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Search catalogues

Online catalogue

The entire Archdeaconry archive is described at bundle or item level in the Manuscripts Online Catalogue . The catalogue can be searched using the 'AnyText' field of the Manuscripts Catalogue search form. The Presentment Bills (AN/PB) Libels or cause papers (AN/LB) and Miscellaneous (AN/M) series have been catalogued in the most detail. 

Here is a list of direct links into the catalogue for all collection and series level descriptions of the Archdeaconry archive. Once you are in the catalogue, it can be browsed at item level by clicking 'View Collection Tree': 

 

Presentment Bills Catalogues

All Presentment Bills dated 1587 to 1699 were catalogued during the Presentment Bills project (2002-2004) , supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. More than 23,000 individual catalogue records were created.

Between 2005 and 2010, a further 4,000 catalogue records were created, describing the 18th-century Presentment Bills which refer to offences committed by people. Those returned 'Nothing to present' were not included in the project.

It was not possible to present this data in one catalogue to be browsed alongside descriptions of the rest of the Archdeaconry material. Instead, catalogue data relating to Presentment Bills has been split between five separate sections within the Manuscripts Online Catalogue. Catalogue records from all sections of the Manuscripts Online Catalogue can be retrieved together by searching for keywords using the search form.

Here is a list of direct links into the Manuscripts Online Catalogue.  The records contain overall descriptions of each section of Presentment Bills. Once you are in the catalogue, it can be browsed at item level by clicking 'View Collection Tree': 

• Presentment Bills, 1587-1619
• Presentment Bills, 1620-1643
• Presentment Bills, 1663-1679
• Presentment Bills, 1680-1699
• Presentment Bills, 1700-1756 

 

Indexes for Presentment Bills and Marriage Bonds

In 2005 we mounted over 50,000 enhanced Archdeaconry records from the Marriage Bonds and Presentment Bills series into a separate module of the Manuscripts Online Catalogue . The main part of the Manuscripts Online Catalogue contains all descriptive records for the Archdeaconry collection, but could not accommodate the extensive indexing.

The indexing consists of two very specialised databases:

• Details of Presentment Bills and Marriage Bonds, plus some Excommunications and Penances (Archdeaconry Event records)
• Details about the people mentioned in the these records (Archdeaconry Person records)

These databases are the only place in which information about individual Marriage Bonds can be found.

The Archdeaconry Indexes currently hold information from the following series:

• Marriage Bonds. All marriage bonds dated 1771 to 1790 and 1801 to 1884 (series AN/MB 167-186 and AN/MB 197-280). Earlier marriage bonds, and marriage bonds dated 1791-1800 have been indexed and published in book form. For more details about these publications, see the guide to Marriage Bonds .
• Presentment Bills. All Presentment Bills dated 1587 to 1699, and those Presentment Bills dated 1700-1756 which give details of offences (series AN/PB 292-352).
• Excommunications. Entries from a book of schedules of excommunication dated 1617 to 1620 (AN/E 196/1).
• Penances. Details from 1746 onwards (AN/PN/368/48- ). This is the beginning of a project, commenced in January 2011, to add details from 18th-century schedules of penances to the Archdeaconry Indexes.

More details about these databases and their contents are available in an online help page for Archdeaconry searches . 

 

Printed guide

Mender of disorders: court and community in the Archdeaconry of Nottingham, 1560-1756 , ed. Kate Holland (2004), explores a diverse range of topics relating to the court of the Archdeacon of Nottingham and the communities of Nottinghamshire, including the workings of the court, attitudes towards illicit sex, and the ways in which people resolved their disputes - whether by humiliating public penance, or suing over unpaid tithes. The book includes printed versions of the lunchtime talks given in conjunction with the 2004 exhibition 'The Bawdy Court ', and a series of papers given at an associated study day. To order the book, please contact us .  

 

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