process of appointment was initiated by the holder of the advowson, who for this purpose was termed the patron, presenting his nominee. Patronage was associated originally with ownership of the right to the tithes - the lord of the manor. Later, the patron was someone who had purchased or obtained the advowson, often by inheritance but sometimes in payment for a debt. Patronage could be provided by a body rather than a person, such as a priory or monastery.

If the patron's right to present, and the qualifications of his presentee, were found acceptable in canonical law, then the bishop authorised institution to the benefice; the deed of institution was a written instrument under the episcopal seal. If the bishop was also the patron then this was termed collation. Institution to the spiritualities of the freehold office was followed by induction by the archdeacon or his or her deputy into possession of the temporalities of the benefice. This was not recorded in writing but was usually effected by placing the priest's hand on the key of the church door or other part of the building. Before being admitted to office, the priest made the declaration of assent and took the oath of allegiance to the Sovereign and of canonical obedience to the bishop. An example of an oath was bound with the register of Ricardi Mayew and is reproduced here.

Induction to a prebend or other cathedral office was often delegated to the hebdomadary to perform. The hebdomadary was a member of a chapter or convent, whose week it was to officiate in the choir, and perform other services, which, on extraordinary occasions, were performed by the superiors.

The Hereford benefice data on this website has been extracted from the list of institutions, collations, exchanges and resignations included with the registers published by the Cantilupe Society. This list includes those presentations to a parish made by the holder of the advowson as well as those made to non-parish appointments such as prebends and other offices in the cathedral church. The exception is that of the register of Thome de Cantilupo which, when published by the Cantilupe Society, did not contain such a list. In this one case, an extract has been made from the text of the register and, due to my lack of knowledge (which might be expected of a diocesan historian), the resulting data is more prone to errors and misunderstandings. In both cases, the data includes the date of presentation, the name of the presentee, the patron, the previous incumbent and the reason for the vacancy.

Tithes were taxes (traditionally of ten percent) levied on the agricultural output of the parish.

A benefice was originally a gift of land and, in England, most of these gifts arose after 1066 with the division of land-based income amongst William's knights and bishops. Under pre-Reformation Canon law it came to mean an income enjoyed - often linked to some land administered - by a priest in chief of an ecclesistical office, such as a parish, monastery, or a post of canon in a chapter. There were therefore a number of different types of benefice.

The most common benefices were rectories and vicarages whose tithes provided a living for the incumbent priest(s), and therefore formed a parish. Tithes were divided into greater tithes levied on wheat, hay and wood, and lesser tithes levied on the remainder. A rector received both greater and lesser tithes, and a vicar received the lesser tithes only. A resident rector tended to the cure of souls in the parish, whereas an absentee rector lived elsewhere and appointed a vicar to act as the parish priest, but still enjoyed most of the profits arising therefrom. A perpetual curate received no tithe income and was supported by the diocese. A perpetual curate was usually priest-in-charge of a newly created parish carved out of a larger rectoral or vicarious parish. The patron expected to receive a small yearly fee from the parish priest taken from the tithes of the church, and, in some parishes, custom dictated that the patron received a much more significant pension. I have included chantry as a type of benefice but the funding of a chantry differed from others. A chantry was located in a church and associated with a specific priest. The chantry priest was funded by a sum of money lodged with the diocese, usually by inheritance following the benefactor's death, specifically for the saying of prayers on behalf of the benefactor.

However, some benefices were prebends whose tithes funded a prebendary, or official of the Cathedral Church. If the parish also supported a parish priest (a rector or vicar) then it was customary for the prebendary to be the patron for the presentation of a new occupant of that post. In some cases the income from parish tithes was divided into portions and the right to each portion could be owned by different portionists. And, in a few cases, the portions might each fund prebendaries. Early registers made little or no distinction between portions and prebends and refer, in the case of Hereford's Bromyard, Burford, Dixton, Holgate, Ledbury, Llanwarne, Pontesbury, and Westbury to "portion or prebend".

A table of common abbreviations used in the entries has been provided.

Benefices: Peculiarities

The diocese of Hereford had, at various times, benefices located in Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Mongomeryshire and Radnorshire. Those not in Herefordshire are qualified by the [County] in brackets following the name of the benefice. In the case of parishes spread across more than one county, I've followed the conventions of GENUKI. However, the habit of the civil authorities of moving county boundaries has made this attribution rather more complex than it might seem.

Benefices were sometimes passed from one diocese to another and there are indications that Hereford, Lichfield, Worcester, Gloucester and St Asaph operated in this way. Note that the benefice histories included here are derived only from the registers of the diocese of Hereford and there might be more information held elsewhere.

The register entries sometimes indicate that some benefices changed from perpetual curacy to vicarage and vice versa (although this could sometimes be simply clerical error in the register). Where the entries are consistent, these changes are noted but, if not, the most recent is used. Note that wherever the term curacy is used it means perpetual curacy. In some cases, the benefice justified both a rector and a vicar.

It was permitted for the owner of the advowson to present himself or a close relative for appointment to a benefice, and this seemed to be particularly frequent during the 19th Century. There are, therefore, parishes where the living passed by inheritance down the generations in parallel with the patronage.

Because the advowson was often passed by inheritance, it sometimes resulted in ownership by a minor, in which case a parent or guardian acted as patron on his behalf. It also resulted in the special case that a widow could act as patron if her husband left her the advowson.

The entries include not only the name of the presentee but also his academic qualification and these changed over time. I suspect some of these changes were clerical errors but it was customary for the bishop to release priests for academic study to improve their qualification.

The cause of the vacancy was almost always one of cession, death, deprivation, exchange or resignation; in a few rare cases it was amotion, preferment, promotion or void. Cession was giving up or vacating a benefice, by accepting another without a proper dispensation. Deprivation was the result of an act in ecclesiastical law to deprive the living from the incumbent. Exchange occurred when two priests swapped benefices. Resignation was the formal retirement of a priest from a living. Amotion was the unilateral removal of the incumbent. Preferment and promotion were the career advancement of the incumbent to a senior position in the church. An appointment was void if some ecclesiastical reason was found which invalidated it. The term vacation was used if no reason was given in the entry.

Missing and Suspect Data

Most of the Hereford data has been extracted from AT Bannister's publication on Hereford Institutions 1539-1900, but earlier data is being included as it becomes available. Note that some registers are unavailable and those presentations are therefore missing. Details of the availability of Hereford registers can be found in the list of Bishops.

In addition to missing registers, there were particular problems around the time of the Civil War. There are some Hereford institutions in the register of Theophilus Field (1635 to 1636) which were made in the vacancy of the see. Field's register is very confusedly kept, and contains no institutions during the time Theophilus Field was actually bishop, and, with no explanation, includes four institutions to Coreley made between 1508 and 1591. Between 1635 and 1661 there are no institutions entered in the registers. The institutions of 1661 are entered in the register of Herbert Croft (1661 to 1692) although they must have been made by bishop Nicholas Monk (1660 to 1661). Readers will therefore find gaps in the lists of entries only some of which will correspond to a missing register.

Oath

I become your man from thys day forward of lyfe and lymb and of wordely worshyppe and faith that y owe to ower sovereign lord the kynge and to my elderer lordys. So helpe me godde at hys holy dome and by my trewth.

And I, as ye lorde of such londes and tenementys as ye hold of me by knyghten service, for the whyche ye have done your hommage unto me, I accepte you - and take you - as my tenant and hommager.

Abbreviations

Abbreviation Latin Meaning
arm. armiger armed man
B.A. baccalaureus artium bachelor of arts
B.C.L. baccalaureus civilis (or canonicae) legis bachelor of civil (or canon) law
B.D. baccalaureus divinitatis bachelor of divinity
B.V.M. beata virgo maria blessed virgin mary
D.C.L. doctor civilis (or canonicae) legis doctor of civil (or canon) law
D.D. divinitatis doctor doctor of divinity
gen. generalis general
in art. bac. in artium baccalaureus bachelor of arts
in art. mag. in artium magister master of arts
in artibus. mag. in artibus magister master of arts
in dec. bac. in decretis baccalaureus bachelor of doctrine
in dec. doc. in decretis doctor doctor of doctrine
in jure can. bac. in juris canonicaus baccalaureus bachelor of canon law
in leg. bac. in legum baccalaureus bachelor of law
in leg. doc. in legum doctor doctor of law
in leg. mag. in legum magister master of law
in utroque jure bac. in utroque jure baccalaureus bachelor of civil and canon law
M.A. magister artium master of arts
mil. miles soldier
s. theol. bac. sacrae theologiae baccalaureus bachelor of theology
s. theol. doc. sacrae theologiae doctor doctor of theology
s. theol. prof. sacrae theologiae professor professor of theology
S.T.B. sacrae theologiae baccalaureus bachelor of sacred theology
S.T.D. sacrae theologiae doctor doctor of sacred theology
S.T.L. sacrae theologiae licentiatus licentiate of sacred theology
S.T.P. sacrae theologiae professor professor of sacred theology
utriusque juris bac. utriusque juris baccalaureus bachelor of civil and canon law
utriusque juris doc. utriusque juris doctor doctor of civil and canon law

Calendar of Registration Instructions

The following instructions covering the creation and maintenance of records of baptism, marriage and burial were enacted through either Civil or Canon Law or both). Adherence to the instructions was usually good with some notable exceptions like Pole's requirement.

1538, September 29.  Thomas Cromwell, the Vicar General, issued the order for keeping parish registers.
1552.Cromwell's injunction repeated.
1555.Cardinal Pole required the names of sponsors to be added to the registers of baptisms.
1558.Cromwell's injunction repeated.
1597, October 25.An Act decreed that each parish should keep a bound parchment register and that the older (often loose paper) documents should be transcribed into that register. Copies now known as "Bishops' Transcripts" to be sent to the Bishops.
1603.These regulations embodied in the 70th Canon.
1645.The "Directory for Worship" orders births as well as baptisms to be entered although in practice this was not always followed.
1653, September 22.The Commonwealth directed a secular official, known as the "parish register", to be appointed responsible to the magistrates for the recording of births, marriages and deaths. The Act of 1653 also ordered the registration of births rather than baptisms.
1654, September 29.Civil marriage was instituted.
1660.The Restoration of Charles II saw the 1653 Act repealed and the Church of England restored to its role of record keeping.
1660.Civil marriages were legalized by Act of 12 Car. II, c. 33.
1667.Act compelling burial in woollen, 18 Car. II.
1678.Act requiring an affidavit of burial in woollen to be entered.
1694-1698.Duties on the registration of births, marriages, and burials, imposed for five years, 6 Will. III.
1754, March 25.Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act took effect. This made it compulsory for marriages to be by banns or licence by a beneficed Anglican clergyman in an Anglican church. The Act also imposed a standard entry for marriages in a bound volume of printed forms.
1783.Duty of 3d. on every entry in a register, imposed by 23 Geo. III, c. 71.
1794.And repealed 34. Geo. III, c. 11.
1813, January 1.Rose's Act, 52 Geo. III, c. 146, took effect. This made it compulsory for all register entries to be of a standard type in separate volumes for baptisms, marriages and burials.
1837, July 1.Civil registration commenced.

Change of Calendar and the "double date"

The following simplified explanation is sufficient for the purpose of understanding dates in Parish Registers of the period, but for a more complete explanation there are better sources.

The Julian calendar was used in Great Britain up to 1752 when the Gregorian calendar was adopted. The Calendar Act 1750 (enacted in 1752) altered the start of the year, and also aligned the British calendar 11 days later to comply with the Gregorian calendar. Thus Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September 1752.

The same Act standardised the start of the year to 1 January. Up to the time of the reform of the calendar in 1754, the civil year commenced on 25 March, while the historical year, as now, began on 1 January. Consequently the period from 1 January to 25 March was in two years. Thus, for example, 1 February, 1732, according to the civil year, was 1 February, 1733, according to our (historical) reckoning, and it is often written 1 February, 1732-3, or 1732/3, the last being the historical one.

In parish registers the civil reckoning was usually adopted, and this must be remembered when dealing with entries from 1 January to 25 March, before the year 1754.

Unfortunately some transcribers assume the modern start of the year in all cases and will, mistakenly, transcribe all dates after 1 January as belonging to the next year.

Some Relative Date Notations

It was customary in the medieval period for scribes who had been taught in Latin, to use the Latin notation for dates. In this notation dates were written as relative to the Kalends (Kal), Nones (Non) and Ides (Id) which were fixed days in each month.

Kalends was always the first of the month. In March, May, July and October, Nones was the seventh, and Ides the fifteenth day. In all other months, Nones was on the fifth and Ides on the thirteenth.

Dates were written as a number of days prior to Kal, Non or Id, e.g., 4 Non. Jan. = 2 January.

Similarly, years were often expressed relative to a fixed point relevant to the originator of a letter, directive or bull. Thus a document sent by the king's scribes would often have a regnal year below the king's signature.

Regnal years were calculated relative to the coronation of a king (or sometimes the death of his predecessor). Thus 5 Ed. II is the fifth year of the reign of Edward II.

Popes followed the same principle, so a papal bull might have a year expressed as relative to the enthronement of the pope, e.g., 1 Boniface IV was the first year after the enthronement of Pope Boniface IV.

Common practices of scribes and transcribers

The letter "p" or "pauper" occurring in registers against some entries in the period 1783-96, merely indicates that they were exempted from payment of the tax then levied on register entries.

The following abbreviations were often freely adopted in transcriptions, save when there seemed to be a special reason for giving the entries exactly as they stand:-

b. ... bachelor.sep. ... sepultus (buried).
sp. ... spinster.s. ... son.
wid. ... widow.d. ... daughter.
widr. ... widower.w. ... wife.
p. ... parish.lic. ... license.
wit. ... witnesses.gent. ... gentleman.
bap. ... baptized.esq. ... esquire.
chr. ... christened.clk. ... clerk.
mar. ... married.co. ... county.
bur. ... buried.dioc. ... diocese.
ch.w. ... churchwardens.f. ... filius or filia (son or daughter).
ux. ... uxor (wife).

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