Tudor and Stuart: Militia Muster Rolls

Military Records Information 2

1. The Local Militia

From Anglo-Saxon times, men were liable to military service as a local home defence force. The Statute of Winchester (1285) required all those between 15 and 60 to be assessed to equip themselves with weapons and armour, according to their means, from scythes and knives for those holding less than 40 shillings worth of land to horse and armour for the wealthiest individuals. After the Civil War, the militia was in abeyance until 1757: see The Militia, 1757-1914

In the 16th century, local Commissioners of Array, or the Lord Lieutenant of the county, assisted by local officials such as the parish constable, were responsible for making and inspecting such assessments. They can therefore give very valuable information for many economic, local and family historians, as well as for those interested in military history. See L Boynton The Elizabethan Militia, 1558-1638 (London, 1967) for more details. However, they do not cover all soldiers: see Military Records Information 1 for the contractual system by which nobles engaged bands of professional soldiers for service abroad.

2. The Records

Muster rolls list the names of local inhabitants who were liable to military service and the equipment they were required to have. The earliest known is from 1522, but obviously musters were held for centuries before. The rolls, or sometimes certificates of musters giving only total numbers of men, were forwarded to the Exchequer or the Privy Council, and have therefore become part of the public records.

Some muster rolls have only survived with the private papers of those local gentry families who served as commissioners of array or deputy lieutenant and these may be in local record offices. The private papers of a Cheshire gentleman, John Daniel of Daresbury, in The National Archives in SP 46 or SP 52 , contain correspondence and papers relating to musters and commissions, and several muster rolls of the trained band of which he was captain.

3. Finding Aids

The essential guide to the present location of muster rolls is Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls - A Directory of Holdings in the British Isles by J Gibson and A Dell (Federation of Family History Societies, 1991) which is available at The National Archives. Arranged by county, and then by hundred, wapentake, lathe, etc. (a number of parishes grouped together), it gives:

Many publications by local record societies are held by The National Archives Library.

4. Finding the right "hundred"?

If you do not know the name of the hundred, wapentake, lathe, etc., you can find this out from S Lewis's Topographical Dictionary; or from the 1851 Census Index to the Names of the Parishes, Townships and Places in the Population Tables (HMSO, 1852); or from F A Youngs Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, 2 vols (Royal Historical Society, 1980, 1991). These are all available at The National Archives.

5. Do the Muster Rolls Record All Men?

No. Muster rolls do not represent a complete census of the male population, as a comparison with names listed in surviving taxation returns in E 179 clearly shows. It has been estimated that, on average, either muster or tax return is likely to omit one third of the names it was supposed to contain. Their value to the population historian is discussed in an article by E E Rich "The Population of Elizabethan England" in Economic History Review, 2nd series, vol. ii (1949-50).The unfit and those too poor to provide the necessary equipment (and who might not be trusted to use their weapons in defence of property) may be omitted altogether. The minimum requirement under the 1557 act (4 & 5 Philip & Mary cap. 2), which gives a detailed sliding scale, was for those holding land worth £5 who were to provide one bow, one bill, one sheaf of arrows and one steel cap. The returns may list able-bodied men "without harnesse".

6. Muster Rolls in The National Archives

The easiest way to locate muster rolls in The National Archives is to use Gibson and Dell, Tudor and Stuart Muster Rolls.

7. The 1522 Musters and the Forced Loan

The instructions issued in 1522 asked for much fuller returns than merely men and equipment and were intended to provide a general valuation for forced loan purposes. The commissioners had to list all landowners and value their lands, and list all males over 16 as well as value their goods. The 1522 returns normally include a valuation of a man's lands and goods; some also give occupations and the names of lords of the manor. They are more fully described in J. Cornwall's "A Tudor Domesday. The Musters of 1522", Journal of the Society of Archivists, vol. iii (1965-69) and Richard Hoyle's Tudor Taxation Records (PRO, 1994).

8. Common Military Terms Used

(ri2002) Last updated: 15 May 2009 | © Crown Copyright 2002