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You are here: Home / Publications / Clerical Poll Taxes of the Diocese of Lincoln 1377-1381
Volume 81

Clerical Poll Taxes of the Diocese of Lincoln 1377-1381

21 October 2011 by

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dustjacket
The clergy of England, like the laity, were subjected to a series of poll-taxes within a short space of time. This volume prints the surviving assessments made of the clergy of the diocese of Lincoln in the years 1377, 1379 and 1381. Most of the material relates to the old county of Lincoln (now Lincolnshire and South Humberside) but there are also surveys of Leicestershire, Rutland, most of Bedfordshire, and parts of Huntingdonshire and Hertfordshire. These poll-tax assessments represent what was virtually a census of the clerical population whose members were listed parish by parish. The documents show us not only that the number of clergy was very great, but that most were without benefices, and that they tended to gather in areas of high prosperity. Monks and nuns are also listed so that we can see how many members each monastery had. Publication of this material offers the opportunity to make a reassessment of the clergy and, hence the church of late medieval England. An extensive introduction describes the gathering of these taxes and the value and limitations of the documents themselves.
dustjacket
Volume 81                               Clerical Poll Taxes of  the Diocese of Lincoln 1377-1381

Editor                                      A.K. McHardy

Date                                        There is no society year ending date from Volume 81 onwards

Publication Date                     1992

Size                                         235 x 155 mm

Language                                English, Appendix A is in Latin

Publisher                                 A Lincoln Record Society Publication Published by the Boydell Press an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. PO Box 41026, Rochester, NY 14604, USA

Printer                                     St. Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984

ISBN                                       0 901503 54 1

Note                                        On reverse of the Contents page This volume is published with the help of a grant from the late Miss Isobel Thornley’s Bequest to the University of London

Content                                   Frontispiece map of the Lincoln Diocese, 1 page

Contents, 1 page

Maps, 1 page

Abbreviations, 1 page

Dedication, 1 page

PATRI MEO


W.D.McH


DONUM INDIGNUM


                                                Introduction, 27 pages

Map – Leicestershire, showing ecclesiastical divisions, 1 page

Map – Lincolnshire, showing ecclesiastical divisions, 1 page

Taxation of the Clergy 1377-1381,  174 pages

Note on the parish maps, 1 page

Parish map of Leicestershire and list of parishes, 4 pages

Parish map of Lincolnshire and list of parishes, 9 pages

Appendix A Arrangements for Collecting the Subsisidy of £50,000, 1371, 2 pages

Appendix B Collectors of Clerical Taxes in the Diocese of Lincoln, 3 pages

Index,  59 pages

Price on dust jacket                 £19.50 (Boydell & Brewer Ltd sticker)

Dust jacket blurb                    The clergy of England, like the laity, were subjected to a series of poll-taxes within a short space of time. This volume prints the surviving assessments made of the clergy of the diocese of Lincoln in the years 1377, 1379 and 1381. Most of the material relates to the old county of Lincoln (now Lincolnshire and South Humberside) but there are also surveys of Leicestershire, Rutland, most of Bedfordshire, and parts of Huntingdonshire and Hertfordshire. These poll-tax assessments represent what was virtually a census of the clerical population whose members were listed parish by parish. The documents show us not only that the number of clergy was very great, but that most were without benefices, and that they tended to gather in areas of high prosperity. Monks and nuns are also listed so that we can see how many members each monastery had.  Publication of this material offers the opportunity to make a reassessment of the clergy and, hence the church of late medieval England. An extensive introduction describes the gathering of these taxes and the value and limitations of the documents themselves.

Reviews                                  `Of considerable interest for historians of medieval Lincolnshire, which is at the same time of importance for historians of late medieval English church generally - these amount effectively to a census of the clereical population in the late fourteenth century.' LINCS HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGY

`Edition of great importance for students of secular and monastic history of the period, for settlement historians and for consideration of the development of personal names will continue to be a mine of useful information for a very long time.' HISTORY
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Lincoln Record Society is a registered charity, number 513433