2. How foreign affairs were conducted in the medieval period

In medieval England no single official or institution had overall responsibility for foreign affairs. There was no Foreign Office. There was little differentiation between foreign and domestic affairs in the management of government business.

Responsibilities were shared by:

• the Royal Council, which discussed foreign affairs and formulated England’s policy in consultation with the king
• Chancery, which dealt with the administration of treaties and letters
• the Exchequer, which dealt with the financial aspects of diplomacy

Diplomatic missions were frequently undertaken by:

• the great officers of state
• leading churchmen
• major noblemen
• the king’s personal friends and trusted servants of lower rank

3. An overview of the records and how to get a search started

Often the best way to begin a search is to consult published sources held in our library. Published information about some of the documents, including full transcripts of original texts, is in:

• Foedera, Conventiones, Literae et Cujuscunque Generis Acta Publica inter Reges Angliae et alios by Thomas Rymer (20 volumes, 1727-1735) which contains many diplomatic documents transcribed in their original language
• Rymer’s Foedera: Syllabus in English with Index, 1066-1654 edited by D Hardy (3 volumes, 1869-1885)
• Letters and Papers, Richard III and Henry VII  edited by J Gairdner (2 volumes, 1861-1863)
• Materials for a History of the Reign of Henry VII edited by W Campbell  (2 volumes, London, 1873-1877).
• English Medieval Diplomatic Practice (2 volumes) by P Chaplais, (London, HMSO, 1975 and 1982)
• English Royal Documents, King John-Henry VI, 1199-1461 (Oxford 1971)

In some instances you may find published sources provide enough information to make consultation of original documents unnecessary. They will certainly make locating document references (which you will need to request the documents themselves) easier and may provide them in full.

Records at The National Archives are held in record series . The series most likely to provide details of and insights into English foreign affairs in this period are listed in the following sections of this guide. To browse through a list of records held in a record series, click on the series links and find the browse ‘by reference’ link on the following page. To locate individual pieces within some record series you will need to use calendars (see next section).

4. How to use calendars to locate records

Calendars summarise the text of original documents. We hold many calendars for the medieval period at our on-site library. Each one covers a specific period and a particular record type (patent or close rolls in C 66 or C 54, for example). With information gleaned from calendar entries you can use our catalogue to identify the original documents on which the calendar entries are based and the accompanying document references which you will need to request and see the documents themselves.

Though some of the calendars provide summaries of their contents in English, others, depending on the date, the publisher and the type of document being summarised, provide entries (or some entries) in the original Latin and French. This is especially the case with calendars published before 1939 and, notably, calendars published by His Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) where comprehensive transcripts of the original text are reproduced.

To locate a document using a calendar, bear the following in mind:

• Each roll normally covers a regnal year
• The regnal year is recorded at the top of each page of the calendar
• A calendar entry summarises the front and back of the respective roll, in the sequence found in the original manuscript
• Entries for a single regnal year might be broken down into several parts – for example, ‘1 Henry IV, part 1’
• Once you have a regnal year reference (1 Henry IV, part 1), search for it in our catalogue in the series in question

For example, to locate references in series C 66 for the first and second years of Henry IV’s reign you will need the Calendar of Patent Rolls, Henry IV, vol 1, 1399-1401. It reproduces the text of the rolls for those years and provides you with the regnal year reference cited above: 1 Henry IV, part 1. By browsing from the C 66 description page (look for the ‘browse from here by reference’ link), you will find (after scrolling through a dozen pages) the catalogue references for these rolls, which are C 66/354-365, and the reference for the roll covering 1 Henry IV part 1 is the first in this sequence, C 66/354. With this reference you can use our document ordering system to request the original roll.

5. Chancery documents

Chancery was responsible for supervising and preparing the monarch’s formal instructions, relaying orders to the king’s officers and courts to transact business on the monarch’s behalf.

5.1 Chancery enrolments

From 1199 Chancery enrolments were introduced – a system of creating registers of important official documents. The main record series of Chancery enrolments are listed below. Click on the links to find out more about each record series:

• C 54 – Close Rolls, including letters of credence to foreign rulers
• C 61 – Gascon Rolls, which include treaties, truces and appointments of ambassadors in French lands under English rule
• C 66 – Patent Rolls, from 1201, including letters of safe conduct, protection, the appointments and powers of ambassadors, and negotiations and general correspondence
• C 67 – Patent Rolls, Supplementary, 1275-1749
• C 76 – Treaty rolls, which includes enrolments of treaties, letters and other diplomatic material, 1234-1675. Many of them concern the administration of England’s territory in France, but diplomatic correspondence with the Holy Roman Empire and other states is also present. Treaties could also be enrolled on the other rolls mentioned above
• C 64 – Norman Rolls, including diplomatic letters patent, writs and treaties between English kings as dukes of Normandy and the dukes of Brittany and Burgundy
• C 70 – Roman Rolls (correspondence to the Pope and cardinals), 1306-1358
• C 71 – Scotch Rolls, including letters of safe-conduct, treaties, and material on the Scottish succession and Edward I’s diplomacy

There are no useful online catalogue descriptions for most of the series listed above. To locate document references in C 54, C 61, C 66 and C 76 you can consult:

• the Calendar of Close Rolls for the summary of documents and their references in C 54 (the close rolls)
• the Calendar of Patent Rolls for the summary of documents and their references in the C 66 (the patent rolls)
• the published volume of Gascon Rolls for summaries of documents in C 61 (Gascon rolls)
• the published volume of Treaty rolls preserved in the Public Record Office for advice on how to use the treaty rolls in C 76

In the absence of calendars, you will need to browse through the other series listed above by clicking on the links and then the browse ‘by reference’ link on the subsequent page.

5.2 Chancery Miscellanea (C 47)

Browse C 47, Chancery Miscellanea, which includes foreign documents many of which are letters, petitions or warrants and a number of documents which are not described in published sources.

Note that:

• bundles 22-23 Scottish documents, including homage rolls
• bundles 24-26 concern French possessions of the English kings
• bundles 27-32 are the main sequence of diplomatic documents

Much diplomatic correspondence was issued under the privy or secret seals in an effort to control the dissemination of instructions, reports and other information. Correspondence issued in this way was intended only for the named individuals or officers to whom it was addressed and not for wider public scrutiny.

Consult also SC 1 which contains ancient chancery and exchequer records. See section on Special collections for further guidance.

5.3 Chancery Warrants (C 81 and PSO 1)

Warrants were the accepted means of issuing authenticated instructions from the king or royal council to representatives of the crown engaged on particular diplomatic or other official activity.

Read the catalogue descriptions in C 81 and PSO 1 for more information about these records.

Locate warrants summarised in:

• the Calendar of Chancery Warrants preserved in the Public Record Office, 1244-1326 (1927) for the record series C 81 and PSO 1 which will include material such as issue of letters of safe conduct for foreign envoys, appointments of English representatives, letters of protection and sometimes the text of diplomatic letters to be drawn up under the Great Seal

5.4 Miscellaneous diplomatic documents in DL 34

Some miscellaneous diplomatic documents survive for the period 1129-1596 in the Duchy of Lancaster records in DL 34.

Most of these:

• date from the 13th and 14th centuries
• are a miscellaneous collection of records which were inherited by or acquired by the dukes of Lancaster
• include the treaties of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, as King of Castile and Leon

6. Exchequer documents

Use:

• the Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland preserved in her Majesty’s Public Record Office (5 vols, 1881-1986) and other items are transcribed in Documents Illustrative of the History of Scotland (1870) to locate summaries of documents in E 39, Scottish Documents, Henry III to Elizabeth I, which contains documents of similar type to those in E 30 (see below)

Find documents by browsing by date in:

• E 28 for Council and Privy Seal records which includes material on the conduct of foreign affairs, Edward III to Elizabeth I (a Chancery series of similar council and parliament material is in C 49)

Browse these record series  by description and date:

• E 36 books, Exchequer (Treasury of Receipt) especially E 36/186-192, diplomatic documents Edward II to Henry VIII, and the Registrum Munimentorum (Liber A and B, E 36/275) which contains transcripts temp, Edward I of diplomatic documents from John to Edward I
• E 30, diplomatic documents, Henry I to James I (see below)

The diplomatic documents in E30 contain some of the earliest diplomatic documents in The National Archives and include:

• original treaties
• agreements
• abstracts of agreements and oaths
• diplomatic instructions
• some material relating to foreign loans, [1103] to 1624
• notarial instruments
• powers to ambassadors to treat
• royal letters
• letters of protection and safe conduct

Browse relevant Exchequer accounts in:

• E101 for the accounts for expenses of ambassadors and nuncii, 1251-1616. It also includes the praestita, or accounts of vouchers or imprests issued for the king’s service abroad, as well as payments to envoys from abroad
• E 159 for King’s Remembrancer Memoranda Rolls, recording memoranda, copies of other documents, or case papers resulting from all types of business found in other Exchequer series – including diplomatic matters
• E 164 for King’s Remembrancer Miscellaneous Books, Series I, of particular interest for the campaigns of Edward III
• E 175 for Exchequer and Parliamentary and Council proceedings, Edward I to James I, including some documents relevant to the council’s direction of foreign policy
• E 315 for the accounts of Calais, 1409-1412 and of Ponthieu and Montreuil
• E 361 for Enrolled Wardrobe and Household Accounts, 1257-1548, which might include evidence of payments for specific diplomatic missions
• E 364 for accounts of nuncii and foreign merchants
• E 368 for Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer Memoranda Rolls, 1217-1835 (departmental duplicates of the E 159 rolls)
• E 372 for Pipe Rolls, which mention the particulars of account of the ambassadors
• E 373 for Exchequer of Normandy Pipe Rolls, 1180-1203
• E 405 for Journalia and Tellers’ rolls of receipts and issues, 21 Edward I -1834, summarising income and expenditure, but can supply specific details of the costs of foreign missions, embassies or campaigns
• E 403 for enrolments and registers of issues, Henry III – 1834
• E 404 for writs and warrants for issues, Henry II -1837
• E 403 and E 404 include monies advanced to ambassadors or paid retrospectively

7. Special collections

These are made up of largely artificial groupings of records.

You can search our catalogue within:

• SC 8 (for Ancient Petitions, Henry III to James I, which includes petitions from Gascony and other French provinces) by using the name of petitioner – digital images are freely available
• SC 1 (for Ancient Correspondence, Henry II to Henry VI, mainly 13th and 14th century in origin and including ‘domestic’ as well as ‘foreign’ material) by using name of individuals or place
  

Browse by date and catalogue descriptions which separate the foreign-related content from the domestic content in:

• SC 7 for Papal Bulls, [1131]-1533 which includes documents concerning relations between the papacy, royal government and the ecclesiastical authorities

8. Transcripts of diplomatic documents

Original English medieval documents held in other European archives were transcribed in the nineteenth century. These transcriptions now form part of The National Archives collection in:

• PRO 31/2 for Milan, 1425-1768
• PRO 31/8 for Germany, Portugal and France, c1162-1572
• PRO 31/9 for Rome, 1066-1815
• PRO 31/11 for Spain, 1485-1555
• PRO 31/14, 1202-1797 and PRO 30/25, 1224-1877 for Venice

Some of these documents relating to Milan and Venice have been calendared for the medieval period in the following publications:

• Calendar of State Papers Milan (1385-1618)
• Calendar of State Papers Venetian (1202-1509)

Use:

• the Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland for summaries of entries which may indicate English diplomatic activity at the papal court, or activities of other states that affected English foreign policy

9. Further reading

P Chaplais, ‘English diplomatic documents to the end of Edward III’s reign’, in D A Bullough and R L Storey, The Study of Medieval Records (Oxford, 1971)

Henry S Lucas, ‘The Machinery of Diplomatic Intercourse’, in J F Willard and W A Morris, eds The English Government at Work, 1327-1336 (vol 1, Cambridge, Mass 1940)

G P Cuttino, English Diplomatic Administration, 1259-1339 (Oxford, 1971)

J Ferguson, English Diplomacy, 1422-1461 (Oxford, 1972)

D E Queller, The Office of Ambassador in the Middle Ages, (Princeton, 1967)

T F Tout, Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England (Manchester 1920-1933)

Calendar of Documents in the Public Record Office relating to Scotland, 1108-1509; W H Bliss, et al

2. Introduction

The earliest agricultural statistics were collected on a relatively ad-hoc basis by the Home Office.

The first time was during mid-1790s when Britain suffered numerous poor harvests and was attempting to calculate the ability of the country to provide sufficient foodstuffs.

A second attempt to collect crop production data was made in 1800. The return designed at this time used pre-printed questions (some were copied out by hand) to force a greater degree of comparable information from those compiling the information. The returns (of varying levels of statistical detail and free text data) are in HO 42/52-55.

In 1801 another crop census was undertaken alongside the first ‘people’ census as the government sought to compare the two sets of data. Both the mid-1790s and 1801 crop returns are catalogued and searchable online – see below for details. The 1800 returns are presently being catalogued.

From 1866 the Board of Trade began collecting and printing agricultural statistics in annual volumes called ‘Agricultural Statistics, England and Wales’. These returns were normally collected in June of each year. You can access these online via Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers. This is a subscription website you can access on The National Archives’ computers by visiting us at Kew. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library such as a university library.

An additional volume, Century of Agricultural Statistics 1866-1966, was printed in 1967.

From 1899 returns of acreage and livestock were made to the newly established Board of Agriculture.

Returns were known as ‘parish summaries’ even when, during the 20th century, the parish was often replaced by other local administrative units.

Until 1917 returns were made on a voluntary basis, but from that date it became compulsory and the figures are thought to be more accurate.

3. Finding records

Search Discovery, our catalogue using keywords such as:

• crop
• agricultural statistics
• parish summaries
• agricultural returns

You can refine your search results by year. Alternatively, use the following record series references to narrow down your search:

• HO 42 – returns from mid-1790s and 1800
• HO 67 – returns from 1801
• MAF 68 – parish summaries for England and Wales between 1866 and 1988
• MAF 410 – county summaries from 1993
• MAF 408 – parish summaries from 1989

A complete transcript of the 1801 returns together with references to the 1790s returns has been published by the List and Index Society. You can find a copy of Home Office Acreage Returns Lists and Analysis in List and Index Society volumes 189, 190 and 195, in The National Archives’ Library.

Summaries for Scottish parishes are held by the National Records of Scotland.

4. What information will I find?

The earliest statistics were gathered in an unstructured format and the detail given in returns is not consistent.

Later surveys used a standard template for returns but this did not guarantee accurate responses, as those completing the forms suspected their answers might result in further taxation.

The parish summaries give the numbers of livestock and the acreage of crops in each parish but not the names of owners or other details of individual holdings.

They are arranged and listed year by year and then by county.

5. Restrictions

After 1917 the information on the surveys was given in confidence. To access it you will need to complete a Form of Undertaking, agreeing not to extract any details which relate to an area comprising less than a group of three holdings.

Parish Summaries datasets are closed for 30 years.

Parish and County lookup tables are closed until 2020 (when the first of the Parish Summaries datasets will become available).

A key to the parish numbers for the more modern returns is available at The National Archives.

6. National Farm Survey

A national farm survey was conducted between 1940 and 1943. It covered every farm and holding of five acres and more, including those of market gardeners, horticulturists, and poultry-keepers. See our research guide on National Farm Surveys 1941-1943 for more information.

Holdings of one to five acres representing less than one per cent of the total area of crops and grass, were subject to a separate survey carried out by the horticultural sub-committees of the County War Agricultural Executive Committees.

7. Further reading

WE Minchinton, ‘Agricultural returns and the government during the Napoleonic Wars’ in Agricultural History Review, vol 1 (1953) p 29

2. What was the Court of Star Chamber?

Before it became a separate court of law in its own right the Star Chamber had effectively been the judicial arm of the King’s Council. It was named after the star-spangled ceiling of the room where it met in the old Palace of Westminster.

The court presided over criminal cases for the most part but did exercise some civil jurisdiction. The kinds of cases brought before the court included the following, though as every case needed to allege violence for the court to hear the case, there is a reasonable chance that some allegations were fabricated:

• public disorder and riots
• corruption by officials
• corruption of juries
• sedition and libel
• robbery
• illegal hunting
• murder and witchcraft
• forcible entry
• assault
• fraud
• municipal and trade disputes
• disputes over the enclosure of land

For more examples and a little more detail on the court, read the series descriptions for STAC 1 and STAC 2.

3. How the court worked and the records it produced

In the 1530s Star Chamber dealt with about 150 cases a year but its business expanded significantly over the following decades so that by 1600 it was presiding over nearly 700 a year.

Its judges were normally privy counsellors and the judges of the common law courts. They were responsible for administering justice directly and supervising other courts.

A case would proceed as follows, with each stage of the process recorded in official documents, usually rolls of parchment:

3.1 Proceedings

The proceedings, recorded in English, gathered together the details of a case as presented by plaintiff and defendant. Each of the following stages in the proceedings was officially recorded:

• A petition or bill (also known as a pleading) from the plaintiff would be submitted to the court laying out their grievance
• A response from the defendant, known as an ‘answer’
• A response from the plaintiff, known as a ‘replication’
• A further response from the defendant, known as a ‘rejoinder’
• Interrogatories – a set of questions that could be put to the witnesses of either party – in some cases interrogatories seem to have started off the procedure
• Sworn testimony, known as ‘depositions’, in answer to the questions in the interrogatories

See Daniel F Gosling’s ‘The records of the Court of Star Chamber at The National Archives and elsewhere’ in Star Chamber Matters for a fuller description of court process.

3.2 Judgements and other orders

When the court passed a judgement this was recorded as a Decree or Final Order but these records have not survived for the Court of Star Chamber.

3.3 Records of fines ordered by the court

T G Barnes (see further reading) has argued that every Star Chamber case in which at least one defendant was convicted resulted in a fine. Notes of these fines were recorded on the Exchequer memoranda rolls.

4. How to search for records of proceedings

4.1 The records

The original records of proceedings are arranged by reign. More pleadings, which were written on parchment, have survived than proofs of evidence, which were on paper.

Some cases, often those that were settled out of court, are now only represented by a surviving bill of complaint or initial pleadings. Documents relating to a particular case may also be scattered among several bundles of documents. Those relatively few cases now bound into volumes represent an abandoned 19th century attempt to bring together everything relating to a particular case into a single alphabetical series arranged by surname of the principal plaintiff.

The department code for the records of the court is STAC. Records are spread across multiple series, from STAC 1 to STAC 10 (STAC 10 contains Star Chamber miscellanea but includes some stray records of proceedings).

Although these series represent different reigns, documents from a single case can be split between reigns and therefore between series.

4.2 Indexes to the records: our catalogue

Discovery, our catalogue, contains short descriptions of Star Chamber cases. Each description consists of the title of the case in the form of the surnames of the plaintiff and defendant, in that order (for example, Smith v James), and sometimes the subject of the dispute, though this is not given in all series.

Click on the series references below to search for records within the respective date range by the criteria indicated in the final column.

4.3 Indexes to the records: Welsh and Kent cases

For cases having any connection with Wales see A Catalogue of Star Chamber Proceedings Relating to Wales (Cardiff, 1929), compiled by Ifan Edwards. For cases in Kent see Volume 3 of Kent at Law, edited by Louis A Knafla. These are the only detailed indexes of Star Chamber suits for the reign of Elizabeth I.

4.4 Indexes to records from the reign of James I (the Barnes Index)

For records of proceedings from the reign of James I, held in STAC 8, there are three volumes of indexes, compiled by T G Barnes, allowing you to search by parties, places, offence, and counties. They are very helpful for local history or for the history of offences.

The indexes are held exclusively here at The National Archives in Kew, in the Map and Large Document Reading Room. They are quite difficult to get used to, based on a system of codes, but the codes and how to use the indexes are all explained in the volumes themselves.

4.5 Other resources for finding records

See The Court of Star Chamber and its records to the reign of Elizabeth I by J A Guy (Public Record Office Handbook No 21, HMSO, 1984), which also assigns STAC 10 cases to the correct reign.

5. How to search for judicial and administrative records

It is estimated that ‘one-half of the former archive of the Court of Star Chamber is missing’ (see J A Guy in Further reading) and very few of the administrative and judicial records of the court have survived.

Most significantly, none of the decree and order books, giving final judgements by the court, have survived. In some rare cases decrees and orders (in Latin) may be endorsed on the proceedings (see section 4) and extracts may sometimes be found in collections of private papers of court officials and suitors (see section 8). Among published sources, Rushworth’s Historical Collections contains extracts of selected cases, mainly for the period 1618-1638.

There are, however, some other records that may be worth consulting:

• There is administrative material and council proceedings, as well as court proceedings and much more, in STAC 10
• In William Hudson’s ‘A Treatise of the Court of Star Chamber’, a manuscript copy of which is in STAC 12, there are citations from over five hundred Star Chamber cases
• Bonds, given by defendants to bind them to appear before the court, are in STAC 13 – most are from the reign of Elizabeth
• Filed (returned) writs, designed to ensure the appearance of defendants and witnesses, are in STAC 11 for 1554-1593
• Writ and commission books for 1580-1632 are in PRO 30/38

6. How to search for records of court fines

Fines issued by the court were recorded on the Exchequer memoranda rolls, held in record series E 159.

For the period 1596-1641 there is an unpublished index to these records, listing the names of those fined, held at The National Archives building in Kew, compiled by T G Barnes called ‘Fines in the Court of Star Chamber 1596-1641′. It’s located in the Map and Large Document Reading Room.

The record series E 101 and E 137 also contain some accounts of fines.

7. Other related records

References to Star Chamber cases may also appear in:

• Privy council registers in PC 2
• State papers in various SP series

See our State Papers guides and section 5 of our guide to Privy Council records for advice on searching within these records.

8. Records held elsewhere

There are extracts from the court’s records within the Lansdowne Manuscripts held at the British Library covering the reigns of Henry VIII to Charles I (British Library reference: Lansdowne MS 639).

Also at the British Library, within the Harley manuscripts, are extracts of Star Chamber records from the reigns of Edward VI to James I (British Library reference: Harleian MS 2143 or Harley MS 2143).

9. Further reading

For a general introduction to the court and its records, see Daniel F Gosling, ‘The records of the Court of Star Chamber at The National Archives and elsewhere’ in Star Chamber Matters, ed by K J Kesselring and Natalie Mears (London: University of London Press, 2021), 19-40. This is supplemented by The Court of Star Chamber and its records to the reign of Elizabeth I by J A Guy (Public Record Office Handbook No 21, HMSO, 1984), and T G Barnes, ‘The Archives and Archival Problems of the Elizabethan and Early Stuart Star Chamber’, Journal of the Society of Archivists, ii (1963), 345-360.

Other relevant publications include:

C G Bayne and W H Dunham (eds), Select cases in the council of Henry VII (Vol. 75 for 1956, Selden Society). See Publications of the Selden Society for more details.

I S Leadam (ed), Select Cases before the King’s Council in the Star Chamber, commonly called the Court of Star Chamber (Selden Society, 1903)

G R Elton, Star Chamber Stories (Methuen, 1958)

For publications of Star Chamber cases as compiled by local record societies see E L C Mullins, Texts and Calendars: An analytical guide to serial publications (1958) and Part 2 (1983) of the same publication.

J A Guy, The Cardinal’s Court: the impact of Thomas Wolsey in Star Chamber (Harvester, 1977)

2. How to search for records

2.1 General search tips

The principal record series for Chancery equity suits before 1558 is C 1, a collection known as the Early Chancery Proceedings.

Most of these records are available online through the Chancery Proceedings pages of the University of Houston’s Anglo-American Legal Tradition website.

To view documents in the other record series that appear in this guide you will need to either visit The National Archives at Kew or pay for copies to be sent to you. Alternatively, you can pay for research.

For tips on searching the catalogue, use the Discovery help pages.

2.2 Searching in the Early Chancery Proceedings

To locate an individual case within C 1, the Early Chancery Proceedings, search by name or subject in the following way:

Step 1: Use the advanced search in our catalogue to search within C 1 by names of plaintiffs or names of defendants (allow for variant spellings, common to these records).

Alternatively, use keywords to search by subject. The kinds of keywords that may find a record by subject include:

• the issue in dispute (for example, money, land, rent)
• the place of the dispute (allow for variant spellings, common to these records)
• the place of abode of either the defendants or plaintiffs, often given as a county or town

You can supplement or replace your search by name or subject with a search by types of plaintiffs, using the following codes in the keyword field:

For female plaintiffs acting without any male plaintiff:

• SFP (single female plaintiff), indicating one woman submitting a pleading alone
• JFP (joint female plaintiff), indicating more than one woman submitting a pleading, though not groups of women, such as abbesses, representing institutions – these are treated as corporate body plaintiffs (see below)

For group plaintiffs:

• CBP (corporate body plaintiff), covering abbeys, colleges, companies and other institutions
• UBP (unincorporate body plaintiff), covering churchwardens, overseers of the poor and representatives of tenants or copyholders

A successful search will locate a C 1 item number, for example C 1/20/35. This will form part of a larger document referred to at The National Archives as a piece, though with these kinds of records a piece is more commonly referred to as a bundle. The piece or bundle number for the item referred to above is C 1/20.

Step 2: Once you have your item number, go to the University of Houston website, select the relevant bundle number and browse through the individual images numbers on that website do not correspond exactly with The National Archives’ item numbers so you may have to scroll through several pages before you find the right image).

2.3 Alternative searches for pleadings

For further records of pleadings not in C 1, use the advanced search in our catalogue to search by name, place or subject within C 3. Or search by the same criteria, plus the keyword ‘chancery’, within STAC 2.

2.4 Alternative searches for depositions

Use the advanced search in our catalogue to search by names of plaintiffs or names of defendants in C 4, as an alternative to C 1, for the mid 15th century to 1558. It may help to include the word ‘deposition’ as one of the keywords in your search.

From 1534 you should also check the series of town depositions taken in London in C 24.

2.5 Alternative searches for decrees, orders and awards

See section 6.

3. Understanding and interpreting the records: dates

As dates often do not appear on these records, and are therefore absent from our catalogue, establishing a precise date can be tricky and sometimes impossible – you may only be able to establish a date range.

As shown in the table below, the bundle number relates to the name of the Lord Chancellor to whom the documents were addressed and can therefore be dated to the years of his chancellorship.

In some cases, however, the Lord Chancellor is not named and instead the document is addressed to, for example, ‘the bishop of London, Lord Chancellor’ which could mean any one of the several bishops of London who had been Lord Chancellor in this era.

You may be able to narrow the date down further by consulting the tables given at the front of the Lists of Early Chancery Proceedings preserved in the Public Record Office, available in the reading rooms at The National Archives at Kew.

4. Understanding and interpreting the records: pleadings

4.1 What are pleadings?

Pleadings mark the beginning of a law suit. Anyone wishing to start a suit in Chancery would get a lawyer to draw up a formal ‘bill of complaint’ to submit to the Lord Chancellor – this was also known as a ‘pleading’ and is sometimes referred to as a ‘petition’. It would set out the offences of the defendant. It needed to claim that because of the plaintiff’s lack of resources and power, or some other factor, the common law courts could not deliver them justice. An equitable solution was therefore asked of the Lord Chancellor.

The defendant was required to make a similar written answer to all the points raised. The plaintiff could submit their own response to this answer, known as a replication, which might in turn produce a further response from the defendant, known as a rejoinder. This would continue until the allegations of the bill had been whittled or ‘pleaded’ down to a set of agreed points at issue. These were then used for the next stage, the gathering of evidence.

4.2 What do pleadings tell us?

Pleadings, or bills of complaint, provide the following information about the plaintiff:

• name
• occupation
• rank or status
• place of abode

The lawyer’s name usually appears written by itself in a top corner.

Records of pleadings are usually in English, although the earliest ones may be in French or Latin.

Records in C 1 up until the mid 15th century consist only of the original bill of complaint, with no answer from the defendant. From the mid 15th century onwards they include defendants’ answers.

5. Understanding and interpreting the records: depositions

5.1 What are depositions?

When the pleadings were finished, and the issues in dispute defined, the court commissioned neutral men of substance to gather evidence from an agreed list of people, known as deponents, and report back in writing. Both sides drew up separate lists of numbered questions, called interrogatories, to be put to the deponents under oath. The answers are called depositions.

Depositions do not survive before the mid 15th century.

5.2 What do depositions tell us?

Depositions provide:

• information about the case
• information about the parties involved in the dispute not included in the pleadings
• name, place of abode, age and occupation of each deponent, at the head of his or her deposition

6. Decrees, orders and awards

The final judgment in a case, known as a decree, along with any interim judgements or orders were usually recorded, often in Latin, in Entry books.

Before 1544 there is less likely to be a record but for those decrees, orders and arbitration awards that do exist you will need to look at the back of the bill of complaint (see section 3) for that case.

After 1544, browse our catalogue entries for Entry Books of Decrees and Orders in C 33. The Entry Books list suits by plaintiff v defendant, from A to Z, and are in two sets known as ‘A’ and ‘B’. You may need to look in both to find a case but you should consult the indexes, which are available at The National Archives in Kew:

• 1544-1546 – no indexes
• 1547-1558 – indexes in IND 1/1388-1400

The Chancery Master’s report back to the court often formed the basis for the court’s final decrees. The Masters also sometimes acted as arbitrators. There are a few reports from 1544-1558 in C 38; these are not indexed.

7. Further reading

Visit the National Archives’ bookshop for a range of publications relating to courts and the legal profession.

All of the following publications and transcripts are available in The National Archives Library at Kew.

Transcripts

Many local record societies have published transcripts for their own county. For a list of local record society publications, see Edward L C Mullins, Texts and Calendars: An Analytical Guide to Serial Publications (1978). There is a second volume of the same publication (1983).

C1/1 and C1/2 are printed in full in the Calendars of the Proceedings in Chancery in the reign of Queen Elizabeth to which are prefixed examples of earlier proceedings in that court, namely from the reign of Richard II to that of Queen Elizabeth (Record Commission, 1827, 1830), volumes 1 and 2.

W P Baildon (ed), Select Cases in Chancery, AD 1364-1471 (Selden Society, 1896)

E A Lewis, An Inventory of the Early Chancery Proceedings Concerning Wales (1937)

Other books

J A Guy, The Court of Star Chamber and its records to the reign of Elizabeth I (HMSO, 1985) – see Appendix C for a list of Chancery documents that were misplaced in this series.

W J Jones, The Elizabethan Court of Chancery (1967)

C A Walmisley (ed), An Index of Persons Named in Early Chancery Proceedings, 1385-1467 (Harleian Society, vols. LXXVIII-LXXIX, 1927-1928). This may be useful for providing variant spellings for online searching.

3. What can you view online?

The following records are available to view online:

• Divorce case files for England and Wales, 1858-1916 at Ancestry.co.uk (£). The original records are held under reference J 77/1/A1 to J 77/1063/2238
• Articles covering newsworthy divorce cases 1785-1985 – for these search The Times Archive (£)
• Browse the list of Divorces by private Acts of Parliament before 1858 on the Legislation.gov.uk website

4. Divorce case files, 1858-1972

Each divorce suit created a case file. The National Archives holds case files for all divorces from the Supreme Court 1858-1937 – very few case files survive after 1937.

4.1 What proportion of case files survive?

The survival rate of divorce case files is:

• 1858-1927: almost 100%
• 1928-1937: 80%
• After 1937: less than 0.2%

No case files survive from the district registries set up in 1927.

4.2 What information can I find in the case files after 1858?

Document reference: J 77/425/2983. Petition of George Brooks.

Case files may contain:

• the original petition and response
• relevant marriage certificates
• birth certificates of children
• a record of the court process
• copies of decrees (from about 1870- c1937)
• evidence (infrequently)

Most files were stripped of the less formal papers, but some full files were kept as examples of how the court operated. These are described as ‘full files’ in our catalogue.

Case files are now destroyed 20 years after the divorce. Within this 20-year period, you can apply to the relevant court for permission to see the file. You can search surviving case files from 1858 onwards by name in J 77. The original indexes are in J 78.

The only record of those cases where the case file has not survived would be the decree held by the court. Contact the Central Family Court for more information.

4.3 How do I search for case files, 1858-1916?

Search and download divorce case files for England and Wales (J 77/1/A1 – J 77/1063/2238) at Ancestry.co.uk (£).

4.4 How do I search for case files, 1917-1972?

Search Discovery, our catalogue, by name of petitioner, respondent or corespondent for divorce suits in England and Wales, both successful and unsuccessful, in J 77.

Very few files survive for the period 1938-1972. Files containing petitions dated after 1972 have not been transferred to the National Archives.

Narrow your search by using double quotation marks to find a person’s full name, such as “John Williams”.

5. Investigations into collusive divorces, 1875-1977

In cases of suspected collusion or deceit, decrees could be overturned.

Registers of divorce cases investigated by the King’s or Queen’s Proctor, from 1875, are in TS 29. They are closed for up to 75 years. You may find examples of collusive divorces in the case files. See section 3 on how to search for case files.

6. Divorce records before 1858

Before 1858, the only way of ending a marriage and allowing re-marriage during the lifetime of a spouse was to get a private Act of Parliament. This was too expensive for most people, who instead found other ways to separate – through custom, the church courts and the common law courts.

See the table below for details of which records are held by The National Archives and which are at local archives.

7. Deed of separation

A deed of separation would be drawn up between the husband and a trustee of the wife (not the wife herself) and provision made for the wife and children.

If you know the names of both parties, you might find a deed of separation in the Close Rolls in C 54.

You may find records of the deed and correspondence among family or estate records. Search our catalogue to see where different collections are held.

Deeds of separation were used even after the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, as couples were still unable to end a marriage:

• because of incompatibility
• if adultery could not be proven
• if religious scruples prevented them from divorcing

8. Separations granted via church courts

8.1 Divorce a mensa et thoro

A divorce a mensa et thoro was a legal separation, granted on the grounds of adultery and/or life-threatening cruelty.

You may find a record of these in the Close Rolls in C 54 or decree rolls of Chancery in C 78. In C 78 you may also find:

• disputes over property rights and settlements made at the time of separation
• church orders directing payment of money as maintenance (these could be enrolled up to six months after being made)

You can find some separation settlements in PC 2 indicating that the Privy Council had an interest in ensuring they were adhered to.

8.2 Appeals

First appeals could be heard at the Archbishop’s Court at Canterbury or York. Further appeals were to the High Court of Delegates up to 1834, and the judicial committee of the Privy Council between 1834 and 1858.

On appeal, the case would be suspended in the lower court, and transcripts of all the records transferred upwards. The table below shows where you can find records for each court.

DEL 2 is the main series of cause papers, which include allegations and petitions. The papers are arranged by case and term, and consist of bundles of papers relating to each particular case. Details can include:

• the authorisation of the judges
• a formal statement of the terms of the appeal (usually based on faults in the previous legal proceedings, rather than on the intrinsic justice of the case)
• a note of any appearance by the parties and their statement
• the warrants or motions for hearing
• a copy of the citation

The early papers are often in Latin. Most of the material is in a standard legal form, but there are sometimes personal details about the parties.

The accounts of proceedings can sometimes be very long. The case books in DEL 7 (1796-1834) and PCAP 3 (1834 onwards) contain bound volumes of printed proceedings and sometimes manuscript records of the judgement given.

8.3 Declaration of nullity

The church (consistory) courts of the bishops could grant a declaration of nullity, meaning the marriage was considered invalid from the start. The children became illegitimate and the wife lost her right to inherit from her husband.

You can find consistory courts records in local archives.

8.4 Annulment

An annulment was a form of legal separation which protected the wife’s rights and kept the children legitimate, but neither party could remarry unless the other died. The husband or wife could subsequently apply to the church court for a declaration of nullity.

8.5 Criminal conversation

The husband of an adulterous wife could take out a civil suit of criminal conversation in the Court of King’s Bench or Common Pleas to claim damages from his wife’s lover.

In 1809 the House of Lords ordered that the transcript of a preliminary trial for criminal conversation should accompany every divorce bill brought before it.

You may find reports of sensational trials in newspapers from the late 18th century. The Times (£) covered many in some detail.

9. Full divorce by Act of Parliament

In order to remarry within the lifetime of a spouse, a full divorce by Act of Parliament was required, with proof of adultery or life-threatening cruelty. Instances of Parliamentary divorce can be traced back to the 1540s, but they became more frequent from the 18th century. Around 320 private divorce Acts were passed between 1700 and 1857. Of these, only four were granted to women, who additionally had to prove incestuous adultery or bigamy.

Divorce Acts are private acts catalogued under the reference YHL/PO/PB/1. They were not usually printed so the only text is likely to be the original manuscript on parchment. For more information see our research guide on Original Acts of Parliament. To find a divorce act, search the catalogue for the names of the parties and the word ‘marriage’. (The word ‘divorce’ may not appear because the long title of the Act was usually phrased in the form of ‘An Act to dissolve the Marriage of…’). As well as the Act, you may find related material such as bills and petitions in the House of Lords Main Papers (YHL/PO/JO/10).

Proceedings on Divorce Acts, including evidence from both parties, are usually recorded in detail in the House of Lords Journal. The printed Journals are catalogued under the reference YHL/PO/JO/2. Search or browse the catalogue to find the Journal for the year of the divorce.

A few additional examples of Divorce Acts exist in The National Archives in C 89 and C 204.

C 89/15/20-21 contains the first true parliamentary divorce in 1670, between John Manners, Lord Roos, and Lady Anne Pierpont. This created a precedent for parliamentary divorces on the grounds of the wife’s adultery.

10. Further reading

Websites

Search The Times Archive (£) to view articles about newsworthy divorce cases from 1785-1985.

Browse a list of private Acts of Parliament to check for divorces before 1858.

Books

Visit the National Archives’ bookshop for a range of publications relating to marriage and divorce. The following publications are available in The National Archives’ library.

Amanda Bevan, Tracing your ancestors in The National Archives (7th ed, Kew, 2006)

Lawrence Stone, Road to divorce: England 1530-1987 (Oxford, 1990), 383-416

2. Where have these records come from?

As with all documents held at The National Archives, these records are historical records from UK central government departments. In this case, the departments behind these records were:

• The Office of the Paymaster General – covering pensions granted before 1920, mostly to officers
• The Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance – established in 1916 and covering pensions granted after 1920, the Ministry of Pensions administered war pension and allowance schemes in the UK and overseas for all the services and ranks

3. Where and how to get started

These records cannot be viewed online and to see them or even to simply search for them you may need to visit The National Archives at Kew. However, in most cases you can at least make a start online by searching for document references in our catalogue. If you find references you can pay for copies of the records to be sent to you but you will not be able to view the records beforehand unless you visit us.

To find references, click on the record series links in this guide and follow the search instructions provided. In some instances the only way to search is to browse through the records one by one.

Further information on browsing is available on our search help page.

4. Records covering all branches of the military

4.1 Two percent sample of pension case files, 1920-1989

Pension case files contain papers submitted to support an application for, and the administration of, a pension. Just a 2% sample of pension case files for pensions awarded (or refused) to First World War service personnel has been kept. Case files can be rich in detail, some covering many decades, sometimes because claims were raised thirty or forty years after the end of the war. They can include medical but also social information and they include disability pensions and pensions to widows/dependents. Some files include documents from before 1920.

The sample is held in record series PIN 26 and amounts to over 22,000 files on people from all the military services.

Search in PIN 26 by name or, if that fails, by the name of the disability (not all the record descriptions in PIN 26 include the name of the person). In some instances, the medical terminology used is unfamiliar and you might need to check more than one category. Some abbreviations have been used to describe different types of disabilities so use these, if applicable, when searching:

• CSOM – Chronic Supperative Otitis Media
• DAH – Disease of action of the heart
• GP – Gun-powder injury
• GSW – Gun-shot wound
• ICT – Inflammation of Connective Tissue
• POW – Prisoner of War
• PNO PUO PVO – Pyrexia of unknown origin
• TB – Tuberculosis
• VDH – Valvular disease of heart

PIN 26 has been divided into subseries according to categories such as ‘widows’ and ‘Navy’ and you can target any one of these by viewing the PIN 26 by hierarchy, clicking on the subseries title and then browsing through the records one by one.

Some records mention a ‘selection code’. A key to these is in the printed, paper version of the catalogue available in the reading rooms at Kew – find the PIN 26 binder.

4.2 Two percent sample of widows’ and dependents’ pension case files

Only a 2% sample of pensions awarded to widows or dependents of First World War servicemen, from all branches of the military, have been kept. These are in PIN 82 and the dates of the records themselves cover 1910-1932.

Use the search box contained within PIN 82 to search by name.

Each file contains forms arranged in alphabetical order of servicemen’s name, with his regiment or ship, and cause of death. Read the series description for PIN 82 for full details of what they can contain.

4.3 Pensions awarded to the relatives of deceased officers

These records, of pensions awarded to the relatives (including widows) of deceased officers from all branches of the military are not searchable by name in the catalogue but most contain the original indexes used to locate entries within them. Select the file between PMG 44/1 and PMG 44/7 which matches your search criteria and use its original index, once you have the file in front of you, to find individual entries.

The records generally contain:

• name and address of claimant/recipient
• officer’s name and rank
• date of payment
• officer’s date of birth in some cases

4.4 Temporary disability pensions paid to officers and nurses

Records of temporary pensions paid to officers and nurses in the British Army, Royal Navy and RAF are in series PMG 42.

These records are catalogued by surname ranges according to the first letter of the surname. Browse through PMG 42 to pick out the range that applies to your search. The records contain the following details:

• rank
• officer’s name and address
• date of warrant
• amount paid

5. Records covering only British Army personnel

5.1 Pensions to dependents of deceased officers, 1916-1920

Records of pensions awarded to the widows, children and other dependents of officers killed or missing in action are held in various PMG series and generally contain:

• name and address of claimant/recipient
• officer’s name and rank
• date of payment
• officer’s date of birth in some cases

You cannot search these series online by name. Instead you need to select a file from our online catalogue based either on the year or the range of surnames that it covers, then view it in our reading rooms at Kew, using the original name index within each file to find an entry for an individual. Click on the links below to pick out a file based on year or surname range:

• Pensions granted to the relatives of missing British Army officers in PMG 47/1-3 (each entry describes the claimant’s relationship to the missing officer).
• Pension allowances granted to the children of British Army officers killed in the war in PMG 46/1-4 (the records contain details of the officer’s regiment and who collected the money).
• Pensions paid to the widows of British Army officers in PMG 45/1-6.
• Special grants and supplementary allowances paid to widows and dependants of British Army officers in PMG 43/2.

5.2 Pensions to disabled or invalid officers and men before 1921

For disability pensions before 1921 browse the following series. They are rich in detail but you cannot search them by name.

Browse by date:

• British Army half pay records in PMG 4. For later years records are subdivided by surname initial
• British Army registers of pension payments in PMG 9. For the war period, records are subdivided by an entry/reference number. There is no index so you cannot identify who the numbers relate to

6. Further reading

William Spencer, Family History in the Wars (Kew, 2007)