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43-44 Elizabeth 1600/1601 court roll. Click for a larger view. |
The rolls are written in abbreviated Latin on parchment membranes, head to foot on the recto, foot to head on the dorse, and sewn together with linen thread head-to-head. Each roll contains a year's records, normally beginning with the record of the court leet held after Michaelmas. The 1349/50 roll is written in a small, neat script on seven membranes. The name of the steward and his deputy are given at the beginning of each membrane. The margin contains notes of amercements, distraints, summons, essoins, fines, etc. along with an indication of whether the bailiff or the graveship was responsible, and amounts due. At the end of each court session, the sum due to the lord along with subtotals for the bailiff and graveships are listed. When a list of people are amerced for the same offence, the fine applicable to each is written above his or her name. The condition of the membranes is generally good, although part of membrane 6 is badly damaged and illegible. Rolls do not survive for 1348-49 or for 1350-51, so this roll has been translated in its entirety, from October1349 to September 1350.
The other translations have been based on the modern calendar year, so have been taken from the rolls of two adjacent years, with the translation beginning in January and ending in December. The 1482-83 and 1483-84 rolls, each comprising two membranes, are written in a similar sized script to that of earlier rolls, but in a slightly more ornate hand. The headings for each court session, in particular, employ larger and more elaborate calligraphy. The name of the steward is not indicated in the heading. The margins contain the same information as earlier rolls, and individual amercements are written above individual names as earlier. The condition of the membranes is generally good, although there is some damage to the first and third membranes of the second roll. The record of the spring court leet in both rolls appears immediately after the court leet of the previous autumn, out of chronological order, indicating a later copying of the rolls, possibly at the end of the year.
The 1535-36 and 1536-37 rolls each comprise three membranes, and display a handwriting style quite different in appearance to the earlier rolls. The writing is larger and somewhat looser, although still clear. There is particularly elaborate caligraphy in the heading on the first membrane in each roll, although each heading is given particular attention throughout the roll. The heading includes the name of the steward on the first membrane. Altogether there is more profligate use of parchment; not only is the writing style larger and more ornate, but more blank space appears between the individual sessions. Information in the margins, summing at the end of each session, and individual amercements above names are the same as earlier rolls. The condition of the membranes is very good.
The rolls of 1604-05 and
1605-06 each comprise three membranes, and each has been ruled by the scribe for
lines of writing and for the margin. The size of script is somewhat smaller
than that of 1535-36 and 1536-37, and the formation of letters is closer to that
of a modern hand. Again, the caligraphy used in the heading of the first
membrane in each roll is particularly elaborate, but in quite a different style
to that of the previous rolls. There has been a change in the information given
in the margins. Amounts due for amercements are no longer included there,
although individual amercements are still written above names in the text. Now
the names of vills are given in the margins when presentments are made at the
court leet; in previous rolls the names of vills were included in the text.
Surrender
closes of lands and the fines are recorded in the margin, but references to
bailiff or graveships no longer appear. There is no sum given at the end of the
court session. The headings contain the name of the lord of the manor, but not
the steward.
What is noticeable is the decline in the detail recorded over the period as a whole. By 1536, the earlier stages of summons, distraint, essoin are no longer recorded for pleas of debt and trespass. Except for one attachment of goods for adjournment, all the cases involve licence to agree. By 1605, individual litigation has disappeared altogether from the court record. Except for the two courts leet, with suits of court, election of constables and presentments for offences, all other business recorded deals with land transfer. By the seventeenth century, the rolls of the courts baron of Conisbrough manor, like those of other manors, had become little more than records of land transactions