Definitions

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.

Some Explanations

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

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.

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:-