The Later Medieval Inquisitions Post Mortem

Essays exploring the potential of the Inquisitions post mortem to shed important new light on the medieval world.

Essays offering a guide to a vital source for our knowledge of medieval England. The Inquisitions Post Mortem (IPMs) at the National Archives have been described as the single most important source for the study of landed society in later medieval England. Inquisitions were local enquiries into the lands heldby people of some status, in order to discover whatever income and rights were due to the crown on their death, and provide details both of the lands themselves and whoever held them. This book explores in detail for the first time the potential of IPMs as sources for economic, social and political history over the long fifteenth century, the period covered by this Companion. It looks at how they were made, how they were used, and their "accuracy", and develops our understanding of a source that is too often taken for granted; it answers questions such as what they sought to do, how they were compiled, and how reliable they are, while also exploring how they can best be usedfor economic, demographic, place-name, estate and other kinds of study. Michael Hicks is Professor of Medieval History, University of Winchester. Contributors: Michael Hicks, Christine Carpenter, Kate Parkin, Christopher Dyer, Matthew Holford, Margaret Yates, L.R. Poos, J. Oeppen, R.M. Smith, Sean Cunningham, Claire Noble, Matthew Holford, Oliver Padel.

A rich resource for our knowledge of medieval England. Inquisitions post mortem are the single most important source for the history of medieval English landed society, and are indispensable to social, economic, and political historians of the later middle ages; they were compiled with the help of jurors from the area, as a county-by-county record of a deceased individual's land-holdings and associated rights, where the individual held land directly of the crown. It is this explicit connection with land and locality - in economic, social, political, and topographical terms - that makes these documents of such comprehensive interest. This volume incorporates not only inquisitions post mortem but also assignments of dower and proofs of age from across the counties of England and the Marches of Wales. Covering the period between 1437 and 1442, it is especially rich in inquisitions relating to the lands of the earls of Warwick, and the Arundels and Fitzalans. Rich rewards also await the more casual inquirer. Quite apart from buried treasure [gold and silver were unearthed at St Paul's Cray, Kent], standard information includes medieval descriptions of towns and villages and the charting of land and its descent at all social levels. The volume also provides comprehensive indexes of persons, places, and subjects. ACADEMIC DIRECTOR AND GENERAL EDITOR: Christine Carpenter

This volume initiates the completion of the calendars of medieval inquisitions post mortem for the years 1422-85. Academic Director and General Editor: Christine Carpenter This volume follows its predecessor numerically, but it initiates a new series to complete the calendars of medieval Inquisitions Post Mortem. The growth of interest in the late-medieval nobility and gentry and their estates, and the significance of IPMs for such research, makes it especially important that the gap for the years 1422-85 should be filled. The volume includes a wide-ranginggeneral introduction to the series by Dr Christine Carpenter, which considers the history and production of IPMs and their use as sources. Innovations include the addition of all jurors names, which it is hoped will encourage further interest in the prosperous villagers who characteristically sat on these juries, and details reflective of administrative processes. The volume covers the first five years of Henry VI's reign, a period of minority and of continuing war in France. Notable tenants include Edmund earl of March, Ralph earl of Westmorland and the de la Pole heiresses.

A valuable resource on the social and economic life of medieval England

This concise and unique volume explores the vital relationship between testimony, memory, and the community in medieval society. Joel T. Rosenthal assembles various categories of testimonies to illuminate how “ordinary” Late Medieval people saw themselves as units of their community, their awareness of the issues surrounding the theater of birth, their interest in the world of and beyond the village, and what aspects of the ubiquitous mother Church were worth recalling. Supported by primary sources and by modern scholarly focus on such issues as social memory, village life, rumor and gossip, and demography, this book provides both a wealth of source material and insightful discussion on how historians can chart the role of memory and community in its shaping of medieval identity and society.

The fruits of new research on the politics, society and culture of England in the fourteenth century.

Examines the complex interactions between English and Irish neighbours in the 'four obedient shires' and how this shaped English identity.