How to write the history of a parishCox, J. Charles (John Charles)
History
How to write the history of a parish
Cox, J. Charles (John Charles)
Great Britain -- Historiography; Great Britain -- History, Local
The terms used in these documents for different sorts of tithes, for
the various produce of the soil, etc., etc., will be sought for in
vain in any ordinary Latin Dictionary; for their explanation it will
be necessary to consult a Glossary of mediæval or monastic terms. The
most handy and accurate is the abridged edition of the Glossaries
of Du Cange, Du Fresne, etc., in six vols. 8vo., published at Halle,
between 1722-1784. Some such work will also be found indispensable in
consulting the monastic Chartularies and many of the Records and Rolls.
The majority of the terms will be found in the last two editions of
Cowel’s “Interpreter,” 1708, and 1737, which can much more readily be
met with than the larger glossaries; but there is great need for a
one volume compendious glossary, and it is hoped that such a work may
shortly be published.
LISTS OF INCUMBENTS. Lists of rectors and vicars, giving the date of
their institution, and the names of their respective patrons, are
indispensable to a complete parochial history. They are, for the
most part, to be obtained from the diocesan registers. This work,
in several dioceses, will be found to involve no small labour, for
Bishop’s registrars were not always particular to separate institutions
from other Episcopal acts, and occasionally placed them in precise
chronological order for the whole diocese, without any regard to
archdeaconries and other minor divisions. But the trouble will be
amply repaid by the numerous quaint and interesting little details
that the searcher will be almost sure to discover. Many of our
episcopal registers, or act books, are of supreme interest, and yet
they are perhaps less known than any class of original documents. The
dates at which these registers begin average about the year 1300.
We give, for the first time in any manual, their respective initial
years:--Canterbury, 1279; London, 1306; Winchester, 1282; Ely 1336;
Lincoln, 1217; Lichfield, 1296; Wells, 1309; Salisbury, 1296; Exeter,
1257; Norwich, 1299; Worcester, 1268; Hereford, 1275; Chichester, 1397;
Rochester, 1319; York, 1214; and Carlisle, 1292. The old registers
of Durham are mostly lost, that of Bishop Kellaw, 1311-18, being the
oldest. None of the Welsh Cathedrals have any registers older than the
16th century.
Gaps are not unusual in the episcopal registers for some time
subsequent to the Reformation, when the books were often kept in a
slovenly fashion. These deficiencies can be generally supplied from the
lists of institutions in the Augmentation Books at the P. R. O.
It is scarcely necessary to say that no list of incumbents should be
considered complete, until it has been carefully collated with the
parish registers.
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