Of the proceedings under special commissions issuing from this
court a descriptive catalogue (Elizabeth to Victoria) has been
published in the 38th Report. Depositions taken by commission
(Elizabeth to George III.) are catalogued in the Reports 38-42.
A catalogue of the later depositions exists in manuscript.
(2) Lower Exchequer, or Exchequer of Receipt.—The principal financial records of this department are the Receipt and Issue Rolls showing the payments made to and by the Exchequer. The former consist of an exceptional roll for 14 John and a series from Henry III. to George III. The latter run from Henry III. to Edward IV. and from Elizabeth to George III. A translation of the issue rolls (2) for 44 Edward III. was published by F. Devon; who also published a volume of extracts from the issue rolls of the reign of James I., and another volume of extracts from the rolls for the period 41 Henry III. to 39 Henry VI. The other records of this department are very numerous.
(3) Exchequer of Pleas.—The barons of the Exchequer without the lord treasurer had a court of their own, where process took place by common law. A list of the Plea Rolls of this court (20 Henry III. to 1855) will be found at p. 64 of the Record Office List of Plea Rolls (No. IV.). A partial index to the tithe-suits on these rolls is contained in the 21I(l Report.
(4) Exchequer of the Jews.—Suits between Jews, or in which Jews were concerned, were tried before a special subordinate court. The Plea Rolls (3 Henry III. to 4 Edward I.) are listed in the Record Office List of Plea Rolls. For specimens see Select Pleas, Starrs and Records of the Jewish Exchequer, edited for the Selden Society and the Jewish Historical Society of England by J. M. Rigg.
(5) First Fruits and Tenths.—After the breach with Rome, the crown obtained a new source of revenue in the first fruits due to the pope from every holder of a benefice upon appointment, and from the tenths payable during his tenure of it. For a few years under Henry VIII. a special office administered this revenue. At the accession of Mary the business was transferred to a department of the Exchequer. The principal records are the following: Bishops Certificates of Institutions to Benefices; Composition books giving the names of incumbents and the sums paid by them in lieu of first fruits; and documents relating to the valuation of livings. The most important entries touching valuation were printed by John Ecton in the Liber Decimarum (I 71 I), which has passed through many editions under the titles of Thesaurus Rerum Ecclesiasticarum and Liber Regis. The first fruits and tenths are now transferred to Queen Anne's Bounty, and are managed by that office.
(6) Valor Ecclesiasticus.—In 26 Henry VIII. a commission was issued for a valuation of all ecclesiastical property. The returns were made into the Exchequer and consist of eighteen volumes and three portfolios of rolls. Of these abstracts were made in three volumes known as Liber Valorum or King’s Books, and a portion was copied in two volumes known as Liber Regis. The original returns for the diocese of Ely, most of that of London and part of those of Salisbury, Lincoln, Durham and York are not now known to exist, and are very imperfectly represented by the abstracts and copies mentioned above. From these materials the Record Commission compiled six volumes folio known as the Valor Ecclesiasticus provided with maps and indexes. The introduction and general map were published 'later (1834) in a separate octavo volume; but some copies were struck off in folio and inserted into Vol. I., which was published in 1810.
(7) Court of Augmentations.-This office was instituted to administer the property of the suppressed monasteries and the revenues of the duchy of Cornwall. The records consist of the muniments of the suppressed houses taken over with them and of documents connected with their actual seizure and subsequent administration (for the former, see Special Collections below; the latter are in great part calendared in the Letters and Papers relating to the Reign of Henry VIII.).
There was also a judicial side of the office, in which the proceedings were by bill and answer. In 38 Henry VIII. this court absorbed an earlier one known as the Court of General Surveyors of the King’s Lands, which had been set up in 33 Henry VIII. A calendar of the decrees of the court will be found in the 30th Report. The court of augmentations was merged in the Exchequer in I Mary.
Chancery.—The records of the chancery are here treated in two divisions, administrative and judicial.
(1) Chancery Administrative.—These are either enrolments of letters issued under the great seal, documents forming part of the process of issuing such letters, or documents drawn up for the information of the chancery.
Enrolments.-The Charter Rolls (1 John to 8 Henry VIII.) contain the enrolments of the most formal letters. The Record Commission published one volume folio containing a transcript of the rolls for the reign of John; and a badly designed and executed calendar entitled Calendarium Rotulorum Chartarum. The Record Office has published three volumes of a complete calendar of the Charter Rolls from II Henry III. The Patent Rolls (3 John to the present day) contain enrolments of less formal letters addressed generally. The Record Commission published one volume folio containing a transcript of the rolls for the reign of John, with a valuable itinerary of that king. The Record Office has also printed in full the rolls for the period 1–16 Henry III. From this point over 30 volumes of a Calendar have been published, and the remaining gaps in the series are being closed. For these gaps the Record Commissions Calendarium Rotulorum Patentium is still useful, but only refers to a small proportion of the matter on the rolls. The rolls for the reign of Henry VIII. are calendared in the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. The Close Rolls (6 John to the present time) contain the enrolments of letters directed to specified persons and also enrolments of deeds made according to statute or for safe custody. The Record Commission published two volumes folio containing a transcript of the rolls for the period from 6 John to II Henry III. The Record Office has also published several volumes of rolls for the reign of Henry III. From the.reign of Edward I. eighteen volumes of a calendar have appeared. The Fine Rolls (1 John to 23 Charles I.) contain the record of judicial writs issued under the great seal with a note of the fine or fee paid; also of letters of appointment to offices and letters relating to the administration of the feudal incidents of tenure. The Record Commission published a transcript of the rolls for the reign of John under the title Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus; for the reign of Henry III. they also published two volumes of Excerpta e Rotulis Finium consisting of the entries relating to the feudal incidents. There were also other rolls containing letters issued under the great seal relating to special countries and subjects. The most important of these are here mentioned. French Rolls, Gascon Rolls, and Norman Rolls deal with the affairs of the English dominions in France and with relations with that country. A catalogue of many of the entries on these rolls down to the reign of Edward IV. was published by Thomas Carte in two volumes folio. Of the French Rolls (16 Edw. III. to 26 Charles II.) those for the reign of Henry V. are briefly calendared in the 44th Report; and those for the reign of Henry VI. in the 48th Report. Of the Gascon Rolls (38 Henry III. to 7 Edw. IV.) the earlier rolls have been printed in full in the Documents inédits published by the French government under the care of MM. Francisque-Michel and Bémont. Of the broken series of Norman Rolls (1 John to 10 Henry V.) those for the reign of John and that for 5 Henry V. have been printed in full in one volume by the Record Commission; to the remainder a calendar will be found in the 41st Report. The books here mentioned deal with some rolls now placed in other classes.
Other rolls contain letters under the great seal relating to Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Of these the Record Commission printed the Scottish Rolls (19 Edward I. to 8 Henry VIII.) in full, omitting the numerous letters of protection contained in them. For the Welsh and Irish Rolls there is only a very partial calendar in Ayloffe’s Calendar of Ancient Charters. The Roman and Almain Rolls have been used in Foedera, and many entries from the other chancery rolls will be found there. The Liberate Rolls (2 John to 14 Henry VI.) contain the enrolments of writs for the issue of money out of the Exchequer. The rolls for 2-4 John have been printed in full by the Record Commission.
Documents forming Part of the Process of issuing Letters under the Great Seal.—These are known as Chancery warrants, and consist of Privy Seals, Signed bills and other documents forming steps in the process. Series I. of these documents extends to the end of the reign of Richard III., and Series II. to the end of the reign of Henry VIII.; Series III. ends with the reign of Anne, and Series IV. with that of William IV., while Series V. is still in progress. Series I. and II. are arranged in chronological order (Series I. being also classified); the remainder are in monthly bundles. The warrants for the reign of Henry VIII. are calendared in the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.; those for the first seven years of Charles I. are calendared in the 43rd Report. With these may be placed the Inquisitions ad quad damnum. Of these the Record Office has published a descriptive list (Nos. XVII. and XXII.) for the period 28 Henry III. to 2 Richard III.
Documents drawn up for the Information of the Chancery.—The most important of these are the inquiries held under writs issued from the chancery. The first series of these (Henry III. to Richard III.) is now arranged in three classes, Inquisitions Post Mortem including analogous documents relating to the feudal tenure of land, Criminal Inquisitions and Miscellaneous Inquisitions. The Record Office has published three volumes of a calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem. The Record Commission calendars refer to the old arrangements of these inquiries into two series, known as Inquisitions Post Mortem &c. and Inquisitions ad quad damnum &c., a distinction of title which concealed the identity of the documents described. Both calendars contain many inaccuracies and omit much useful information. To supply some of these defects for the period Henry III. to Edward I. the Record Office published the Calendarium Genealogicum, but this work does not attempt to deal with the lands mentioned in the inquiries. In the second series of these inquiries the three classes of inquisitions are all placed together. One volume of a calendar to the Inquisitions Post Mortem for the reign of Henry VII. has appeared. Certificates of Gilds are returns made under the statute of 12 Richard II. Those in English have been printed by j. and L. Toulmin Smith for the Early English Text Society. Charitable Uses: a list (No. X.) of all inquisitions and decrees of commissioners
