Early manorial records are usually in Latin, but after 1733 they will normally be in English although some legal vocabulary may still be in Latin. The manorial system has its roots in Anglo Saxon times and became effective in the mid-1200s. They relate to feudal agricultural estate held by a Lord (Landlord) from the Crown and affected every aspect of our ancestors’ lives until well into the nineteenth century. They are impressive day-to-day records of people of all social classes.
Geographically, the manor and the parish were not always one of the same. There were 19,000 manors and 11,000 parishes in England and Wales, and manor names often bear no resemblance to parish, town or village names.
Manors may have been divided into two or more areas for administrative and rent collection purposes. Manorial records can be used for studying the lives of ordinary people when few other sources exist, thus enabling the researcher to discover a great deal about individuals by looking at the records of a particular manor in detail. Most of the records are very detailed but they were fully abolished by the Law of Property Act 1925 which abolished copyhold tenure.
Manorial records are full of names ao they are a valuablr source for family historians; within the medieval period, they may be the only source available.
From the sixteenth century, they can provide additional information about people found in many parish records. If a particular property was handed down through one family, the court rolls will provide a record of this.
The rentals, surveys and entries in court records can be valuable when tracing the history of a house. They frequently provide detailed descriptions of the property and when you identify the house, even rentals will help in compiling a list of owners.
Court records, surveys, accounts and even to some extent the rentals are full of property descriptions and minor place names; these can be identified on manorial maps and may provide information about which crops were grown and even the animals kept on the manor.
There are many different types of manorial record, and they range in date from the twelfth century until the 1920s. Due to this vast time range, it can sometimes be a challenge to use them. Births, parenthood, marriages and sometimes deaths were usually not registered in the manorial system where information can only be deduced from records that were mainly produced for legal purposes. Surnames were not always used either and often changed from one generation to the next.
Latin was the official language of medieval government - Several useful dictionaries exist for Latin of the period, but the saving grace is that many early documents have been transcribed. Most early records were also highly abbreviated.
Before the late fourteenth century, few documents were written in English. Anglo-Norman was also reasonably common in medieval documents so the use of a Middle English dictionary will prove invaluable. One further challenge relates to variable spellings of names and some other words within the same record. Variations in names of persons and locations may make them unrecognisable.
To proficiently read and interpret manorial documents, you need a good grounding of palaeography is essential. There were seven different medieval styles of handwriting added to which because of age and deterioration, documents are often illegible and faded. Many are abbreviated, usually denoted by a line and some letters fall into the category of confusing letters including I, m, n, v, c, t, e, r, and b.
Don’t be put off by these elements because manorial records are an invaluable resource and should be used as a matter of course where they survive.
Early records of the manor were usually on parchment with rolls stitched together. From the early 1700s, many records reverted to book form and from 1800 parchment virtually ceased to be used. As an administrative unit of a local estate held from the Crown by the Lord of the Manor, the manor produced a range of records which will be of interest to the family historian including court records, accounts, rentals, surveys, terriers, etc. which are common to most manorial estates.
The lord of the manor held manorial courts of which there were two types, the Court Baron and the Court Leet. Courts were generally held at least twice a year (or more regularly in larger manors) and conducted all the business of the manor including admissions and surrenders of tenants. These records are most valuable for family historians tracing the daily lives and movement of our ancestors.
The Court Baron, often referred to as the Small Court, dealt with the general administration of the manor, land transfer (admissions and surrenders), disputes and trespass.
The Court Leet or Great Court included the View of Frankpledge, a Saxon system for law and order.
Groups of about ten households (a tything,) were collectively held responsible for the behaviour of individual members. Each tything elected a head man as spokesman who attended the Court Leet to report on the state of law and order in his locality and account for those he was responsible for. This court also dealt with the election of manorial officers including constables and had jurisdiction on several minor criminal cases.
Court records also contain proclamations on death which relates to the death of a tenant which is announced at court and sets out conditions for heirs to claim tenancy. Up to three proclamations are made (one each time a court sat) and if no heirs appeared, then land reverted to the Lord to be re-let.
The records of court transactions were recorded in either the court book or court roll. The court books were the formal record of a manor court when written into a volume rather than a parchment roll or loose sheets, whereas the court roll was the formal record of a manor court when in the form of a parchment or paper roll.
Each tenant, according to custom (by-laws of the manor), was required to attend courts and a register or call roll was kept of attendance. Tenants could be fined for non-attendance.
Admission and Surrender records are invaluable when tracing the movement of an ancestor.
Tenants were admitted to copyhold and customary tenancies by a specific process.
An entry in a court roll is made, admitting an individual to a tenancy in the manor for various reasons - by inheritance on the death of his father or by surrender where the new tenant had purchased the tenancy and the previous tenant had surrendered his interest to the lord.
In some manors, separate Courts of Dimissions were held for recording surrenders and admittances.
Manorial surveys were usually a written description of the manor giving details of boundaries and detailing each holding of land.
They were often prepared after a series of enfranchisements or certainly on the change of lord of the manor.
Many were accompanied by a map or survey. Surveyors were employed from sixteenth century onwards and the maps outlined the details of holdings, boundaries etc.
Sometimes the topographical features were included. Not all maps were to scale but acted as a diagram of the manor.
These are a list of names of all the manorial tenants, irrespective of rank and included a description of land and rent they paid. Most rentals were made on change ofl lord but were annual lists showing rents of holdings.
There are more manorial records which can be of use to family historians:
quit rents
custumals
manorial accounts
estreats
terriers
stewards’ records
enfranchisement.
Each known manor within a parish is recorded in the Victoria County History which is a useful starting point for research. Many manors will cease to exist and it should never be assumed that any records will have survived for a particular manor.
The 1922 Law of Property Act ended the last meaningful function of manorial courts with the total abolition of 'copyhold' tenure. As proof of title to land formerly held under copyhold can be found in manorial records, they are protected under statute law although are not designated public records. For this reason, a register of manorial records was established in 1926 to provide records of the location of documents so they could be found if needed for legal purposes. It also details the whereabouts of the court records and can be viewed online via The National Archives Discovery catalogue. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/manor-search
Only those types of documents defined in the rules as manorial documents are recorded in the Manorial Documents Register. Title deeds and other evidence of title are not included in the register
The extent of coverage of records to some degree depends upon the original size of the manor. The records of large manors or those with ecclesiastical affiliations are more likely to survive.
Geographical coverage of the manor is not necessarily the same as a parish. The oldest surviving manor record dates to 1240.
Do not assume that, because records appear to cover a particular period, ALL information is included. Catalogues can be vague. The quality of records varies considerably. Don’t always expect to find all the answers. Records may contain huge amounts of detail but only brief information about your ancestors so don’t use the records in isolation.
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