BOOKS.

SIMS'S MANUAL FOR THE HISTORICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN INQUIRER.'

IF DO great English historian has been nipped in the bud by want of the dry preliminary knowledge to enable him to begin his task, there is little doubt that many historical inquirers, or students in the various branches of English areha3ology have been deterred from following up veins that would amply re- pay the working, by not knowing how to set about their work. Rich as are the printed books and still richer the manuscript collections of this courary, it was once a business of itself not only to know what they were but where they were ; and when this knowledge was mastered, there remained the task of getting them, and in many cases of reacling them. In fact, the historian or historical inquirer must first become an antiquarian ; an exploit more difficult some years ago than to take a degree in law, physic, or divinity. The different Record Commissions did. something towards facilitating the study of our public muniments by printing several of the most remarkable. They also called the attention of a very limited public to the question, and excited an interest however narrow in the Records. They accomplished com- paratively little in the way of publication, or of a large stimulus to the public mind, and nothing at all in proportion to the outlay. The condition of the Records they left as they found: the same may be said of facility of access. The ill-recompensed Sir Harris Nicolas was the man who first moved the question of Record Re- form, and pursued it through good and evil report—through the active opposition of self-interest, the dogged resistance of routine, and the via inertim of prejudices, till at least sowe of the public muniments were placed in safety, reduced to a sort of order, and rendered accessible to the inquirer at moderate fixed fees, instead of an extortionate and arbitrary charge. His reward. was that which proverbially attends upon virtue. He only lived to see the results for which he had sacrificed time, ease, and pecuniary means, partially attained, and the prizes carried off by men who had done little to forward the reform, if indeed they had not held fast by abuses as long as abuses were fashionable and profitable. Record Reform, however, merely rendered the records more ac- cessible to those who had an acquaintance with the subject. It did not facilitate that outline knowledge of their nature and uses which if not absolutely necessary to the beginner of a study is a great advantage. The Report of the first Record Committee, some fifty years ago, and several publications of the Record Commissions, would be a species of aid; but these works were cumbrous, and to many not much more readily accessible than the records themselves. Since the commencement of the reform by the act of 1838, several books have been published that are more or less useful to the student or the antiquarian desirous of pursuing his inquiries among the national records ; but we have seen none so useful as this "Manual" of Mr. Sims. The.extent of his coup d'ceil, indeed, goes beyond what can be termed re- cords even in the largest sense. In addition to those documents which the law allows to be records and producible in evidence, or which reason considers records without reference to their "cus- tody," Mr. Sims refers to a variety of illustrative documents, manuscripts, and published works, Which are hardly to be deemed records as usually understood. Such are registers, whether pa- rochial or non-parochial ; heraldic collections in private or public libraries, as well as at the College of Arms ; the registers of the Universities and Public Schools, so valuable for the biographies of scholars and others trained in them, as well as for genealogical purposes ; the various lists of professional men—as physicians, -barristers, solicitors, and even the muster-rolls of soldiers and sailors ; while the published books contained in this volume are so numerous as to baffle all attempts at enumeration. Much of these things, it may be said, has no reference to history-, or to bio- graphy that anybody cares about, or to manners and customs. The "Manual," however, is not solely intended for historical stu- dents or literary men, but for the limited though practical uses of the lawyer, the genealogist, and. the like.

Wilham the Conqueror's business habits and love of order, coupled perhaps with the necessities of his position, gave rise to the most remarkable record in any age or country, the Domesday Book. The same habits and love of order in the people led them to reduce every transaction of importance to "black and white," and perhaps contributed to that strict formality in law and public business, which, whatever else it may have done, has rendered our muniments so numerous, minute, and valuable. The public records, in the sense of official or legal documents remaining in

• 4 Manual for the Genealogist, Topographer, Antiquary, and Legal Professor; consisting of Deseriptions of Public :Records, Parochial and other Registers, Wilts, County and Family Histories, Heraldic Collections in Public Libraries, Sc. By Richard Sims, of the British Museum; Compiler of the Handbook to the British Museum," 4-e. Published by Russell Smith.

the keeping of the office or officer to whom they have been as- signed by law or usage are exhibited by Mr. Sims in the follow- ing summary. In strianess, however, we have records extending far beyend: the Conquest—as charters ; and if we enlarge the meaning of the word , to authoritative works, we have documents of equal value—as laws, chronicles, lives, &e.

"The most ancient record which we have in this kingdom is the Domes- day Survey, the compilation of which was completed in the year 1086. The date of the next public record is 1130, being the Great Roll of the Exche- quer for the thirty-first year of Henry I. ; and, with the exception of a short period immediately subsequent to this date, the records called Pipe Rolls have been continued in regular succession to the present day. "Our next records are of the reign of Henry II.; and of this period we have a celebrated record of knights' fees, called the Black Book of the Ex- chequer; and another record, being rolls of the widows and children of the King's tenants, showing their ages, lands, and possessions. By means of these documents, and these alone, we can trace the connexion from one great man to another, from the Conquest till the year 1189. "In the reign of Richard I. we find the commencement of the proceedings of our Courts of Justice; and we are in possession of Platita of the Curia Regis,' and of Assize, and of fines levied in his reign, as also the records called the Scotch Rolls; but from the next King's reign (that of John) we may consider we have an unbroken series of records of the principal events and persons in the kingdom. We have rolls of charters ; rolls of offerings or gifts, called oblate rolls; rolls of letterspatent ; rolls of liberate; also close rolls, on the backs of which are the writs of summons to Parliament ; fine rolls ; Norman and other rolls.

"It is possible that the next reigns of Henry III, and of his son Edward I. will include the commencement of all the important remaining records of the kingdom ; for from the first year of this King's reign we have a series of Inquisitions Post Mortem ; and from the reign of the last of these Kings we have an uninterrupted series of records of our present Courts of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, Parliament, and others, to the present time."

The State as distinguished from the Parliamentary and Legal Records seem mostly to have originated in pecuniary or fiscal ob- jects. The Domesday Survey was made to ascertain the tenure, value, and service of the lands ; and most of the other recordings had some similar purpose in view. Indeed, statute law and much of private litigation related in some way or other to property : in the Year Books, "heirship" is as frequent a cause of dispute as any one subject that can be named. After Domesday, one of the first records concerns knights' fees. The account of the most ancient of these muniments is not only informing, but conveys a good idea of Mr. Sims's manner in handling the larger topics.

When the lands of the conquered English were divided amongst the vas- sals of the Norman Invader, he imposed upon them the obligation of supply- ing the Crown with a certain number of knights, specified in the infeoff- ment. These knights had allotments of land from the King's immediate tenants, and held of their several lords by homage, fealty, and so forth. Their lands were called fees, and composed the barony of the King's vassals.

"The number of Knights' Fees throughout the kingdom was 60,215 ; and of these the clergy had 28,015. In erecting and laying forth the knights' fees, the Normans ordinarily assigned two carucates (about 100 acres) of land to each knight's fee, the value of which in Selden's time was five pounds, but in the reign of William III. it was inised by statute to fifty pounds per annum.

"As in time it became often doubtful whether lands were held by knight's service, or by some other tenure, or (if held by knight's service) whether immediately of the King, or of some other lord, or by how many knights' fees, and the like, it became necessary to take account from time to time, as well by inquisition as otherwise, concerning them. "Inquisitions were accordingly held,and the Barons returned to the King accounts of what they held. These accounts are of great value to the genealo- gist: they commence earlier than the generality of our national records, and relate to all the great men of the times in which they were compiled, show- ing their estates, and often how they became possessed of them, such as by what ancestor, or from what king ; and from a series of these documents may be traced the succession of the families who have owned the estates burdened with the knights' service. Their authenticity is not their least value. * * "The Black Book or Liber Niger of the Exchequer is the most ancient of these records. It contains a list of knights' fees of the time of Henry II.; being copies of the returns of many of the immediate tenants of the Crown to the Icing's writs, certified to the King in consequence of a survey ordered by the Monarch preparatory to his levying an aid for the marriage of his eldest daughter, such being one of the only three ClIst% in which the King might require aid of his subjects without the public consent of the kingdom. These aids could only be levied of knights fees, and of such as held their lands by that tenure ; and the uttermost that could be required was forty shillings upon each knight's fee. The returns show that a very large proportion of the landed property in the country was in the hands of the sub-tenants of the immediate tenants of the Crown ; who must have formed an important part of the population of the kingdom. The tenants-in-chief appear to have been required to certify how many knights' fees they respectively had of old feoffment of the time of Henry I.; how many of new reoffment after the time of that King ; and how ninny upon their respective demesne lands. Almost all the prelates had great numbers of knights' fees holden of their respective churches, generally to the amount, at least, of the knights' fees, for which they owed service to the Crown,- and many of the lay proprietors, immediate tenants of the Crown,_ had also knights' fees holden of them respectively to the number, or nearly to the number, for which they respectively owed service to the Crown, and some a greater number. The number of sub-tenants holding by knight's service of the tenants-in-chief of the Crown was probably nuarly equal to the number of knights' fees in the kingdom. When a tenancy-in-chief was forfeited or escheated to the Crown, the immediate sub-tenant became tenant-in-chief of the Crown, as of the forfeite4 honour ; and their interests were specially.- provided for by the Charter of John, that they should hold of the Crown as they held of their former lord. If the Crown afterwards granted the es- cheat, the grant sometimes extended only to the demesnes, and the supe- riority of the fees was reserved to the Crown' ancrat length it was provided by law, that upon the grant of an escheat by the Crown, the fees should not pass without special words for that purpose.

"The sub-tenants of the tenants-in-chief must have generally been the principal knights resident in every county, and the principal men sum- moned on inquests. In the reign of Edward I. sub-infeudations were pro- hibited, and all alienations were required to be made to hold not of the alienor, but of the chief lord of the fee; and every alienation of every part, however small, of lands holden in chief of the Crown, must have created a new tenancy-in-chief of the Crown, and thus greatly increased the number of tenants-in-chief, besides the subdivisions produced by various other means.

"The Liber Niger parvus Scaccarii ' was edited by Hearne and printed at Oxford in 1728, in two volumes 8vo. a second edition, also in two vo- lumes, and printed at London, appeared in 1771.

"In many of the returns appear family names, and particulars of the parents, children, wives, and occupiers of the land, as well as of the tenants in eapite.

"A manuscript copy of this record is in the British Museum (Hart. MS. 95) • another is at Cambridge, with Archbishop Parker's manuscripts; and a third in the Ashmolean Library at Oxford."

More valuable as pictures of the general state of society are the Oblata Rolls or King's Gift-books.

"Oblate Rolls.—These rolls contain accounts of the offerings and free gifts to the King from every great man of the period who wished his protec- tion or favour. Amongst them will be seen gifts for having a barony, for having places, some great man's youngest daughter in marriage, his eldest daughter, any one of his daughters, for having a manor to farm a city to farm' for leave to stay at home instead of going abroad with the farm, not to be asked to marry, that the sheriff and a jury may inquire of a heirship, and which heirship is therein set out ; for leave to make up a quarrel, for a writ of summons against an adversary, for justice against an adversary, that an adversary may not compel the donor to plead to his action, gifts for heir- ships,. for wardships, for reliefs, for scutage for licence to transfer estates, for a jury's inquisition to inquire of particular facts, to marry a widow, to have a trial, that debts due to a Jew may not be paid, for having acquit- tance of accounts with the King, for grants of property, for confirmation of former grants, for having seisin of lands, for having judgment in the King's Court, and for having the custody of the King's vineyard. It would per- haps be now difficult to ascertain the justice with which most of these es were received.

"In the second year of King John, the widow of Ralph Cornhill gave the King 200 marks, three palfreys &c. not to marry Godfrey de Louvaine ; and he at the same time sent the Kirig 400 marks that she might be com- pelled to have him.

"Many of the entries relate entirely to matters of pedigree ; most of them may be made useful to the genealogist ; all of them are full of interest to the historian and the antiquary. "These records are only for the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 9th John, the 3d and 9th Edward II., and from the 1st to the 29th Edward III. inclusive. The num- ber of rolls is thirty-one.

"They are preserved among the records at the Tower.

"Selections from the Oblate Rolls will be found in the British Museum, (Hart. MSS. 86, f. 77; 3875, f. 325) ; in the Ashmolean Library (Bugdale MS. 3, B. 1, p. 311) ; and at Caius College, Cambridge (MS. 584.) "The rolls from the reign of King John have been printed by the Record Commissioners, under the following title—' Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus in Turn Londinensi asservati tempore Regis 7ohannis.' 1 vol. 8vo. 1835.

"The present price of the volume is 18s."

It will be seen that the Manual is not a mere bibliographical account of muniments, the place of their deposit, whether they have been printed, and when, or by whom, together with their price, or a list of published books by particular authors bearing upon the subjects of inquiry ; it is a sort of history of our public muniments, &c., not unfrequently containing glimpses of our social history, so far as it can be exhibited by the matter itself. Other topics also incidentally turn up. Here is the rule of law touching records ; from which it seems that neither their authenticity nor their bearing on the case is at all in question. What an idea of English law, that Magna Charta is not producible in an English court !

"Although many of the Public Libraries of this country contain un- doubted national records, charters, and registers—even Magna Charta itself, —they are not allowed as evidence in our courts of justice ; having been separated from their proper custody, they are rejected and disowned, how- ever valuable. The duplicate Pipe Rolls, deposited in the British Museum, are perhaps the only records which have not lost their right of being re- ceived as evidence by their removal.

"However valuable, then, and however genuine a document may be, it will not now be received as evidence, unless it be in the possession of some person connected with the estate or property to which it refers or who can satisfactorily account for its possession. Upon a trial at the Stafford Assizes in 1810, the Marquis of Stafford offered in evidence an old grant to the Priory of Stone brought from the Cottonian Manuscripts in the British Museum ; and Mr. Justice Lawrence rejected it on the authority of a ease in the Exchequer, where a grant to the Abbey of Glastonbury, contained in a curious manuscript book entitled the Secretum Abbatis,' preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, was rejected as not coming from a proper cus- tody. " An old grant of common, made by John de Trussell, in 1342, to the Priory of Stone, given by a friend of the plffintiff, not connected with the estate, to the plaintiff, as a curiosity, was rejected for the like reason ; the possession of it not being sufficiently accounted for, nor connected with any one who had an interest in the property it con- tained. (Swinnerton v. Marquis of Stafford.) In the case of Potts v. Du- rant, ancient instruments offered in evidence were likewise rejected, as coming out of private hands unconnected with the matter in dispute; and one of the first questions in our Courts, at the present day, to a witness pro- ducing an old grant or document, is, Where did you obtain it ? ' " Other abuses turn up in. the course of the expositions. We all know the evils that arise from the number of Bishops' Courts granting probate, with the expense' the litigation and sometimes the defeat of justice they produce. Most of us have heard of the still smaller courts called Peculiars, but few know their actual numbers.

"Within many of the dioceses there are various peculiar and exempt jurisdictions. There are several sorts of peculiars, T1Z. Royal peculiars, which are under the immediate jurisdiction of the Crown; peculiars under the jurisdiction of Deans and Chapters Archdeacons, Prebendaries, and other dignitaries; and there are also peculiars which formerly belonged to monasteries, but are now in lay hands. In some seignories or lordships the probation and approbation of the testaments of the tenants there dwelling does by prescription appertain to the principal lord; and in some manors wills are by prescription to be proved before the steward, though no lands thereby pass. By custom also, the probates of wills of burgesses belong to the mayors of some boroughs ; yet as to personal property the will must be proved before the ordinary. "The number of courts throughout the country to which the public may resort for the purpose of proving wills and obtaining administrations is no less than 372.

"The existence of these courts of peculiars is much to be regretted : their number and insignificance are so great that parties whose wills are pre- served in some of them are often presumed to have died intestate ; the ge- nealogist, therefore, cannot too well bear them in mind. A list of the various courts of peculiars in the province of Canterbury was published by order of the Record Commissioners in the Valor Ecelesiasticus,' or survey of ecclesiastical property, temp. Henry VIII. A list of courts and peculiars throughout all England will also be found in Gwytme's Law relating to the Duties on Probates,' &e. _Loud. 1836. 8vo.p. 201.

"The Sessional Paper of the Rouse of Commons, 1846, No. 249, ex- hibits the extraordinary number of jurisdictions where wills are to be found, showing that they are deposited in parish-churches, private houses of regis- trars, with lords of manors, &e. Sessional Paper, 1830, No. 205, is a very extensive and valuable return."

The information contained in " records " proper may seem only to apply to persons or families of some historical distinction, or who have in some way been connected with public events or legal pro- ceedings. In the extended sense given to the term by Mr. Suns, some information could have been found in our national muni- ments about every one who had been christened, had the paro- chial registers been properly kept, and the statute of 1603, which directed duplicates to be sent to the Bishop and by him preserved, been more generally complied with. Negligence, accident, and pri- vate cupidity, have often mutilated or destroyed these registers. A difficulty exists in particular researches for family purposes, from not always knowing the locality in which to make the search, and doubts of identity if the names are numerous and no viva voce as- sistance is at hand. Men in the learned professions and the pro- fession of arms can more or less be traced in their birth and pub- lic career. Of the clergy, very extensive information is generally obtainable.

"The birth, education, life, and death of a clergyman, may be traced with great facility. The registers of Public Schools and Universities supply the earliest information, and the ecclesiastical records supply the residue.

"At the Universities the most important records are, the Admission Books, the Matriculation Books, and the Graduate Books. "There are other less important books, called the Buttery or Battle Books ; but these contain the dates of their entrance at College only. "The Admission-Books are preserved at their respective Colleges, and contain entries of the several students attached to them. In them will be found the Christian and surname of the student, his birthplace, the school where and the master under whom he was educated; the date of his admis- sion into College, his age, and his rank in the University. In addition, the Christian and surname of his father, his station in life, and occasionally his residence, with sometimes, as in Magdalen College, Cambridge, his mother's maiden name. • "The Bishops' registers will be found to contain the names of the in- cumbents of the several benefices throughout England from the earliest times, the date of their inductions, the names of the patrons or patronesses; and, should the advowsons have been fatally possessions, a series of such patrons' ancestors, with many particulars of them, their deaths, their heirs, and devisees.

"The dates of these registers, though varying in each diocese, are all of great antiquity; those in the Consistory Court of London commence in 1306. "At Durham are registers of several Bishops between 1311 and 1660, containing entries of visitations, consecrations, grants, ordinations, &c., perfect and in good order. "There are manuscripts in the British Museum and other libraries from which lists of the dignitaries of the Church have been compiled (with little interruption) from the time of the introduction of Christianity into the island ; and even the parochial clergy may in general be found registered from a few reigns after the Conquest.'

The published works, or manuscripts in libraries, respecting the names of clergymen, are very numerous' frequently with bio- graphical particulars. The lists occupy between nine and ten pages in Mr. Sims's volume : we take a few items as a sample. "A Catalogue of Ministers ejected out of their Livings for Conscience' Sake. Loud. 1663.

"Chronological Lists of Dignitaries to 1715; Brit. Mus. Hart. MS. 6417. "list of all the Dignitaries in England and Wales, 1715; Brit. Mos. Hart. MS. 6410, art. 2. "A Series of Abbots of the principal Monasteries in England, from 1101 to 1550; Brit. Mus. Hart. MS. 7520, art. 1. "Names of Priors, Abbots, &c. temp. Henry VIII., may be found in the Valor Ecclesiasticus,' and in Dugdale's Monasticon.' "Catalogue of Priors Deans, Archdeacons, Canons, and other Ecclesias- tical Dignitaries of England; Ashm. Lib. Wood MS. $i67. " Fasti Ecelesiie Anglicame ; or a Calendar of the principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales, and of the Chief ()facers in the Univer- sities of Oxford and Cambridge, compiled by John Le Neve, continued to the present time by T. I). Hardy. 3 vols. Oxford, 1864."

Although this notice may convey a general idea of the Manual, it falls very short of the various subjects contained in the book. Indeed, they are so numerous in their heads, sub- divisions, and particulars, that only a table of contents could clearly present them.