News

The Society's next Annual General Meeting is provisionally scheduled to be held on Wednesday 6th November 2024 at 3:30pm. Subject to confirmation of the venue.

The The Register of Richard Fleming, bishop of Lincoln 1420-1431, vol. III, edited by Dr Nicholas Bennett will be the next volume to be circulated.

Future publications include:

• Register of Walter de Gray, archbishop of York
  
• Bangor Episcopal Acta, 1092-1306
  
• Final instalment of the Register of William Melton, archbishop of York, 1317-40
  

Visitation of Hereford Diocese in 1397 announced a winner of the BRA 2023 Harley Prize

We are delighted to report that Professor Ian Forrest and Christopher Whittick, who translated and edited The Visitation of Hereford Diocese in 1397 (Canterbury & York Society, vol. CXI, 2021) have just been announced as prize winners in the British Record Association's 2023 Janette Harley Prize.

The prize is awarded for the best or most original piece of published or publicly available work which has promoted “the preservation, understanding, accessibility or study of archives”. The Visitation of Hereford Diocese in 1397 is the first of our series to have a full facing-page English translation alongside the original Latin. As the BRA notes:

"Conscious attempts have been made to preserve the word-order of the original as far as is consistent with fluency of translation, and to avoid technical vocabulary. The edition has greatly increased the accessibility of the manuscript, which now is consulted as a matter of course by the Diocesan Advisory Committee on questions of church fabric."

The scholarly edition, with introduction, translation and notes is an invaluable tool for experienced researchers, students and non-professional readers alike, and a great aid to those learning medieval Latin or being introduced to medieval sources. The Society is also pleased to report that owing to the volume's popularity, its print run has been extended. A paperback version is now available for purchase.

Notice

Members and friends of the Society will be deeply saddened to hear of the recent death of F. Donald Logan (1930-2022), Professor Emeritus of History at Emmanuel College. Professor Logan contributed two important editions to our publications series: The Medieval Court of Arches (2005) and, most recently (2020), the Canterbury Register of Archbishop Simon Sudbury. It is also with sadness that we report the death of Professor Anne Hudson (1938-2021), Honorary Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and luminary in the field of religious dissent in the later middle ages. Eminent medieval historians, both were long-standing members and supporters of the Society's work and their scholarship, and friendship to the Society, will be much missed.

Petitions to the Crown from English Religious Houses

The Society's 100th volume, Petitions to the Crown from English Religious Houses c.1272-c.1485, edited by Gwilym Dodd and Alison McHardy, has been issued to subscribers and is available to purchase from Boydell and Brewer.

Petitions were the subject's last resort when normal channels of law and government had failed, and offered kings the opportunity to exercise qualities of generosity, compassion, and sound judgment. However, despite their importance, they have not hitherto been recognized as a source for ecclesiastical history. A selection of over 200 cases shows the religious of medieval England taking full advantage of this mechanism, petitioning as landowners, neighbours, citizens, individuals, and religious orders. The subjects covered range from requests for tax rebates, and complaints about royal officials, to disputes with tenants, with townsmen, monastic rivals, and ecclesiastical superiors. National politics and international warfare are also represented, as are coastal erosion, and higher education. English summaries, explanatory notes and an extensive introduction enhance the reader's appreciation of this rich and remarkable resource.

Foundation History of the Abbeys of Byland and Jervaulx

Edited and introduced by Janet Burton, the Historia Fundationis tells the turbulent early histories of these two religious houses. The houses' story is placed against a backdrop of the broader national and European scene: civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, the growth of the Cistercian Order and its merger with Savigny, and the Second Crusade. The Historia is printed in Latin with a full English translation alongside.

2006. 177pp, perfect bound with full colour limp cover. Borthwick Publications

EHS Summer Conference

Details of next year's summer conference, will be available at https://ecclesiasticalhistorysociety.com/events/

Ecclesiastical History Society (EHS)

The Ecclesiastical History Society aims to foster interest in, and to advance the study of, all areas of the history of the Christian Churches. It holds two conferences a year, the proceedings of which are published in the series Studies in Church History.

Founded in 1991, COERS exits to promote interest in and knowledge of the Church of England from the 16th century onwards by publishing primary sources of information in its Church of England Record Series.

A forum for those interested in the study of Lollardy and the religious culture of the later Middle Ages in England.

This web resource provides free access to over 20,000 images of the registers produced by the archbishops of York, 1225-1650. There is also a growing searchable index of names, subjects, places and organisations.

This on-line resource allows the York collection of Cause Papers (the case records created by the ecclesiastical courts of York 1300-1858) to be searched by type, date of case, names of individuals involved in the case as witnesses or parties and places mentioned in the records. Images of the records will also soon be available for download.

Established in 1973, the English Episcopal Acta Project collects and edits for publication the surviving charters issued by English bishops from the Norman Conquest to the start of bishops' registers in each diocese. The series thus provides important information about the English Church from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.

Records of Central Government in England and Wales: Clerical Taxes 1173-1664 (E179 Project)

The records of clerical taxation held at The National Archives comprise a wealth of detail on the institutional, economic and social history of the medieval and early modern Church in England and Wales and on the prosopographical history of the clergy. The availability of a comprehensive, on-line catalogue of the documentation in E 179 will provide the opportunity for comparative studies of different dioceses and for longitudinal studies of the Church at both local and national level.

Taxatio Project

The detailed records of the assessment of English and Welsh ecclesiastical wealth undertaken in 1291-2 on the orders of Pope Nicholas IV have long been recognised as an essential source for the study of the late medieval Church. This project aims to provide a comprehensive new edition of the listing and valuation of the ecclesiastical benefices (mostly parish churches) of England and Wales which comprise the 'spiritualities' sections of the assessment.

York Clergy Ordinations

This series draws together the names of all those men ordained in the diocese of York between 1450-1850. It includes the dates of taking orders, education, the curacies and benefices the men were going to serve and, from the middle of the 18th century, details of candidate's baptisms and parents.

Norfolk Record Socxiety

The Norfolk Record Society publishes and makes accessible scholarly editions of documents relating to the County of Norfolk and the City of Norwich. It aims to promote the preservation of such documents and records, to assist educationally by lectures or otherwise in record research, and generally to stimulate interest in archives relating to Norfolk.