Manorial documents are a rich and under-used source for both local and family historians and are key to understanding life in early-modern England. Contrary to popular belief most manorial documents are post-medieval and written in English, although the medieval Latin documents often get more attention.
Stewards, acting for manorial lords, produced a wide range of documents. Rentals list the tenants of the manor and their rents, Surveys describe the lands they held and the commons, woods and wastes, while Perambulations record the boundaries of the manor. The manor courts inform us about property transactions, debt cases, assaults and trespasses, raising the ‘hue and cry’ and the appointment of officers including haywards, reeves and constables.
The courts had three functions:
- Recording who held land within the manor, how much rent they paid and the terms of their tenancy: freehold, leasehold or copyhold – holding by copy of court roll. From the fourteenth century unfree land (villein land) was gradually converted to copyhold so the tenant had a parchment agreement which mimicked the charters and indentures of freeholders and leaseholders. Copyhold was still regulated by the customs of the manor regarding inheritance and rights to commons and woods as the unfree land had been.
- Resolving minor disputes between tenants and the lord. This included trespasses on other tenants land, resolving disputes over debts or the failure to mend fences, buildings and roads.
- Administering the lowest tier of royal justice. Some manor courts, as well as regulating the manor, held a franchise called a Court Leet. At the Court Leet constables and tithingmen were appointed and legislation regarding weights and measures was enforced.
Rentals, Surveys, Perambulations and Stewards’ papers are often in English from the middle of the sixteenth century and usually in English from the seventeenth century. Court rolls, the official legal record of the courts, are in Latin until 1733, except during the Commonwealth, 1650-1659, when all legal documents were written in English by act of Parliament.
Manorial documents were kept by the lord of the manor in their private family collections. So only about half of Dorset documents are at the Dorset History Centre, another quarter are in the National Archives and the remainder are divided between other county archives and private collections. Finding manorial documents is now easy using the Manorial Documents Register. But, more detailed descriptions of those at the Dorset History Centre are usually available on our own catalogue.
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A Guide to Dorset Manorial Documents was published by the Dorset Record Society.