The English in France
(1413-1414)
King Henry V of England claimed the throne of France (and quartered the fleurs-de-lis of France with the lions of England on the royal standard) as had his predecessors since Edward III, as descendants of Philip IV of France. He married Katherine, youngest daughter of king Charles VI of France in 1420, and thereafter styled himself 'heir and regent of France'. The English had real power or influence in Brittany, Normandy, Flanders and Gascony, and actual possession of several coastal garrisons, in particular Calais, where the French inhabitants had been replaced by English. The English administration kept a series of records called the French Rolls. On these are recorded royal appointments and commissions in France; letters of protection and safe-conduct to soldiers, merchants, diplomats and pilgrims travelling to France from England and returning, and to foreign legations. There are also licences to merchants to export to the Continent, and to captains to transport pilgrims. This calendar of the French Roll for the 1st year of the reign of Henry V (21 March 1413 to 20 March 1414) was prepared by Alexander Charles Ewald and published in 1883.MAYOR. Cost: £6.00.  | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Ablemen of Norwich
(1457)
The Old Free Book of the city of Norwich includes this muster roll of about 1457. Able-bodied men are listed subleet by subleet, with a note of the armour furnished or sum of money raised towards buying armour. About 600 persons are assessed, 80 of whom assessed for money only appear to be additions to the original list. A total of 480 jacks were assigned: a 'jack' being a jacket similar to a gambeson or doublet. MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Inhabitants of Suffolk
(1524)
The lay subsidy granted by Act of Parliament in 1523 was a tax on the laymen (as opposed to clergy), levied on householders, landowners, those possessing moveable goods worth £1 or more, and all workmen aged 16 or over earning £1 or more per annum. Real estate was taxed at a shilling in the pound; moveable goods worth £1 to £2 at fourpence a pound; £2 to £20 at sixpence a pound; and over £20 at a shilling in the pound. Wages were taxed at fourpence in the pound. Aliens were charged double; aliens not chargeable in the above categories had to pay a poll tax of eightpence. The records of the assessment for the county of Suffolk, mostly made in 1524, survive in 64 rolls in the National Archives. From 42 of these a compilation for the whole shire was printed in 1910 as Suffolk Green Book x. This includes a list of defaulters of 1526 and a subsidy roll of 1534 for Bury St Edmunds.MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Freemen of London
(1540-1550)
The long series of mediaeval registers and books of admission of the freemen of London was destroyed by fire in 1786. Thirty surviving charred leaves were gathered together and rebound, becoming Egerton MS 2408 in the British Museum. The order is jumbled and generally speaking none can be dated with certainty, although all belong to the very end of the reign of Henry VIII and the start of the reign of his son, Edward VI. These are pages from the admission books. Each entry here usually gives the name of the person admitted to the freedom; his father's name, address and occupation; his entitlement to the freedom, usually by having served out an apprenticeship to a citizen, naming the master and his trade. Then there may follow a cross-reference to M. or N., being two volumes of another set of official books denoted by the letters of the alphabet, and following each other in chronological sequence, which evidently gave details of entries into apprenticeships. These other books no longer exist: but the dates given for entry do identify the start of the apprenticeship, and so give by implication a date for the eventual admission to freedom. In the margin is the name of the city ward and the total of the fee and fine paid on admission.MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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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
MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1571-1575)
The Privy Council of queen Elizabeth was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters
MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1590)
The Privy Council of queen Elizabeth was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters
MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Liegemen and Traitors, Pirates and Spies
(1627-1628)
The Privy Council of Charles I was responsible for internal security in England and Wales, and dealt with all manner of special and urgent matters
MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Lancashire and Cheshire Marriage Licences
(1639-1644)
Licences for intended marriages in Chester archdeaconry, which covered Cheshire and Lancashire south of the Ribble (by far the most populous part of that county)MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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Bury St Edmunds area testators and legatees
(1370-1650)
A number of wills proved and registered in the courts of Bury St Edmunds Commisary and Sudbury Archdeaconry were selected by Samuel Tymms 'more with a view to illustrate the peculiar customs and language of the period than the topology or genealogy of the district' and transcribed for publication by the Camden Society in 1850. Most of those after 1450 are in English.MAYOR. Cost: £4.00. | Sample scan, click to enlarge
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