Manorial records are an important source of information for the local or family historian, but this is the first, full-length modern manual to offer a structured and comprehensive guide to their use.

The records of manorial courts have been used increasingly as the principal source for the reconstruction of rural and small town society in medieval England. They offer a unique source with which to investigate peasant demography, family patterns, the village community and economy, the characteristics and instruments of customary law, and the ways in which that law was perceived and exploited by landlords and tenants. The essays in this collection provide novel approaches to all of these themes and are written by many of the historians who have pioneered the use of this source category in the last two decades. In two introductory chapters, the editors review the historiography of manorial court rolls and account for their origins as a distinctive record of customary law within the broad context of medieval European society. A valuable appendix contains an inventory of the most comprehensive unprinted manorial court roll series arranged systematically on a county-to-county basis, detailing the repository in which they are located. This book will serve as an essential reference tool for any serious study of medieval English rural society.

This is the first study to offer a detailed explanation of the form, structure, and evolution of the manorial records upon which all historical studies of medieval England are based. Beginning with a discussion of the nature and variety of the manor, as well as its origins and developments, the book then proceeds to dissect each category of manorial documents—surveys, extents, rentals, inventories, accounts, and court rolls—which are considered in turn, and exemplified.

It is the aim of this collection of reports to establish a basis for comparing various seigneurial courts in pre-modern Europe. The contributors are largely medievalists.To come to terms with the subject, a defintion of courts which were seigneurial, given the variety of legal heritages, had to be set up. One of the first observations made was that on the Continent, where central courts were less prominent, there appears to be a more flexible notion of seigneurial jurisdiction. The contributors then look at the variety of jurisdictions in which lords in medieval and early modern Europe governed the legal relations of their vassals. Also the seigneurial jurisdiction is placed within its national context as one variety of courts which co-existed with other forums. Next the authors observe the origin and nature of substantive law which was implemented in the courts. Finally, focus is put on procedure. In England the medieval period witnessed considerable developments in the way in which cases came before the manorial court and how proof of the compainant's claim was ascertained.The reports provide a framework for further study. They demonstrate similarities and differences between seigneurial jurisdictions in England and on the Continent. One significant observation is that seigneurial jurisdictions seemed to have survived longer on the Continent than in England. Moreover, Continental seigneurial courts seemed to have serviced a broader strata of society. Yet, what is perhaps most striking are the similarities in procedure and in the process of custom making which the collected reports uncover.

Since the appearance of the first volume in 1979, the Records of Early English Drama (REED) series has made available an accurate and useable transcription of all surviving documentary evidence of dramatic, ceremonial, and minstrel activity in Great Britain up to the closing of the theatres in 1642. Although they are immensely valuable to scholars, the REED volumes sometimes prove difficult for students to use without considerable assistance. With this book, Elza Tiner aims to make the records accessible for classroom use. The contributors to the volume describe the various ways in which students can learn from working with these documents. Divided into five sections, the volume illustrates how specific disciplines can use the Records to provide resources for students including ways to teach the historical documents of early English drama, training students in acting and producing, historical contexts for the interpretation of literature, as well as the study of local history, women's studies, and historical linguistics. As a practical and much needed companion to the REED volumes, Teaching with the Records of Early English Drama will prove invaluable to both students and teachers of Medieval English Drama.