Introduction

Abstract

The volume now presented to the reader, and entitled “Registrum Prioratus Beatæ Wigorniensis,” contains documents of many kinds. Some few are of a public nature, such as the Magna Carta, de Libertatibus Angliæ, 9 Henrici III. 1224, the Carta de Libertatibus Forestæ of the same year, the Novæ Provisiones Angliæ, 44 H. III. 1259, and the Provisiones de Merton, 20 H. III. 1235. Others are Precedents of forms to be observed upon the vacancy of a Bishopric, for announcing the vacancy, and for obtaining from the Crown licence to elect. There are also Royal, Episcopal, and Private charters relating to the possessions and privileges of the Church at Worcester, together with records of proceedings in law suits before the Justices in Eyre. The larger portion, however, of the volume consists of a Descriptive Rental, as it may be termed, of the Possessions of the Benedictine Monastery of Worcester in the middle of the thirteenth century, including as well the Spiritual Revenues derived from Churches and Tithes, as the Temporal Revenues derived from Manors and Lands.