within the limits of their Commissions," and empowering them, in rating the said yearly values, to deduct "the rents resolute to the chief Lords, and all other annual and perpetual rents and charges, which any spiritual person or persons been bounden yearly to pay to any person, or persons, &c., or to give yearly in alms by reason of any foundation, or ordinance, and all fees for stewards, receivers, bailiffs, and auditors, and synods and proxies,” and to make certificate of the entire value of such reductions.

Pursuant to these clauses, Commissioners were appointed, and the Valor Ecclesiasticus is the Returns made by them on the matters mentioned in that statute. The utility of these Records in Ecclesiastical affairs is extremely great, as they form the Register by which First Fruits and Tenths are calculated. (1) Among other miscellaneous information, the Valor Ecclesiasticus shows what sums were paid out of Spiritualities to lay persons, or corporations, or in fees to Bailiffs, Receivers, Auditors, Sheriffs, Justices, and other Civil Officers, whose names at the time of the Survey are mentioned; (2) the sums annually expended by Monasteries in charity; the amount distributed on anniversaries, with the names of the parties who were thus commemorated; the names of Priors, Abbots, and all other Incumbents, and sometimes of their immediate predecessors; together with the value of lands, provisions, and other commodities; and the record presents a complete view of the value and description of all Eccle

(1) [See Bacon, Liber Regis vel Thesaurus Rerum Ecclesiasticarum, Preface.]

(2) These notices sometimes afford biographical information. For example, it appears that Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Poet, was Chief Steward of the liberties and lands of the monastery of the Blessed Mary of Malling, in Kent, about the year 1536, with an annual fee of 53s. 4d., being then an Esquire; a fact which, however trifling, escaped the extensive researches of his biographer, Dr. Nott.

siastical property in the reign of Henry the Eighth. In a few cases Commissions for a similar purpose issued by Edward the Sixth and Queen Elizabeth occur.

A "General Introduction" and "General Map" will, it is said, be delivered with the last volume; but neither is to be found in the fifth volume, which it must be inferred is the last, since all the Dioceses of England are now published, with ample Indexes. (3) The omission of that Introduction is much to be regretted, for the accurate knowledge which the Editor must possess of the contents of the work which he superintended would doubtless enable him to point out the value of the Valor Ecclesiasticus for legal purposes, and the claims, which it possesses to the notice of Antiquaries and Historians, in a more satisfactory manner than can be done from casual inspection. (4)

(3) [An Appendix to the five volumes of the Valor has been printed. It fills sixty pages, and relates to some ecclesiastical possessions in the dioceses of Norwich, Winchester, London, Chichester, Bangor, and St. Asaph. The Records from which it is taken have been lately discovered in the Augmentation Office and Chapter House.]

(4) [A General Inder to the five volumes was framed under the direction of the late Lord Colchester upon a plan devised by him, and, together with the Appendix mentioned in the preceding note, was to form the sixth and last volume of the work. The General Introduction and General Map were to accompany it. Of the General Index 124 pages have been actually printed; but representations having been lately made to the Record Commissioners that the present Indexes are sufficient for all useful purposes, and that the General Introduction and General Map are no further necessary than because they have been announced, it has been deemed advisable that the press should be stopped ntil such time as the expediency of completing the volume can be satisfactorily ascertained. See Nicolas, Observations on the State of Historical Literature, p. 88. It is understood that the passage there cited is taken from manuscript notes made by an eminent antiquary upon the different works of the Record Commission. No fear of giving offence in any quarter ought to prevent the publication of these notes.]

[The Instructions of Henry VIII. for taking the Survey are prefixed to the first volume of the Valor. The same Instructions, together with the King's Writ, and the General Preface to the Returns of the Commissioners into the

Vol. i. contains the Dioceses of Canterbury, Rochester, Bath and Wells, Bristol, Chichester, and London.

Vol. ii., Winchester, Salisbury, Oxford, Exeter, and Gloucester.

Vol. iii., Hereford, Coventry and Lichfield, Worcester, Norwich, and Ely.

Vol. iv., Lincoln, Peterborough, Llandaff, St. David's, Bangor, and St. Asaph's.

Vol. v., York, Chester, Carlisle, and Durham.

In the Appendix to each volume a list of the Peculiars in the respective Dioceses is given. The Valor Ecclesiasticus also contains Maps of the Dioceses, marking the Ecclesiastical Divisions. Indices Capitum, Locorum, et Nominum, occur in each volume.

The original record is deposited in the First Fruits' Office, and was edited by Mr. Caley.

[From Manuscript Collection.]

The importance of this Record, which is the Return of the Commissioners into the Exchequer, to a Writ of King Henry the Eighth, dated 30th January, 26th of his reign, and to instructions pursuant to that Writ, signed by the King himself, is generally known and acknowledged.

Exchequer, under their hands and seals, have been printed by Bacon, Liber Regis, vel Thesaurus Rerum Ecclesiasticarum.]

[The Irish ecclesiastical documents, exclusive of Pope Nicholas' Taxation (ante, p. 284), are of considerable importance. Surveys commencing with the 28th of Henry VIII. are to be found in the Chief Remembrancer's and First Fruits' Offices. The most useful of these documents are the Valor Beneficiorum, and the Inquisitions upon which such valuation was founded. This Valor furnishes "not only the rule for ascertaining the tax of first fruits paid by incumbents of livings in their respective promotions spiritual, but also the criterion whereby the Statutes of Trinity College are interpreted in cases where the possession of benefices is deemed by law incompatible with the enjoyment of fellowships."-Reports from the Commissioners on the Public Records of Ireland, vol. i. p. 415.]

By this Record, sometimes called The King's Books, the true annual value of Rectories and Vicarages, at the time of taking this survey, is fixed; and the First Fruits and Tenths due to the Crown are charged accordingly. It is the criterion, also, by which is determined what Livings were then under Episcopal jurisdiction; other Livings not there recorded being considered merely as donative: but its greatest utility is that, which is in some respect equally applicable to the Nona Roll, viz. that by ascertaining what are Rectorial and what Vicarial Tithes, the chasm of evidence occasioned by the loss of Endowments is supplied.

To this may also be added, that a very perfect account is given in this Record of the several possessions, as well Spiritual as Temporal, of all the monastic establishments in England. (6)

(6) ["The Valor Ecclesiasticus is a kind of Domesday of church property, taken pursuant to commissions issued 28 Henry VIII., for the purpose of ascertaining the whole and true value of all possessions, as well spiritual as temporal, belonging to any manor of dignity, monastery, priory, &c. in England, Wales, Calais, and the Marches."-Quarterly Review, vol. xxxix. p. 58.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

ACCOUNT OF THE CALENDARS OF THE PROCEEDINGS IN CHANCERY, IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.(1)

[From the Preface to the Work.]

In carrying into effect the order of His Majesty's Commissioners on the Public Records for printing Calendars of the early Proceedings in Chancery, it has been deemed advisable to preface this work with some examples of the Bills, or Petitions, addressed to the Chancellors in each reign, from the earliest period that any of them are known to be extant; as they throw considerable light on the origin of the Court of Chancery, as a court of equitable jurisdiction; and, whilst they point out the variations that have taken place from time to time in the course of proceeding in that court, and show under whose authority, or administration, those alterations have been introduced, they afford also considerable insight to the manners and customs of the times, and the orthography and phraseology of the English language, when it first came into frequent use in chancery and diplomatic proceedings.

Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, in his Observations concerning the Office of Lord Chancellor, states that there were no petitions of the Chancery remaining in the Office of Record of elder time than the making of the Statute of

(1) [There are prefixed to the work examples of earlier proceedings in the Court of Chancery, namely, from the reign of Richard II. to that of Elizabeth inclusive.]